Northern Tablelands Chapters 5th Year Anniversary
Our Northern Tablelands Chapter has recently had its 5th anniversary, so we sat down with Harry Thomas, project officer throughout this time, so see what worked, what didn’t work, and what it means to be a part of OzFish.
How did the Chapter Start?
The journey from an idea pitched at one of the first-ever Fish Talks held at Dubbo. The speakers were fantastic and left in the wake of them some very stimulating conversations reaffirming what we thought was happening in our waterways this whole time – the fish needed our help.
We had enough passionate anglers around one table to sign the bylaws and start one of the very first OzFish Chapters to happen – the Tenterfield Chapter.
Tenterfield has come full circle in half a decade. Two executives left from the original four, and three fresh faces joined the team. We also changed the chapter’s name to reflect the area we serve, the Northern Tablelands Chapter, which expands from Tenterfield down to Armidale.
With 20/20 hindsight and five years under the belt, I was asked what it took to achieve all the things we have over the years? Well, it is my pleasure to share that with you now and include some helpful tips along the way.
Do you have any tips for a chapter just starting?
Engage with everyone in your community
I now know that getting to know your community to educate them about the importance of fish habitat is critical as you put the pieces together to create authentic and scalable change.
We worked hard to get the OzFish mission out there, not just to fishing clubs but with government bodies and other environmental groups, bird-watching groups, and bushwalkers. We all share common ground: we all absolutely love our waterways and the fish that live in them.
Manage volunteer burnout
As a community-driven restoration organisation, our chapter is susceptible to volunteer burnout or attrition as people left our small town. Finding the right people with the right motivations to build the executive team over the years occupied my mind and sometimes kept me up at night.
As a volunteer leader, and much as you want change, you cannot be stuck doing it all yourself. It is not good for your mental health, and you are at risk of burning yourself out. Look after yourself and take the time to find the right people to help you.
Have meaningful conversations.
Paradoxically, I found the most productive conversations have been in my happy place, with a fishing rod in hand under the she-oaks by Tenterfield Creek, where I am most relaxed.
Being a freshwater fishing guide has given me some excellent opportunities to talk to some brilliant and influential people along the banks, looking for snags while casting for native fish species. For me, the OzFish conversation is unavoidable.
One meaningful conversation at a time, we had gained another member or in some way added another piece to our restoration puzzle: We worked with Gunimaa nursery to propagate local trees for riparian plantings; officers from the Department of Primary Industries were happy to speak at our events, and Guyra Fishing Club would help rally the crowds for a ref-fin muster.
Knowledge is the key.
The most crucial part is the OzFish network is that it creates an amassing knowledge base, that can help more people improve their creek, river, estuaries and harbours. This knowledge can be passed to other chapters that can tailor it to their waterways and get more fish in their regions.
Everyone counts
It’s been an incredible journey. After five years with the Northern Tablelands Chapter, I now appreciate people, all people. All our members have the skill we need and knowing how to embrace these talents has helped the Northern Tablelands Chapter scale up the restoration efforts even further.
No more just Harry making things happen. It has taken five years, but I can take a step back and watch the next generation of our chapter flourish.
The achievements speak for themselves,
- fish rescues,
- five local habitat projects delivered with three on the way,
- four clean up days,
- twelve family fishing days,
- school talks with primary and high school students,
- platypus monitoring, and
- our favourite threatened species work with releasing and monitoring the purple-spotted gudgeon.
Goodness knows we have had our trials and tribulations inside each chapter, including my own. Still, I am immensely proud to say that today, we have the perfect team of executives, covering hundreds of kilometres of waterways. They are enthusiastic, reliable, and motivated to make fish habitat better.
It has been a privilege to be a part of this journey from the very beginning of OzFish it has been challenging at times; it is such a joy to be involved in restoring habitat and waterways.