Conference Workshops | Wednesday 18 May 2022

Option A: Exploring the Waterworks!

1.30pm Come behind the scenes to understand the operational demands for providing Waterplay! Hosted by GPC, the Parks Operations team will walk you through what, when, how and who is involved in keeping the water running for the safety and enjoyment of park visitors. This workshop will also include an inspection of the Wicking Bed Irrigation System with GPC & Sally Boer from E2Design Labs. Participants will take a walking tour from our conference venue (Gladstone Entertainment Convention Centre) to East Shores Parklands and back to the GECC.

Option B: Driving Efficiencies in Landscape Maintenance

1.15pm 

Continuing our Day Two sessions at the Gladstone Entertainment Convention Centre, the afternoon will provide two mini-workshops focused on landscape maintenance. Firstly, Dr Brett Morris and Daniel Docherty (Syngenta) will present opportunities to improve of our open spaces by the strategic allocation of resources for weed management, by reducing glyphosate usage by up to 95%. In our second session, Chris Carter (Skyline Landscape Services) will explore the seasonality of employment in greenspace maintenance, through a facilitated workshop to identify variances in time and space to support land managers with optimal use of the human resources when and where they are available.

Option C: Deploying Drones for Land Management

1.30pm Hosted by Gladstone Area Water Board, our panel of local land managers will present their success using drone technology for planning and operations. Participants will travel by bus to Riverston Bay (Lake Awoonga) for a lakeside afternoon workshop where participants will discuss what, when, how and who is needed to engage drones and suitable operators. Applications to date include data collection to inform 1) strategic park and natural area planning and 2) operations focused on animal and pest management (aquatic weeds, feral pigs) and fire management.