Conservation Council ACT Region

A group of enthusiastic people recently joined a Branching Out: Canberra Nature Walk on Red Hill guided by the highly knowledgeable ecologist Michael Mulvaney from the Red Hill Regenerators.

Over the past 40 years, Michael and the Red Hill Regenerators have helped restore Red Hill from a degraded, weed-infested sheep paddock into one of the largest, biodiverse critically endangered Yellow Box-Blakely's Red Gum Grassy Woodland left in the ACT and Australia wide.

Participants enjoyed a fascinating (and entertaining!) mix of local history, ecology and hands-on learning from Michael. People particularly enjoyed the hands on parts like measuring trees to estimate the age of old growth trees, tasting sap and smelling Coconut ants homes (guess what they smell like? :)

If you haven't visited Red Hill yet, we highly recommend it. If you have, we'd love to hear what you enjoy most about it—or see your favourite photos—in the comments.
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More information:

Red Hill Regenerators: https://redhillregenerators.org.au/

Red Hill Nature Reserve: https://www.parks.act.gov.au/find-a-nature-park/canberra-nature-park/red-hill-nature-reserve

Yellow Box-Blakelys Red Gum Woodland threatened species listing: https://www.act.gov.au/environment/animals-and-plants/act-threatened-species/yellow-box-blakelys-red-gum-woodlands

Conservation Council events: https://conservationcouncil.org.au/events/
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This walk was made possible with assistance from the ACT Government through the ACT Environmental Grants Program.
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Last Friday was a truly special evening where we announced the winners of the annual ACT Environment Awards.

The Awards are an annual celebration of Canberra’s environmental community, recognising hard work of so many in community to protect our nature and climate. This year we handed out four awards to deserving winners. Thank you to Minister Tara Cheyne MLA for joining the evening and presenting some of the awards.

Details of of all the winners can be found on our website/in the article below. winners are below.

https://conservationcouncil.org.au/blog/2026/06/10/winners-of-the-act-enviornment-awards-announced/

The ACT budget is being handed down today!

Last week we already saw some positive announcements for Canberra's environment, and we will be keeping a close eye on any further investment into our nature and climate when the Treasurer speaks today.

If you want to get the full breakdown, join us for a webinar ont he 24th of June where we will discuss what both the ACT and Federal budgets have meant for nature and climate in our region.

Register here!

Webinar: 2026-27 ACT Budget Breakdown What’s in the Budget for nature? Join the Conservation Council’s Executive Director, Dr Simon Copland to unpack Government spending in the 2026-27 ACT Budget.

We won't be gathering for our usual Conservation Council Catch-up at Verity Lane tomorrow, instead please come along to the ACT Environment Awards on Friday:

ACT Environment Awards 2026 Celebrate the annual ACT Environment Awards!