Management Committee

Ernie Rider (President)

I spent my main careers in the environmental sciences, mainly forestry and applied plant genetics, other ecology, and dissemination of best practices to landholders. I hate weeds and am the local representative for the Queensland Herbarium Weed Watchers network. I had five children and imbued them with a strong sense of environmental awareness, a love of gardening and a strong desire to conserve and protect our land. I believe that the way to achieve this is by landholders working together with a focus on sustainable land management practices and sharing their successes and failures with respect to soil, plant and animal health.  Some people in cities appear to poorly understand where our food comes from and have lost the connection to the land.  As the current President of Gympie Landcare, I would like to see us learn from science and each other no matter what size the property: “Blockies”, large landholders, orchardist and home gardeners. I strive to improve education at all levels especially of the young. I have created a forest that I maintain and am working on pasture improvement continually seeking advice from experts and high achievers. I like to read poetry, listen to classical music and am passionate about the English language.

Mel Marx (Marketing & Promotions)

From a young age I always felt most alive when I was out in the bush or simply gardening with mom. Mom taught me most of what I know about caring for the soil, nurturing wildlife and growing things.  Watching how we are destroying our land at an alarming rate meant I needed to stop talking and do something. So we bought a 40-hectare farm in Wolvi to start restoring our own piece of land. I believe that caring for the earth starts with an individual. The more individuals that do that will eventually bring a tipping point of earth restoration.  I joined Gympie Land Care to learn how to make a difference, particularly using native plants and sustainable land management practices. Being invited to join the management committee is an unexpected privilege where I hope to use my experience in organisation effectiveness to assist the organisation to get more focused and organised so that we can support those individuals who are going to give us the restoration tipping point.

Louise Watson (Education)

I grew up in Brisbane Queensland and have always had a heart for animals in distress. My career journey took me to the police and the Royal Military College Duntroon. My husband Rob and I moved out to Roma in 2012 where we owned a small farm and operated a farm animal rescue program.  There I got to work with the local Council training in conservation land management, specialising in pest animal and weed control. We then moved to Gympie where as a wildlife carer I look after injured or abandoned native wildlife such as kangaroos, wallabies, possums and kookaburras and then release  them back into the wild where they belong. As part of the management committee I hope to support landowners to build more native habitat for wildlife to flourish striking a balance between maintaining grazing land and natural habitat reserves for our unique native wildlife.