For over 40 years, the Habitat Conservation and Management Course (HCMC) has been informing, inspiring and connecting Melbourne’s conservation and land management community. The course is suited for everyone, from new conservation volunteers to experienced land management practitioners, looking to refresh and extend their knowledge and networks.

Participants will learn face to face about key ecosystem features including plants, soil, fungi and fire then explore techniques for habitat improvement. 16 Wednesday evening classes from August 7 to November 20 and 9 Saturday field trips with some of Melbourne’s leading ecologists and land managers including Randall Robinson, Gidja Walker, Uncle Dave Wandin and George Paras.

Unit Number	Topic	Lecturer/s	Location	Date
Unit 1	Introduction
Classroom	Introduction to Habitat Conservation and Management	Randall Robinson / Danny Reddan	NT Wildlife Sanctuary	Wednesday 7 August
Field Trip 1	Melbourne Bushlands	Robert Pergl	Dandenongs	Saturday 10 August
Unit 2	Bushland – The Ideal
Classroom	Classroom	Growing Wildlife Habitat	George Paras	Wednesday 14 August
Classroom	Invertebrates	James Buxton	NT Wildlife Sanctuary	Wednesday 21 August
Field Trip 2	Coastal Woodlands	Gidja Walker	Cape Schanck	Saturday 24 August
Classroom	Plant Identification I – Grasses and Forbs	Michael Cincotta	NT Wildlife Sanctuary	Wednesday, 28 August
Classroom	Plant Identification II – Trees and Shrubs	Michael Cincotta	NT Wildlife Sanctuary	Wednesday 4 September
Field Trip 3	Caring for Country	Dave Wandin/Gidja Walker	Coranderrk	Saturday 7 September
Classroom	Soils and Climate	Jason Horlock	NT Wildlife Sanctuary	Wednesday 11 September
Classroom	Fungi	Sapphire McMullan - Fisher	NT Wildlife Sanctuary	Wednesday, 18 September
Field Trip 4	Nocturnal Wildlife	TBC	Mount Rothwell	Saturday 21 September
Classroom	Fire	Daren Wandin/Gidja Walker TBC	NT Wildlife Sanctuary	Wednesday 25 September
Unit 3	Impacts on Bushland
Classroom	Bush Ecology 1	Randall Robinson	NT Wildlife Sanctuary	Wednesday 2 October
Field Trip 5	Lerderderg Gorge/Longforest	Randall Robinson	Lerderderg Gorge/Longforest	Saturday 5 October
Classroom	Bush Ecology 2	Randall Robinson	NT Wildlife Sanctuary	Wednesday 9 October
Unit 4	Techniques for Managing Bushland
Classroom	Introduction	Randall Robinson	NT Wildlife Sanctuary	Wednesday 16 October
Field Trip 6	Plant Identification	Michael Cincotta	NT Wildlife Sanctuary	Saturday 19 October
Classroom	Site Assessment & Planning	Gidja Walker	NT Wildlife Sanctuary	Wednesday 23 October
Field Trip 7	Restoring degraded riparian zones	George Paras/Danny Reddan	Darebin Creek Bundoora	Saturday 26 October
Classroom	Techniques for Planned Intervention	Robert Pergl	NT Wildlife Sanctuary	Wednesday 30 October
Field Trip 8	Grasslands	Dave Wandin / Rob Pergl	Western plains	Saturday 2 November
Classroom	Modelling and monitoring Change	Sacha Jellinek	NT Wildlife Sanctuary	Wednesday 6 November
Classroom	Regeneration and Weed (Strategies & Options)	Graham Peterson	NT Wildlife Sanctuary	Wednesday 13 November
Field Trip 9	Coastal and marine	Gidja Walker	Seaford Foreshore	Saturday 16 November
Classroom	Summing Up	Randall / Gidja Walker	NT Wildlife Sanctuary	Wednesday 20 November