[Video transcript of Upper Ovens Valley Landcare President, Peter Jacobs.]

[The video opens with a drone view of Mt Buffalo and Porepunkah region and then we see volunteer members of the Landcare group setting up tree guards with Mt Buffalo in the background. Two volunteers are working, one is stooped over new saplings they have planted in the ground – we only see the top of his wide-brimmed hat.

The Fields of Faith soundtrack plays throughout the video.

Peter Jacobs is walking through the revegetation area where saplings are wrapped in green plastic tree guards. He wears a dark wide-brimmed hat, glasses, a dark zip-front fleece, blue jeans and work boots.]

I’m Peter Jacobs, I’m the President of the Upper Ovens Valley Landcare group.

[The lower thirds title appears, reading: Peter Jacobs, Upper Ovens Valley Landcare President. Peter appears throughout the video talking to camera without his hat and with the native trees in the background].

We’re really concerned about biosecurity issues around weeds and pest animals.

[On screen is an aerial view of the river. And then a field of saplings in tree guards]

We do a lot of restoration work around the river areas.

[On screen the rocky riverbank and running river water with the native bush in the background transitions to an aerial view of the river, some farmland, with portions of native trees, revegetation area and deciduous introduced species turning yellow and red. The view zooms into the revegetation area, with the trees in tree guards and zooms out to the mountain, with rocky cliff tops and a rocky face with a waterfall. Water is running over a rock and a close up of the stream then shows a plant thriving on a rock in the middle of the running stream.]

The riparian environment is basically the area adjacent to the rivers and streams. It’s often a forested environment, and it’s really important for the health of the river, particularly those upper catchments, with the headwaters starting high up here in the mountains. The riparian environment is that sort of filter in the environment that protects the rivers, both for water quality but also for the habitat of the animals and plants that actually live close to the river.

[The camera tracks behind Peter walking through the riparian area behind other volunteer members of the group. Peter reaches out to touch a plant. We see a close up of the ground with new growth, and then the river. Gloved hands pat the soil of a newly planted sapling. An aerial view of the river shows the riparian area with farmland, hills and mountains in the background.]

I just love seeing our environment being restored, I love nature, I’ve worked in nature all my life, but I see biosecurity issues really affecting nature whether it is feral deer running rampant through the forest, blackberries tracking up the rivers, and woody weeds. if we don’t’ keep on top of that we are going to lose the beauty and the nature that we all enjoy.

Biosecurity is about weeds and pest animals for us. It is about stopping those introduced and invasive species taking over nature and the natural environment.

[Peter walks toward the river. We see a dense area of woody weeds/trees, looking up at branches against the sky, with yellow leaves, a dense canopy of maple leaves and a wide view of the tree, followed by the branches of a blackberry bush poking out from the native scrub.]

The big issues we have with weeds in the riparian areas is the big woody weeds, the big trees, the introduced trees that are choking out the natural environment. This includes willows, maples, sicamours, box elders, elms and of course, on the ground, blackberries.

People are often quite surprised when they see the actual disturbance that we have to create to remove the weeds before we can actually get in to do revegetation work. So that can be a bit confronting, but at the end of the day we… the results we see are actually outstanding in terms of getting that natural environment back again.

[A female volunteer removes a large tree plant guard, sunlight shines through the field of new saplings in tree guards. We see a close up of native grasses and then a view of the scrub around the Landcare ‘track closed rehabilitation’ sign.]

And then not only weeds we have invasive pest animals and feral animals such as feral deer, potentially feral pigs, goats, free-wandering cattle that aren’t properly contained can also get into the environment and have a big impact.

[Peter looks down a bush path. An aerial view of town with the farmland and expansive natural landscape of the mountain region is shown.]

Pests and weeds cause real harm right across the landscape. They choke out native species, they take over the habitat and they basically degrade the environment to a point where it’s got very low value.

[Peter inspects a growing tree within a tree guard and removes dead branches. We see two female volunteers working in the revegetation area, with Mt Buffalo in the background. Sunlight dapples through large eucalypts.]

So we’ve got high value areas we must protect that’s what’s so important in terms of biosecurity.

[The final scenes of the video show a drone view of mountain landscape with text on the screen that shows the Agriculture Victoria logo and then is followed by a URL that reads agriculture.vic.gov.au/make-a-difference.

This is followed by an acknowledgement of Country in white text on a black screen that reads: Agriculture Victoria acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country throughout Victoria and their ongoing connection to the land and water.

The Victorian Government authorisation tag appears on screen, on the black background it reads:

Victoria State Government (logo)

Authorised by Victorian Government, 1 Treasury Place, Melbourne]