​Our Managing Director Ro recently attended the Valuing Sustainability Future Science Platform Sustainability Science Symposium hosted by the CSIRO in Canberra. This was a great opportunity to hear from leading sustainability science minds about cutting edge research. Ro was particularly interested to hear about leading edge research-policy work using the 6 Capitals Framework to understand the value of community relationships. 

Ro continues to grow her knowledge in Social and Environmental Accounting approaches and last year she completed the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) Practitioner Certificate in Integrated Reporting and the Capitals Coalition Valuing Nature and People to Inform Business Decision-making Course, both of which use the 6 Capitals Framework. 

Mountain Ash Insights recently used the 6 Capitals Framework to frame, measure and account for the resilience capacity of the Huon Valley for the Huon Valley Council Food Resilience Strategy. Further information about this project can be found on our website https://mountainashinsights.com.au/projects.html  

Using the 6 Capitals Framework for this novel approach to strategy development required complex and creative thinking, iterative project design and a very open-minded client in Huon Valley Council! It is exciting to reflect how Mountain Ash Insights and this local Huon Valley Strategy is on the leading edge of the sustainability research-policy interface in this country! 

Earlier this month, our Managing Director Ro attended the Valuing Sustainability Future Science Platform Sustainability Science Symposium hosted by the CSIRO in Canberra. There we learnt about a CSIRO project analysing local government strategic documents as an indicator of community preparedness for nature-positive investments. This demonstrates the importance of local strategic policy documents for driving regional investment and has got us thinking about the community co-designed Natural Resource Management Strategy for the Huon Valley.​

Over the past 6 months, Mountain Ash Insights has been delighted to work with the Huon Valley Council on their Natural Resource Management Strategy titled - Land, Air and Water (LAW) Strategy. This Strategy is being co-designed with the community – a novel and leading approach for public policy development, but not without its challenges. 

Traditional strategy development usually involves drafting a new policy document, prior to public consultation. Sometimes there is stakeholder engagement at the start of the process, but not always. The co-design approach taken by Huon Valley Council saw the community heavily involved in every stage of the process with a regular Working Group established to progress the project. 

Mountain Ash Insights was brought into this project when the co-design process had been ongoing for some time. There had been really strong community input, with lots of passion and ideas for Natural Resource Management in the Huon Valley. What is often the challenge is taking all the wide-ranging views and suggestions and distilling these into strong strategic priorities. This was the task given to Mountain Ash Insights. 

Through this project we worked with the Huon Valley Council policy officer to further refine the scope, purpose and strategic framework for the Strategy. We worked with the Working Group to develop methods for analysing the community input data. Through this process, we distilled strategic priorities, underlying values and potential actions for key strategic partners. We even had time to draft the document layout and some of the Strategy's content. 

Reflecting on the work going on at our national science agency - the CSIRO, what could demonstrate on-the-ground community preparedness for nature positive investment better than a co-designed Natural Resource Management Strategy.

​We’ve loved having the opportunity to help the Huon Valley Council progress the LAW Strategy. It's not quite finished but we hope that with this Strategy it's pocket, the Huon Valley will be well positioned into the future. 

The Tasmanian State government is establishing Regional Jobs Hubs across the state to assist both job seekers and local employers. The Huon Valley, Kingborough and Bruny Island are covered by the Southern Employment & Training Network (SETN) which has been established as the Huon Valley Jobs Hub Authority under the Huon Valley Council. 

Mountain Ash Insights Managing Director, Ro has recently been appointed to the SETN Board by Huon Valley Council. To this role, Ro will bring professional skills and training in corporate governance and strategy and experience running a small business based in the Huon Valley. Ro intends to be an advocate voice for supporting women and mothers in their careers, and for employers and job seekers in the Far South region. 

On being appointed to the Board, Ro said: “As an employer I love working with women in similar circumstances to collectively build our skills, capability and confidence. We have demonstrated that women and mothers of the Huon Valley bring skills and capabilities which are highly valued by our clients. I look forward to bringing this advocate voice to the strategic leadership of SETN and being of service to this important community initiative”. 

More information about SETN can be found on the website. 

Mountain Ash Insights has recently been putting together an educational resource focused on the restoration of Giant Kelp Marine Forests in Tasmania. We are delivering this project for the Tasmanian Smart Seafood Partnership between NRM South and the Tasmanian Seafood Industry Council. 

Unlike land-based systems, which are largely privately owned, the marine environment operates as a common. Government, on behalf of the broader population, regulates how people interact with seascapes. A diverse range of stakeholders including recreational fishers and divers, conservation groups, commercial fishing industries, tourism operators, the Tasmanian Aboriginal community and the general public all have different relationships with marine ecosystems and a shared interest and responsibility for marine ecosystem health and restoration.  

Researchers have recently been exploring options and methods for Giant Kelp Marine Forest restoration in Tasmanian waters. It is our hope that the education resource we are creating will demonstrate to our younger scholars that making decisions about ecosystem restoration projects is challenging – information is always incomplete, techniques and methods are often experimental, and there are many stakeholders who may have conflicting views on how, where or if a restoration project should occur. But if we work together, great outcomes can also be achieved.

Marine governance challenges are a fascinating space to be diving into through this project!

Mountain Ash Insights and Freestate Studios are nearing completion of the Food Resilience Strategy project for the Huon Valley Council.  To support the written Strategy, Mountain Ash Insights are working with local Huon Valley based videographer Anna Cadden to develop three videos highlighting the three priorities of the Strategy. The first of these has recently been filmed at Scrubby Hill Farm.

From breaking ground to disaster recovery, Mac and Oli from Huski Greens shared with us their story, which we are excited to be showcasing through this video. We were lucky enough to be at the farm on a Blitz Day when members of the community came together to show how many hands can make light work of even the most daunting of tasks.   It was so inspiring to see the power of community coming together to breathe some life back into the community gardens. Scrubby Hill is not just home to a market garden, it is a social space, a learning centre, a green oasis and an inclusive arena for all. 

The second video will be centered around the Cygnet Seed Library, with filming due to begin in the next few weeks. 

The logistics of a shoot – the scheduling, arranging permissions, designing the interview questions, and the many rounds of post-production editing all form a part of the work, but really fall a distant second to the passions of the individuals being highlighted.  Meeting these people has been an honour and we are excited to see where these videos will take us. ​

A cutting-edge environmental monitoring tool is at the heart of a new Mountain Ash Insights project, to develop education resources focused on real-world uses of data by the Tasmanian oyster industry. The project is part of the Tasmanian Smart Seafood Partnership between NRM South and the Tasmanian Seafood Industry Council, through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program. 

The Oyster Sensor Network (OSN) has been developed by Oysters Tasmania (the peak body for shellfish farming in Tasmania), the Tasmanian Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, NRM South, and environmental software developer eagleio. This tech has been deployed in coastal waters all around Tasmania with sensors remotely monitoring temperature, depth, and conductivity, and reporting this data to a centralised portal and dashboard known as ShellPOINT. 

Mountain Ash Insights has been brought onboard to develop resources to support teachers integrate ShellPOINT data into the classroom. ShellPOINT is a rich and accessible source of live data which could form the basis of learning exercises across many curriculum areas. We have really enjoyed the opportunity to explore the ShellPOINT portal, and work with Oysters Tasmania, oyster growers, researchers and regulators to learn about its application as a management tool. We have also taken to the water with local oyster growers Cameron of Tasmania to produce an introductory video in collaboration with videographer Anna Cadden. The last step in the process will be to road test the educational resources with local teachers. 

We love working on projects where we can link food production, environmental management, and cutting-edge data collection to support the next generation of innovators!  

It’s been an exciting and busy start to the year at Mountain Ash Insights. Late last year we started a project for Huon Valley Council to develop the Huon Valley Food Resilience Strategy. This project is off the back of the highly successful Huon Valley Food Hub project - which we've enjoyed being a part of over the past year.​

In the first phase of the Food Resilience Strategy project, we reviewed relevant policy, conducted background desktop research, consulted with experts, and applied our strategic insights to reveal key themes surrounding this topic including: varying drivers and priorities for food resilience for different stakeholders, systemic barriers such as insurance and regulation limiting local food systems, the importance of relationships for building and maintaining resilience, and the particular contribution women of the Huon make in community building and food knowledge. ​

In the next phase of this project, we are talking to agricultural industry stakeholders of the Huon Valley. We have already had great conversations with people from fruit, grains, fishing and aquaculture industries with further stakeholder engagement still to come. We love that as we develop the Food Resilience Strategy, we are creating local resilience by forging new relationships and building our community networks. Mountain Ash Insights will be facilitating several workshops over the coming weeks with community food system experts, to further explore the strategic priorities for food resilience in the Huon Valley. ​

An hour's drive south of Hobart, on Lyluequonny Country, the Dover community is an interesting mix of food producers, life style new comers, creatives, families, holiday home owners and retirees. In 2022, Dover locals Erika and Erin joined Mountain Ash Insights. They both moved with their families to Dover wanting to find a different environment in which to raise their children. Erika studied science at the University of Tasmania but has experience in land management and land restoration roles in both NSW and WA. Erin had most recently been working in Canberra. She has a background in psychology, education and management, as well as having family connections in Dover. ​

Mountain Ash Insights has provided Erika and Erin with an opportunity to continue using their professional skills while growing their families and working on their own land restoration projects. As they are established in the local community and committed to its long-term viability, both women have brought passion and perspectives that have helped grow the ethos and philosophy of Mountain Ash Insights.  ​

In 2022, Mountain Ash Insights developed its way of working as a team, utilizing creative ways to work flexibly and balancing the needs of the business with family and community life. Initially this was a personal necessity for me and I equally wanted to support other women in my position, but it quickly became clear that this brought substantial benefits for the business. By embracing a very flexible work model, not only has our talent pool been significantly broadened but the efficiency and multitasking skills which are so effectively sharpened by motherhood have proved to be a considerable asset for the business and as this group of women are also eager to work smaller blocks throughout the week, we have been able to bring high powered professionals to relatively small budget projects. ​

In an industry where billable hours and project scope are closely linked, the application of these time-saving skills has brought significant benefits for our clients. Far from the deficit discourses around women being a liability for a business because of their child raising responsibilities, Mountain Ash Insights has given that outdated view the boot by delivering all our projects ahead of schedule, to a high standard and with significant value add. Our clients have really responded to this approach, and we've had some fantastic feedback about our work. ​

In 2023 we have a number of projects in the pipeline which will help us to continue to learn and grow our knowledge, build our networks and contribute to our local community. I am excited to continue to develop our unique insights and ways of working, while we strive for a future of healthy landscapes, communities and food systems. I am immensely proud of the work we have done in the first year and the foundations we have laid for future success, and if you have just taken the time to read this article then thanks to you for being a part of it! ​

- Ro Alden Hull (Mountain Ash Insights Managing Director)

​Mountain Ash Insights is a small but growing consultancy business. Our mission is to support healthy future landscapes. We recognise the importance of the relationships between people, their food and the natural world. We work at the intersection of community, industry, research and policy. Our team nurtures communities, and brings strategic insights and project support to assist clients to improve landscape health and food systems.

Mountain Ash Insights has a team of people who are passionate about improving the health of our landscapes, food systems and communities. We are based on Lyluequonny Country, in Dover, Lutruwita (Tasmania), but work on projects across Australia. We prefer to work with people who live in our region, so we can build genuine ongoing personal-professional networks and support our local economy. We work flexibly, from our homes, on our own devices, using online platforms. We work as a team to best match availability and skills for each project.

In addition to being highly skilled consultants, most of our staff are also the primary carers for young children. We are very committed to supporting working parents, and in particular women, to work and build skills, in a family friendly environment. Mountain Ash Insights is a strong ally organisation of the Aboriginal Community and we always look for opportunities in our projects to support the work of Aboriginal organisations. Respect for Aboriginal culture and a commitment to allyship, are core to our work.

We are looking to develop a register of people who are interested in casual work with Mountain Ash Insights. This opportunity would best suit people whose personal-professional goals align with our mission and are interested in being involved with small projects on a non-ongoing basis. There is initially a small project for delivery in February. We are looking to work with people who bring the following skills:

• Project skills – communicating, writing, desktop research, stakeholder engagement, facilitation, project management, collecting and analysing data
• Administrative skills - organising events, preparing documents, secretariat skills
• Ability to work under limited direction - self-driven, organised, efficient, good judgement
• Ability to represent Mountain Ash Insights - customer services experience, interpersonal skills

More information about Accounting for Nature can be found on their website Accounting for Nature. ​

Expert Accreditation recognises environmental accounting skill and requires successful completion of the Accounting for Nature Accredited Expert training course. Accredited Experts are expected to undertake continual professional development to maintain their status as an environmental accounting Expert. 

With this accreditation Ro will be able to help our clients to develop condition accounts of projects, properties or landscapes using the Accounting for Nature framework and methods. Condition accounts can be used to track the health of an ecosystem over time to assist management efforts or help landholders communicate with their stakeholders about their environmental stewardship. 

As a newly accredited Expert, Ro will hold ‘provisional’ accreditation until she has assisted a client to develop an Accounting for Nature condition account. If you would like to be that first client, please get in touch! ​