Their Dung Beetle Express project was a joint initiative of the Tenterfield-based Granite Borders Landcare, Southern New England Landcare, Armidale and Northern New England Rural Lands Protection Boards.

Representatives of all of the project partners were at the gala ceremony in Bateman's Bay to celebrate the achievement. Steering Committee member and Granite Borders Landcare Chair, Judith Cox of Deepwater accepted the Award.

Ms Cox said, "It is a great achievement for the Project Officer, Pam Wilson and the Steering Committee to win this award. There were a number of high standard projects nominated, and to make the finals was fantastic, but to come away with silver is a real honour."

The project has been monitoring dung beetle activity and species diversity across the Northern Tablelands for the past two years, finding 11 different introduced species and 11 native species, including one hybrid and one previously undescribed native dung beetle.

The project has also made some interesting discoveries about the success of past releases of introduced dung beetles, with very few of the released species being recovered.

Celebrating their state silver: Back row - Geoff Robertson of Granite Borders Landcare, Chair of the Granite Borders Landcare Judith Cox, Chair of Project Steering Committee Vic Johnston, Project Officer Pam Wilson, Beth White from the Northern New England Rural Lands Protection Board, Richard Maclean from Southern New England Landcare and Armidale Rural Lands Protection Board; front - Southern New England Landcare Co-ordinator Karen Forge and Granite Borders Landcare Co-ordinator Jennie Coldham at the gala presentation with a 1970's theme in Bateman's Bay.