01 November
2006 - Environment projects across Victoria will
benefit from more than $84 million in Australian
and Victorian Government funding announced today.
The investment, from the Australian
Government’s Natural Heritage Trust (NHT) and
the Australian and Victorian Government’s National
Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality (NAP),
was announced today by Australian Ministers for
Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Peter McGauran;
the Environment and Heritage, Senator Ian Campbell;
and Victorian Ministers for the Environment and
Water, John Thwaites, and Agriculture, Bob Cameron.
Senator Campbell said that the
funding for 10 regions in Victoria would tackle
the diverse environment issues affecting the state,
including threatened species, water quality, salinity
and erosion.
“More than $2 million will protect
and improve five of the Mallee region’s seven
landscapes, including the revegetation of wildlife
corridors protecting the threatened Black-eared
Miner, Regent Parrot and other animals in the
Mallee’s southeast,” he said.
“Another project rehabilitates
salinity-affected areas on private land, while
enhancing landholder skills and demonstrating
sustainable land management with the guidance
of the Landcare network,” Senator Campbell said.
Mr McGauran said that many of
the funded projects would protect rivers and waterways
across Victoria, and provide important training
and support for landholders and other land managers
to enhance their skills.
“In Glenelg and Portland, landholders
will receive advice and assistance to reduce nitrogen
and phosphorus entering our waterways, improve
water quality and prevent dangerous algal blooms.
Landholders in West Gippsland
will receive support to improve the management
of their waterways, soils and salinity-affected
land.
Mr Thwaites highlighted a community-based
project raising public awareness of water quality
and catchment health issues. The Waterwatch programme
engages communities and schools across the State
in practical local water quality monitoring.
“Another project based in the
bush to Melbourne’s east will conserve and protect
the critically-endangered Helmeted Honeyeater.
Funding will be used to employ a field ornithologist
to monitor and track the bird’s progress in the
wild,” he said.
“This investment in Victoria’s
environment includes recovery plan funding for
scores of different threatened and endangered
species across the state,” he said.
Mr Cameron said the $84 million
included $4.6 million for improving sustainable
irrigation in the Shepparton region, including
assistance for landholders to install on-farm
ground water pumps and water re-use systems.
“Many of the projects include
direct action against the weeds and pest animals
reducing farm productivity,” said Mr Cameron.
“These practical projects with
tangible outcomes for landholders fight salinity,
weeds, erosion, and other threats to their land.
They build long-term farm viability and make the
most of scarce water resources,” he said.
A summary of projects in the
10 regions is attached. For more information about
Natural Resource Management visit www.nrm.gov.au
Summary of activities under
the NAP & Trust package for Victorian regions
NHT funds are matched by cash and in-kind contributions
by the Victorian Government. Funding is for two
years.
West Gippsland ($4.6 million
Trust) key activities include work to protect
threatened flora and fauna species; monitoring
water quality to improve catchment health; development
of sustainable effluent and nutrient management
practices; on-ground works to protect biodiversity,
cultural sites and infrastructure; education and
training to improve on-farm management techniques
and community involvement in a seed bank enterprise.
For more information contact Martin Fuller on
(03) 5157 7800.
Wimmera ($10.95 million NAP
& Trust) key activities include work to improve
salinity and soil conditions across the region;
protecting vegetation through better management
by landholders; planting and fencing to protect
the habitat of the Striped Legless Lizard; community
education into sustainable methods of wetland
management; fencing, revegetation and off-stream
watering to rehabilitate riparian land; and planting
saltbush plants and trees to manage salinity.
For more information contact Mark Goode on (03)
5382 1544.
Corangamite ($7.9 million NAP
& Trust) key activities include fencing and
revegetation to improve water quality in the Western
District Lakes; stabilising the Pennyroyal Creek
through grade control, weed management, revegetation
and construction of erosion control structures;
assisting dairy farmers to install new effluent
systems and reduce the flow of effluent into catchments;
revegetation, weed removal, fencing and track
closures to protect sand dunes in the region.
For more information contact Peter Codd on (03)
5232 9100.
Goulburn Broken ($19 million
NAP & Trust) key activities include monitoring
salt output from observation bores and mapping
to refine groundwater flow systems in Broken Plains;
restoration of degraded waterways, control of
pests and planting vegetation to protect water
quality and biodiversity; and revegetation, pasture
establishment, fencing and off-stream erosion
works to protect native vegetation across the
Broken Dryland. For more information contact Megan
McFarlane on (03) 5820 1000. key activities include
monitoring salt output from observation bores
and mapping to refine groundwater flow systems
in Broken Plains; restoration of degraded waterways,
control of pests and planting vegetation to protect
water quality and biodiversity; and revegetation,
pasture establishment, fencing and off-stream
erosion works to protect native vegetation across
the Broken Dryland. For more information contact
Megan McFarlane on (03) 5820 1000.
Port Phillip and Westernport
($4.8million Trust) key activities include providing
education and training to community groups, students
and local government representatives in river
health monitoring techniques; work to protect
the critically-endangered Helmeted Honeyeater
and threatened Eastern Barred Bandicoot; studies
into reef-fish communities in Port Phillip Bay;
and development of case studies into difficulties
of sustainable land management in Green Wedge.
For more information contact David Thomas on (03)
9785 0183.
Mallee ($8.4 million NAP &
Trust) key activities include technical support
to landholders and community groups to implement
sustainable landscape management processes; investigation
of biology, ecology and population dynamics to
protect the Murray Hardyhead; upgrading irrigation
systems to reduce drainage volumes and deliver
environmental benefits; and work to protect and
improve biodiversity through the implementation
of Biodiversity Action Plans for five of the region’s
seven landscape zones. For more information contact
Grant Brooks on (03) 5051 4377.
North East ($2.1 Trust) key
activities include works to protect, improve and
revegetate important habitat through vegetation
protection and lucerne establishment; developing
a framework for assessing and managing climate
change on natural resources in the region; and
sediment and pest plant management, river stabilisation,
fencing and revegetation to maintain healthy rivers
and streams in the Ovens Basin. For more information
contact Geoff Robinson on (03) 6043 10000.
North Central ($14.9 million
NAP & Trust) key activities include groundwater
monitoring of wetlands to develop integrated Wetland
Operational Plans; gully rehabilitation, native
vegetation protection, revegetation and riparian
protection to improve salinity management; and
improving water quality and river health within
the Coliban River catchment through erosion control,
buffer strip establishment and vegetation protection
works. For more information contact Paula Camenzuli
on (03) 5440 1837.
Glenelg Hopkins ($9.1 million
NAP & Trust) key activities include on-ground
works to remove deciduous tree weeds and plant
native vegetation to improve water quality in
the Wannon and Glenelg Rivers; development of
strategies to protect and conserve threatened
species including the Orange-bellied Parrot and
the Eastern Barred Bandicoot; and works to control
pests, plants and animals in an effort to implement
native vegetation management, water quality and
salinity control programs. For more information
contact Georgie Luckock on (03) 5571 2526.
East Gippsland ($2.1 million
Trust) key activities include preparing maps for
future revegetation and river rehabilitation works;
trials to identify sustainable methods for erosion
control on the Gippsland Lakes; works to reverse
long-term decline of paddock trees from dieback,
clearing and lack of regeneration; development
of foreshore management plans to protect coastal
areas in the region; and implementation of National
Recovery Plans for 16 nationally threatened species
including the Long-footed Potoroo and Buchan Blue
Wattle. For more information contact Russell Broomhall
on (03) 5150 3566.
