The North East Catchment Management Authority (North East CMA) has $940,000 available for landholders and community groups to improve the condition and extent of land along waterways and wetlands within our catchment.
North East CMA Senior Project Officer, Inneke Nathan, said the incentives encourage landholders and community groups to work in partnership with each other and the CMA to improve waterway and wetland health. Some examples of works the incentives can support include fencing to manage stock along waterways, revegetating areas and controlling invasive pest plants.
Sites on priority waterways and wetlands are a key target of the program and Ms Nathan said “where there are adjoining landholders along a stretch of waterway who are keen to make improvements, we will encourage them to work together and with us to coordinate a project”.
The expressions of interest process opened 1 August and closes 14 September.
The program builds on four years of prior incentives funding with continuous improvement incorporated into its planning and delivery. In 2017-18 the Waterway Incentives provided over half a million dollars across 37 sites, which will result in the establishment of almost 340 hectares weed control, 23 nest box installations, revegetation of 77 hectares using over 24,000 tube stock, and almost 25 kilometres of fence construction over approximately 350 hectares of project area.
The Upper Kiewa Landcare Group successfully applied for a Waterways Incentive Grant for 2017-18.
Kiewa Catchment Landcare Groups Facilitator, Megan Hughes, said the grant enabled the group to undertake extensive weed removal, with the work completed by group members, assisted by the Landmates program.
The site at Rockpool Rd in Mt Beauty has been a key project for this group for many years and is a community asset with a walking trail and swimming hole, Ms Hughes said. “This Purple Top weed has plagued the site and increased each year with seeding, so this project funding meant for the first time the group members have got 'on top' of this weed.”
After weed removal and control methods were carried out, the site was planted and is looking fantastic, Ms Hughes noted. Five nesting boxes were also installed at this community site and it is hoped that gliders will use them as artificial habitat.
Ms Hughes said the Waterways Incentives provide important funding for waterway rehabilitation projects such as weed control and revegetation. “This sort of basic but important environmental project is increasingly hard to find funding for, so these grants help to reduce the impact of weed issues that would otherwise carry on and compound into the future,” she said.
The Waterways Incentives funding is provided through the Victorian Government’s $222 million investment over four years to improve the health of waterways and catchments through the Regional Riparian Action Plan and the Our Catchment Our Communities programs.
For more information please visit http://www.necma.vic.gov.au/Solutions/Grants-Incentives Enquiries relating to the program should be directed to incentives@necma.vic.gov.au or to 1300 216 513.
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