Funding is available for landowners and farmers to protect woodlands and create or improve biolinks in the Yarra region.
The funding is available from Yarra4Life, a collaborative conservation project between the Port Phillip and Westernport CMA, local governments and both government and non-government organisations. The project is focused on improving the health and resilience of the Yarra Valley’s wildlife and its natural environment.
The funding is available to farmers and landholders in the Yarra4Life area. This area includes private properties between the Yellingbo Conservation Reserve, Kurth Kiln Regional Park, Warramate Nature Conservation Reserve, Yarra Ranges National Park and Dandenong Ranges National Park.
Over its three-year duration, Yarra4Life has contributed to the habitat of both the Helmeted Honeyeater and the Leadbeater’s Possum and has also helped landholders improve the condition of productive land in and around the project area.
The woodlands funding has been provided to Yarra4Life through the Australian Government’s Caring for our Country program. Woodlands by definition are broadly described as “ecosystems that contain widely spaced trees with their crowns not touching” (Hobbs, R. from Lindermayer, Crane and Michael 2005) and are seen as a priority for investment by the Australian Government.
The funding available for woodlands will assist private landowners to:
- Install fencing around woodlands and protect these areas from damage by stock.
- Carry out weed control to improve the quality of woodlands.
- Install local native plants to revegetate the land and create or improve woodland biolinks.
Eligible properties need to satisfy the following criteria:
- Be located in the Yarra4Life area (See general map or more detailed map of property boundaries)
- Contain woodlands; AND
- Be able to protect new or existing woodlands from stock with fencing; OR
- Be likely to have contained woodlands prior to European settlement; AND the owner is willing to revegetate all or part of the site with a suitable woodlands vegetation community; OR
- Be willing to have the existing woodlands improved through better weed management and/or revegetation AND
- Enter into a management agreement:
- for a minimum tenure of 4 years that identifies management actions and responsibilities AND
- to retain and maintain woodlands and protective fencing for a minimum of 5 years
Additional funding to create a biolink between Yellingbo Conservation Reserve and Kurth Kiln Regional Park has been committed by the Judith Eardley Save Wildlife Association. A biolink is a link in vegetation, in a largely cleared landscape that is critical for ecosystem function, including the movement of flora and fauna for the maintenance of viable populations (NSW Government 2003). The habitat area in and around the Yarra Valley is seen as a priority and the funding is provided to both protect and enhance this vegetation.
The biolink funding is available to landholders who are interested in assisting to create this biolink and agree for one or more of the following actions to be undertaken:
- Protection, improvement and creation of native wildlife habitat on their property, especially for threatened species such as the Helmeted Honeyeater and Leadbeater's Possum. This might include fencing, weed control and/or revegetation works.
- Sell some, or all, of their property to protect native wildlife habitat through a straight sale to a recognised agency or an environmental NGO.
- Agreement to covenant some or all of their property so that it contributes to the Biolink and is protected in perpetuity for the purpose of wildlife conservation.
Landowners can use the maps located at http://www.yarra4life.com.au/opportunities/landholders.aspx to assess whether they are eligible to apply for funding to protect, improve and increase the woodland vegetation community/biolink on their properties.
Landowners who think they are eligible for funding to protect, improve and increase the woodland vegetation community/biolink on their properties should contact Yarra4Life Coordinator Adam Shalekoff on Ph: 03 8781 7962. |