Thursday, 22 February 2024
FUNDING TO PROTECT YARROWEE RIVER WATERWAYS
Michaela Settle announced today that the Bunanyung Landscape Alliance, in partnership with the Yarrowee Leigh Catchment Group, are receiving $701,584 from the Green Links Grant Program to protect and revegetate 13 sites in the urban heart of Ballarat, providing the community with more green spaces to enjoy nature.
The upper reaches of the Yarrowee River and its tributaries are in varying stages of degradation due to urbanisation, gold-rush history, and neglect. This project is designed to connect, establish, and revegetate these riparian zones to provide wildlife corridors, urban cooling, habitat, and increased biodiversity. The grant will allow consultation on floristics mapping, weed control, planting, installation of habitat logs, and community events and workshops.
The Allan Labor Government is helping to improve habitats for native wildlife across Victoria’s iconic urban rivers and creeks, including the Yarrowee River, through the new funding boost for environmental restoration projects. Community groups, water or land managers, Traditional Owners and local councils received up to $200,000 for small projects and up to $2 million for large-scale projects.
Minister for Water Harriet Shing announced the first round of successful grants through the $10 million Green Links Grant Program, which will support local projects along Victoria’s urban waterways to deliver up to 300 hectares of revegetated land for communities to enjoy and wildlife to thrive.
Victoria’s waterways are home to more than 1,800 species of native plants and 600 species of native animals – and revegetation projects like this are essential to waterway and their parkland corridors.
Victoria’s urban waterways hold significant social, cultural, environmental, and economic value to Traditional Owners and community. This program will bring together community groups, Traditional Owners and councils to ensure the management of waterways and their lands realises the cultural values of Traditional Owners and community aspirations.
The Labor Government is investing $10 million over three years into the grant program. This complements the more than $300 million invested over four years to improve the health of waterways and catchments across regional Victoria and Melbourne – building on a further $224 million towards enhancing in regional waterways,
For more information on the Green Links Grants Program and future funding opportunities, visit https://www.water.vic.gov.au/grants/green-links-grants.
Quote attributed to Michaela Settle, State Member for Eureka:
"The Yarrowee River runs through the very heart of Ballarat and we need to protect its ecosystem so that it remains a place for all of the community to enjoy."
