News

Funding injection for Mallee groups

Sat, 05 Dec 2015 04:46:00

NINE community groups across the Mallee will mobilise 11 top-priority projects to  improve and protect the local environment after receiving grants totalling nearly a quarter of a million dollars.

A total of $226,105 in Australian Government funding has been allocated to community groups for on-ground environmental works under the 2015-16 Mallee Biodiversity Grants Program.
The grants round is supported by the Mallee Catchment Management Authority (CMA), through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Programme.
The Mallee CMA Chair Sharyon Peart said it was pleasing so many local groups received funding under the 2015 program.
“Every community in the Mallee has special areas they want to protect, or environmental projects they want to do,” Ms Peart said.
“They have great ideas and know where work needs to be done, but the difficulty is often in finding funding.
“Groups received amounts ranging from $12,000 up to $20,000 and we had a really diverse variety of projects funded, including rabbit and weed control, revegetation and stock exclusion fencing.”
Ms Peart said all of the projects will have a positive effect on biodiversity in local areas.
“It’s local groups who best know where the need is within their own areas and that’s why funding opportunities like these are so valuable,” Ms Peart said.
“Getting people involved also has positive impact on land management practices more generally, so while the projects themselves create a direct positive impact, the flow-on effects keep building down the line.”