Wrapping up our 2023 Victorian Landcare Grant Reports
Each year, Landcare groups across Victoria apply for the Landcare Grants to help fund their activities for the year. We recently finished reporting on two Landcare grants from the 2023 round that finished up this year.
Project 1: Lake Marma: Controlling Invasive Weeds
We were contacted in May 2023 by Lake Marma Committee of Management (LMCoM) for assistance applying for a grant so that the Committee could control some invasive weeds around the lake. The dedicated committee had already written most of the application but needed some help finalising and submitting it, so we were glad to help.
For a modest funding request of $790 (to cover herbicide, spraying equipment and protective equipment), the LMCoM were able to leverage around $1000 of volunteer in-kind contributions to complete the work. This is a good return on investment for public funds, helps to beautify the lake and protect the environment, and supports the public land manager by completing works that might not otherwise be able to be scheduled so soon. In this way, the Landcare Grants allow us to direct public funds to local environmental priorities, through volunteer power! Great job folks.
Furthermore, the equipment will now allow the committee to keep on top of weed problems in future. While they made a good dent, weed control always requires ongoing monitoring and follow-up.
Although LMCoM is not a Landcare organisation, their project was very much a Landcare activity. Because of this, and because there is no existing Landcare group in Murtoa, we were very happy to partner with them for this initiative.
We’re always happy to discuss projects like this with non-Landcare groups. If you’d like to explore Landcare Grant funding, it’s essential to get in touch as early as possible in the calendar year for the current round of funding. Contact us today.
Project 2: Yarrilinks rebooted
This project allowed us to reboot Yarrilinks after a prolonged period of stagnation following COVID and vacancy in the facilitator position. The goal was to deliver activities for each of the Landcare groups supported by Yarrilinks, and spread activities across the Yarrilinks region.
For a funding amount of $14,400, we were able to deliver a whopping $70,000 of value in terms of volunteer in-kind contributions! This allowed us to deliver many engagement events/initiatives, including the following outputs:
1 km of fencing for reveg, totalling 80 volunteer hours
3.5 ha of revegetation, involving 207 volunteers contributing 454 hours
10.5 ha of weed control, involving 30 volunteers contributing 430 hours
19 engagement events, involving 95 volunteers contributing 213 hours
62 publications (3 reports, 5 newsletters, 40 blog articles and 14 social media campaigns encompassing ~170 posts). These publications involved 8 volunteers contributing over 4 hours
6 assessments involving 18 volunteers contributing 91 hours
12.4 ha of rubbish cleanup involving 9 vlunteers contributing 13.5 hours
Immersive training for 1 volunteer who contributed around 18 hours
You can find more information on the various initiatives that were part of this project on our blog. Click on an image below to read more:
