Grants program a pioneering effort

I WAS very proud to announce the recipients of round one funding from the Dandenong Ranges Environment and Bushfire Reduction Community Grants Program at Emerald Lake last Friday.
As a part of the $4.3 million commitment I made to the environmental health of the Dandenong Ranges prior to my election in 2013, round one of this grants program, which will total $2.4 million of funding, saw 23 groups receive $1,033,912 for 29 projects which are across both public and private lands.
This pioneering grants program has contributed to groups such as the Southern Ranges Environment Alliance, Friends of Sassafras Creek, Monbulk Landcare Group, and Belgrave Heights/South CFA being able to complete projects, which include the Belgrave South Fuel Management Project, Puffing Billy Railway Environment Improvement and Bushfire Risk Landscape Project, and the Control of Sweet Pittosporum in the Dandenong Ranges Project just to name a few.
These projects range from smaller amounts of funding like $2050 all the way to $300,000 grants, so I would encourage anyone who’s interested in applying for round two of the Dandenong Ranges Environment and Bushfire Reduction Community Grants Program to start looking into the process as there is no project too big or too small to consider.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of those groups represented on the board of this grants program; their work was incredibly difficult as we had a high calibre of applications to consider.
These groups include the Port Philip Westernport Catchment Management Authority, the Dandenong Ranges Bushfire Landscape Project, the Country Fire Authority, the Dandenong Ranges Landscape Strategy Group – Community Advisory Group (CAG), the Dandenong Ranges Landscape Strategy Group – Community Advisory Group, the Yarra Ranges Council, Parks Victoria, the Yarra Ranges Landcare Network, the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, the Cardinia Council, and Melbourne Water.
On a side note, for those who are interested in the progress of the Wandering Trad Bio-Controls Program, I recently visited CSIRO in Canberra to get an update on the research being done.
Stage one of research is now complete and it’s looking as if we may have successful results to act on in the form of safe bio-control agents.
I am currently seeking funding for stage two of the research and implementation of a Wandering Trad biocontrol and look forward to keeping you updated in the future.