Cook Government supports local conservation initiatives
- $7 million in State Natural Resource Management (NRM) Community Stewardship Grants to fund 55 local projects across WA
- Grants support local efforts to conserve and
enhance Western Australia's diverse environment
Conservation projects to care for Western Australia's vast landscape and
unique plants and animals have received $7 million
in funding from the Cook Government.
Community
Stewardship Grants have been allocated to 55 community-driven natural resource
management projects across the State.
The funding includes
small grants for 31 short-term projects and large grants for 24 longer term
endeavours.
Successful
projects include landcare capacity building, wetlands and catchment
rehabilitation, dieback control, weed management, Cyclone Seroja recovery, and
protection of threatened species such as black cockatoos, western ringtail possums
and Carter's freshwater mussels.
More than $390,000
will go towards a citizen scientist project to track endangered southern right
whales on the south coast of Western Australia, drawing on support from the
community and local Aboriginal rangers.
The three-year project will monitor southern right whale mothers and
calves as they remain close to shore where they can be observed and
photographed along breeding and calving coastal areas between Albany and
Hopetoun in the Great Southern region.
Scientists estimate the Australian population of southern
right whales is less than 3,500.
This project aims
to fill critical knowledge gaps to improve the species' conservation outcome
and empowers the community to engage directly in conservation-based management
actions.
The grants are
part of an ongoing funding WA Government commitment to the State Natural
Resource Management (NRM) program.
For a full list of 2023 Community Stewardship Grants visit: https://www.wa.gov.au/organisation/department-of-primary-industries-and-regional-development/state-natural-resource-management-program
Comments attributed to Agriculture and Food Minister Jackie Jarvis:
"I
congratulate these community-led groups who are delivering on-the-ground
projects, which will deliver benefits now and for future generations.
"There
is a strong contingent of multi-regional projects, showing increased collaboration for
landscape scale outcomes.
"These range from accelerating
regenerative agriculture adoption across broadacre farming and pastoral
regions, to enhancing the bushfire management skills of Indigenous rangers in
the Pilbara and Kimberley."
Comments
attributed to Water Minister Simone McGurk:
"Our unique waterways and ecosystems are
rightly cherished by the WA community. Their conservation
is an integral part of natural resource management in the
State.
"In Perth, the Beeliar
Wetlands and surrounds will benefit from a large-scale project focused on restoring the
landscape and creating community connections, with activities including weed
control, revegetation, surveying and event support."
Comments
attributed to Environment Minister Reece Whitby:
"These
projects, driven by dedicated groups and community members, will deliver
meaningful benefits in preserving and enhancing the local environment.
"A great local
project in the Perth Hills will undertake citizen science surveys using eDNA
and remote cameras to identify key habitat requirements to better protect the
native marsupial, the phascogale."