Yarra4Life received funding from DEECA’s Our Communities Our Catchments program to deliver this project between 2022 – 2024. It was a unique opportunity to achieve multiple benefits including biodiversity, threatened species recovery, water quality, sustainable agriculture, river health, articulating and delivering on Traditional Owner aspirations and community empowerment by working across the landscape.
The project used integrated catchment management principles in partnership with a range of organisations through the Yarra4Life program to address numerous threatening processes. It involved working with Traditional Owners, private and public land managers, and the broader community to:
- Partner with Wurundjeri Woi wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation in the governance, planning and implementation of this project.
- Support landowners to build skills, knowledge and capacity in restoring landscape function, protecting biodiversity, enhancing nutrient and water cycling and increasing soil carbon to create resilient properties capable of withstanding climate related pressures.
- Establish a framework to enable future release sites for the Helmeted Honeyeater and lowland Leadbeater’s Possum by restoring habitat and wetlands across the Yarra River floodplain, helping build resilience of both species to climate change and reduce extinction risk from bushfires.
- Improve the Yarra River floodplain, billabongs and riparian zones by planting indigenous vegetation, removing weeds, managing pest animals and improving water quality through the reduction of sediment, chemical and nutrient inputs.
Key achievements from this project included: - 15 Land Stewardship plans developed that support landowners to implement regenerative agriculture and environmental restoration activities on their properties.
- The total figures for on-ground works delivered through these plans with funding for this project are not yet finalised but will be in the order of Reveg – 20ha, Weeds control – 200ha
- Three habitat restoration studies completed to identify the potential for restoration to support Helmeted Honeyeater and lowland Leadbeater’s Possum on private land
- Numerous community events to support the Yarra Valley community to participate in citizen science
- Farmer field days to train farmers in regenerative agriculture attended by over 380 participants.
- Permanently protected one property by establishing a conservation covenant through Trust for Nature.
