Round Five of Cradle Coast NRM’s Community Capacity Small Grants Program is well underway, providing funding and support to local community groups across north-west and western Tasmania to continue their valuable natural resource management (NRM) work both on the ground and through community engagement and education.
A total of $15,000 has been granted across eleven community groups to undertake a range of important NRM activities. Tackling weeds is a focus for many grant recipients, including rice grass treatment in Duck Bay, remote area weed treatment along the coastline of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area and treatment of willows along the Forth River.
Biodiversity and revegetation are also priorities, with native planting planned at the Community Farm in Oldina and at Sisters Beach. Devonport Community Landcare will use their funds to purchase equipment for both revegetation and weed control.
Other groups will deliver a combination of community engagement and conservation efforts, with the Ulverstone Community Garden planting native species and providing workshops on the benefits of incorporating native plants alongside edible gardens.
Cradle Mountain Wildcare will also provide workshops, with their activities focusing on the propagation and planting of native species endemic to Cradle Mountain. A recent successful workshop with Jim McLeod taught propagation techniques for local plants, which, once established, will be used in revegetation plantings around the Cradle Mountain Visitor Centre.
The protection of Little Penguins is another focus among the grant recipients. King Island Landcare is developing brochures on Little Penguins on the island, while Penguin Rehab and Rescue in Burnie will purchase cameras to assess the health of recovering penguins for release into the wild without human interaction.
Additionally, Keep Cups will be purchased for use at future North-West EcoFest events, completing a full set of reusable crockery for the event’s Waste Not Hub to eliminate single-use plastics.
Cradle Coast NRM wishes to congratulate all the successful groups, including Cradle Mountain Wildcare, the Circular Head Landcare Group, Devonport Community Landcare, King Island Landcare, Live Well Tasmania, the North West Environment Centre, Penguin Rehab and Release, Sisters Beach Wildcare, Wildcare SPRATS, the Ulverstone Community Garden and the Wilmot Willow Busters.
For more information or to be connected with one of the community groups to volunteer your time towards one of these invaluable projects, please contact Claire Jinnette, Cradle Coast NRM Engagement Officer at cjinnette@cradlecoast.com.
Cover image: Wildcare Cradle Mountain propagation workshop, credit Wildcare Cradle Mountain Volunteers
