The South Coast communities’ collaborative approach to protecting and restoring their unique plants and animals and farming land has been endorsed by the Federal Government and supported with almost 5,000 to advance a key local strategy.
The update of ‘Southern Prospects – the South Coast Regional Strategy for Natural Resource Management’ will build upon 13 years and over 10,000,000 of strategic work between Walpole and Esperance and adjacent inland areas.
“Southern Prospects is a community-driven strategy, based on sound scientific evidence, which is facilitated by South Coast Natural Resource Management” said South Coast NRM CEO Justin Bellanger. “Its strength is that it merges the community’s desire to protect the things that matter to them with the science that identifies where the most urgent need is and how best to do it”.
This has resulted in large-scale outcomes for a broad range of activities. “There’s far too much to list everything, but with the help of a broad range of partners we have installed nesting boxes for threatened Carnaby’s Cockatoos, controlled feral cats, foxes and pigs, removed weeds, planted trees for food and shelter for honey possums, dibblers and malleefowls and protected our beaches and coastal areas from being loved to death. We’ve also helped local farmers with managing their soils and water and adapting to a changing climate.” said Mr Bellanger. “We are looking forward to identifying the future priorities for the regional community, and how we can continue to make our part of the world a better place for ourselves and future generations” he said.
The update of Southern Prospects has been funded through the Building Better Regions Fund administered by AusIndustry. Rick Wilson MP, Member for O’Connor, said that “It’s great to see a strong and trusted regional group like South Coast NRM continue to work with the local community to plan for and deliver landcare projects on a scale that really makes a difference”.
The update of Southern Prospects will begin later this year and be completed in 2018. Further details on how the community can contribute will be available at www.southcoastnrm.com.au or by contacting Ms Penni Hewett (Operations Manager) on 08 9845 8537.