Addressing Emerging Challenges for ACT Natural Resource Management

The Small Projects funding operated in 2007-08.

ACT NRM Council allocated funds to a variety of small projects to a maximum of $10,000 to address emerging natural resource management issues in the ACT, test new ideas or address unexpected issues arising from other funded projects. The funds were sourced from a combination of Natural Heritage Trust (NHT) and National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality (NAP) funds provided by the Australian and ACT Governments.

The funds available from this source are now fully committed.

The following projects were funded:

Molonglo Catchment Weed Education Initiative – addressing high priority weeds causing a decline in biodiversity in the Molonglo catchment through education, advice, distribution of information packages and field days.

Ecological Targets for Fire Management- Deriving Biodiversity Thresholds for the Conservation of Plant Species – producing advice about fire biodiversity thresholds for conservation of plant species in Namadgi National Park and other conservation areas.

NRM Information Dissemination Units – dealing with emerging issue of information dissemination to peri-urban landholders, a sector of the community who have been identified as requiring an increase in funding to facilitate better engagement in natural resource management issues.

Good Algae and Bad Algae – establishing the necessary background data to develop an Algae Score similar to the signal 2 score for macro-invertebrates, by collecting and identifying the filamentous algae at Waterwatch sites throughout the Southern ACT. Algal presence associated with real field conditions will enable good and bad algae to be distinguished and help further identify problem sites.

Being Well Connected – developing a web based platform for the ACT NRM community that will enable community groups’ websites to be linked using the Open Source (OS) Content Management System (CMS), Drupal.

Willow Management Workshops – increasing understanding and acceptance of the need for willow control and raise the capacity of community groups and landholders to undertake control works and monitoring tasks.

Along the Molonglo Art Prize – Innovation Award - providing a special prize for the Artists Society of Canberra’s Annual Art Exhibition. This Annual art competition supports new ways of communicating the values of the Molonglo catchment, one of the three sub catchments in the ACT region.

Supporting Upper Murrumbidgee Catchment Coordinating Committees’ Peri- Urban Weed Management Research - providing support to the research project Exploring Agents of Change to Peri –Urban Weed Management funded under the Defeating the Weed Menace Research and Development Program.

Urban Habitat Guidelines Reprint and Dissemination – producing additional copies of the Urban Habitat Guidelines for the ACT, originally produced as part of the “Life in the Suburbs” project co-funded by the Natural Heritage Trust (NHT), and disseminate copies to enhance community awareness of urban ecology/biodiversity and the role it plays in the development of sustainable cities and communities.

Mapping Lower Molonglo – Initial Phase – developing a map of the Lower Molonglo River Valley through a partnership between community volunteers and Hawker College, with ACT Government, Commonwealth Government and Molonglo Catchment Group help and interaction between students, expert community resource persons, relevant government employees and Belconnen residents with direct local knowledge.

Gungahlin Sustainable Fair – supporting this Fair on 9 December 2007 in the Gungahlin Town Centre promoting sustainable living to Gungahlin residents including information on how they may engage in local natural resource management activities.

Friends of Mt Majura Biodiversity and Conservation Talks’ 2008 - running series of conservation and biodiversity talks which aim to foster appreciation and enriched knowledge of Australian species, raise awareness on conservation values, and encourage participation in conservation programs and actions and increase membership in park care.

Serrated Tussock Control Trailer – increasing the ability of landholders to combat serrated tussock and increase, in general, the awareness of serrated tussock and the work being undertaken to combat effects.

Future Footprints – Sustainability Expo - creating an event at the Belconnen festival on 15 November 2008, which engages a broad cross section of the Canberra community in sustainability matters, presenting the many avenues available for individual citizens to take action to reduce their footprint through participation, awareness raising and action.

Canberra’s’ Nature - raising community awareness on the values of Canberra Nature Park and other natural areas within the urban area by producing a series of postcards and associated banners from high quality images taken within the southern reserves of Canberra Nature Park.

Community Sensory garden at Pegasus Riding for the Disabled – offering tactile, olfactory and auditory sensory experiences to clients while they are waiting for their riding lessons. The native garden will add to the experience that Pegasus offers to people with a disability, by creating an environment where clients can explore various plants through touching, smelling, hearing and sight and will incorporate wheel chair accessible paths around environmental features (e.g. dam) to encourage the children’s interaction and engagement with the environment and its wildlife.

Ready Cut Cottage Artists in Residency and Public Forum – building awareness, community participation, and education of Canberra’s distinct natural and cultural environment to a diverse sector of the community through art.

The Canvas Project - engaging artists with large urban communities (such as Canberra) to address sustainability issues, stemming from a current ARC linkage project( ANU/MDBC) which investigates procedures for artist/community engagement in small communities to assist natural resource management.

Mt Painter Regeneration Enclosure and Erosion control - producing a kangaroo proof fence and provide the opportunity for yellow box to regenerate within the fence and, if it does not, to plant yellow box seedlings and to establish ground cover and a small number of shrubs and small trees in the enclosure and also give continued support for branch and log laying and associated planting round the steeper parts of the South West hillsides.

Native Vegetation Conservation Mechanisms for the ACT - promoting a comprehensive, contemporary native vegetation conservation policy instruments for the ACT in order to ensure long term protection and enhancement of the overall area and quality of native vegetation in the ACT.