Melbourne Water funds $500k in Landcare Grants to support volunteer groups

Melbourne Water funds $500k in Landcare Grants to support volunteer groups

Melbourne Water is proud to deliver over half a million dollars in funding to support environmental volunteering groups in Port Phillip and Westernport catchments. 

The successful applicants will receive funding this month to deliver a range of community projects and partnerships to protect and restore our natural environment in 2024.

30 organisations will receive funding up to $20,000 to deliver on-ground works to landscapes, while 78 more receive $500 grants for administration costs. 

This includes local volunteer groups such as Cardinia and West Gippsland Equine Landcare who received $10,800 to help rural equine property owners establish support healthy land management, by showing them how to identify and manage different types of pasture grasses, native grasses, and weeds on their properties.

The Holly Project in Moorabool received $10,400 to help public and private land managers control invasive English Holly in the Central Highland Uplands bioregion. 

Volunteers at the South Gippsland Landcare Network received $20,000 to enhance biodiversity in the Strzelecki Ranges Bioregion with a planting scheme to increase species richness, reduce erosion, and improve the quality of the water draining into Western Port. 

The funding also pays for four planting days hosted by Triholm-Poowong Landcare group to boost member and community engagement, along with other free community events to encourage volunteering.

In 2023, Victorian Landcare Grants provided by Melbourne Water supported 106 community events attended by 4,810 volunteers.

“Our volunteers work on the ground to care for our catchments, and that's why we continue to support these remarkable Victorians,” said Barry Kennedy, Regional Landcare Coordinator, Aboriginal Engagement & Community Connections.

“All the staff at Melbourne Water appreciate the work of our community groups along with neighbours and friends to change our world for the better, one project at a time.”

Landcare Grants support Biodiversity 2037 and the Victorians Volunteering for Nature plan as part of the Victorian Government’s long-term strategy to protect our environment. By creating and restoring habitat corridors, eradicating weeds and invasive species, and protecting endangered plants and animals, our Landcare volunteers are community groups bring that long-term vision to life.

See the full list of this year’s Victorian Landcare Grant recipients.

See the media release launching Biodiversity 2037, Protecting Victoria’s Biodiversity For Future Generations | Premier.

See Victorians Volunteering for Nature Plan (PDF).