KI receives protection money!
Kangaroo Island has been awarded $2.2 million from the Australian Government’s Clean Energy Future Biodiversity Fund to support three Kangaroo Island NRM Board projects to protect wetlands, vegetation and glossy black-cockatoo habitat.
The Board’s Presiding Member Richard Trethewey, outlined the benefits to the Island,
‘Kangaroo Island is fortunate to receive grants for this amount of money for additional and ongoing biodiversity projects. This is a significant amount of money to be distributed within our KI community and will greatly enhance our already highly recognised standing in ecological management.’
The three projects that received funding are:
Restoring and protecting nationally significant wetlands and river systems.
This project will improve the condition, health, extent and connectivity of 1,172 ha of the Island’s nationally important wetlands and riparian vegetation through habitat restoration and biodiverse plantings, in conjunction with weed and pest animal control activities: $367,500 to be spent over three years.
Stepping stones and corridors to connectivity on Kangaroo Island
This project will increase the block size and connectivity of vegetation communities across KI through protection from stock and revegetation: $870,000 to be spent over three years.
Connecting, enhancing and managing glossy black-cockatoo habitat.
This project will restore and connect critical habitat for the SA subspecies of the Glossy Black-Cockatoo across its current and former range and will manage current threats to their recovery including nest predators and competitors: $996,000 to be spent over six years.
Commenting on the projects Mr Trethewey said,
‘Money available for investigative work in vegetation restoration, weed and pest animal control will have flow-on benefits to on-ground management projects and will further benefit sustainable practices into the future.
It is good to see additional money provided for overdue work on the Island’s river and wetland systems. Measuring and monitoring water quality and quantity, together with further study of our rivers and wetlands, both fresh and saline and their accompanying vegetation, is important.’
While not all projects were able to be funded, Mr Trethewey said that it was important to ‘recognise the value of these grants to this community and work together to ensure that they produce the very best environmental outcomes.’