On-ground actions
Would you like to increase and/or enhance native vegetation and wildlife habitat on your property?
Connecting Country works with landholders and community groups to restore landscapes across the Mount Alexander region, including working on both public and private land. Activities that may be funded include grazing regime change, exclusion fencing, pest plant and animal control, revegetation and natural regeneration. For eligible projects, Connecting Country may also provide technical advice, management plans, biodiversity assessments, contractor or work crew labour and incentive payments.
Our various projects are funded with grants from a variety of sources and generally support eligible landholders to protect, improve or create native vegetation, with a focus on increasing understorey health and diversity. The assistance we can offer landowners depends on the projects we currently have funded.
Planting of understorey species in woodland habitat (photo by Gen Kay)
Current opportunities for landholders
PROJECT: Habitat trees for Phascogales
Do you have bushland on your property? Are you in the Mount Alexander Shire? Do you want to increase habitat for local fauna?
The unique and threatened Brush-tailed Phascogale relies on large old trees for breeding and foraging habitat. These trees also provide essential habitat for a diverse community of species by providing resources such as hollows, leaf litter and fallen limbs. Such habitat trees are a finite resource and it can take hundreds of years for them to form.
Our ‘habitat trees for Phascogales’ project aims to increase nesting opportunities for the Brush-tailed Phascogale and other native fauna through nest box installation within the landscape.
Looking for Landholders
We are looking for landholders in the Mount Alexander Shire area who are interested in participating.
Appropriate candidates will have:
The iconic Phascogale, rarely seen but never forgotten. Photo by Geoff Park
- Eucalyptus trees with reasonably large trunks for installation of nest boxes.
- A willingness to retain fallen limbs, leaf litter and areas of intact habitat.
- A commitment to ongoing low-level maintenance of nest boxes, weed and pest animal control.
If your property is suitable for the project, we will:
- Conduct a site assessment to identify potential Phascogale habitat.
- Provide and install Phascogale nest boxes using a qualified contractor.
- Provide additional advice and support as required.
Priority will be given to properties that contain, or are connected to, the most suitable Phascogale habitat.
Landholder expressions of interest
If you meet the criteria above and are keen to protect and restore Phascogale habitat on your land, please complete our expression of interest form –EOI Click Here.
Return it?to Connecting Country via email (bonnie@connectingcountry.org.au).
Expressions of interest close on 20 January 2025.
To learn more about the Brush-tailed Phascogale, click here.
The Habitat Trees for Phascogales project is supported by the Victorian Government through the Nature Fund and the Ian and Shirley Norman Foundation.
ONGOING: Connecting Country landholder register
We are always on the look out for properties and landholders to add to the Connecting Country register. Once we have your the property details on file, we can contact you as opportunities arise.
To qualify your property will need to meet the following criteria:
- Location – within Mount Alexander Shire, Victoria.
- Land tenure – private land owned by the applicant.
- Commitment – landholders willing and able to commit to land management actions (e.g., weed and rabbit control, supplementary planting, grazing exclusion, retaining fallen trees).
- Long-term benefits – properties and landholders likely to result in long-term improvements in biodiversity and habitat quality for woodland birds and other native species.
Whether you are at the beginning of your journey with learning more about looking after the bush, or managing habitat on your property, or are more experienced with managing your land for habitat, we encourage all interested landholders in the Mount Alexander region to complete a general expression of interest form.
To access the general expression of interest form – Click here
To find out more about our current projects or discuss your eligibility, call the Connecting Country office on 0493 362 394. If you have filled out an expression of interest form in the past 12 months, we have you on file and you don’t need to fill in another form, but you can always let us know you are still interested by emailing info@connectingcountry.org.au.
Planting on Mount Alexander by the Little Habitat Heroes team in 2017