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 depend on the projects we currently have funded. 

Planting of understorey species in woodland habitat (photo by Gen Kay)

Current opportunities for landholders

Project: Looking for landholders: Bursaria for butterflies  (PROJECT FUNDING ALLOCATED-APPLICATIONS CLOSED)

We are looking for interested landholders with properties (of at least 1 acre) adjacent to the known local populations of the Eltham Copper Butterfly around Castlemaine, VIC.

Assistance for landholders

If your property is suitable for the project, we will:

• Visit your property to identify remnant vegetation and assess its potential as butterfly habitat.
• Discuss management actions and provide you with advice on how to protect, connect and enhance butterfly habitat on your property.
• Provide suitable indigenous understory plants and plant guards for revegetation, with a focus on Sweet Bursaria.

For five key landholders with larger properties, we will also:

• Develop a written property management plan setting our on-ground actions to protect and improve butterfly habitat.
• Supply contractor support for weed and rabbit control, and revegetation planting.
• Provide ongoing advice on how to manage your property as butterfly habitat.

To find out more about the criteria, and how to apply – click here

Project: Looking for landowners: Large old trees, on-ground works

(Coming soon)

Connecting Country landholder register

We seek properties and landholders for our woodland habitat projects that 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.

Thanks for your interest!

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 

Once we have your details on file, we can let you know of assistance opportunities, as they arise.

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

Connecting Country’s on-ground landscape restoration projects usually involve the following steps:

Step 1. Landholders or community groups contact Connecting Country to express an interest in doing a restoration project on their property.

Step 2. After speaking with the landholder or group, Connecting Country conducts a desktop study of the property location to determine its eligibility for being involved in one or more of the current Connecting Country programs.

Step 3. (a) If the property is eligible for direct support, Connecting Country staff visit the property to complete a site assessment. During the assessment we record plant species present, map any areas of native vegetation, and identify any threatening processes (e.g., weeds, rabbits). We also ask about the landholder or group’s aspirations for the property, and discuss potential project areas and management options.

Step 3. (b) If the property is not eligible for direct support, Connecting Country will assist the landholder or group by providing technical information and contacts for other potential support. We may also add the property to our database should new opportunities arise with Connecting Country in future.

Step 4. Based on the site visit and the discussions with the landholder or group about project options, Connecting Country staff prepare a draft management plan that includes the site assessment results, maps, a description and timeline of management actions, and a budget. The landholder or group provide feedback on the draft plan we review the plan to ensure it’s acceptable to the landholder or group, while also meeting Connecting Country’s project requirements. Timelines for plans vary between one and ten years depending on the project. Only plans that are fully supported and accepted by the landholder or group proceed to the next step.

Step 5. Connecting Country staff submit the final agreed version of the plan for review and endorsement by the Connecting Country Committee of Management.

Step 6. Once approved by the committee, the plan is ready for implementation. We provide funding documents and stewardship agreements for the landholder or group to sign.

Step 7. During the first year of the plan’s implementation, Connecting Country usually provides in-kind or direct funding assistance with some of the more intensive on-ground actions. Connecting Country offers ongoing technical advice and support throughout the life of the management plan.