The title of the grant is Community Building Biolinks from the Seed Up; its value is $29,500.
The proposal is that biolinks (these were until recently called biodiversity corridors) be planted to expand the endangered communities of White Box and Yellow Box trees on the plains of the Delatite catchment. These corridors will then be linked with the large areas of remnant vegetation on the nearby ranges. The areas to be planted will be identified using the mapping data from our Local Area Plan. And the species to be planted in the corridors will be sourced at least in part from an expansion of our native plant propagation project.





Caring for our Country grant: Community Building Biolinks from the Seed Up
Historically the area has been
cleared extensively on the Red Gum (Eucalyptus
camaldulensis), Yellow Box (Eucalyptus melliodora) and White Box (Eucalyptus albens) plains and valleys for agricultural purposes. These are
now listed as Endangered by the Victorian Government in the bioregions in which Mansfield district
is included. Mansfield Shire has the highest
annual growth rate in regional Victoria which can be attributed to the ‘tree change’phenomenon with
the rural and nautral atmosphere of the district attractingsignificant migration from the
Melbourne area. To accommodate this growth a significant proportion of the
plains and valley area has been subdivided into rural living allotments. People
buying these properties often have little aspirations for continuing
agricultural activities and look to Landcare to assist with revegetation
projects on their properties.
 Up2Us Landcare Alliance proposes
to utilise existing Local Area Plan information from Landcare groups in the district to identify
priority areas to increase the Red Gum, Yellow Box and White Box habitats of
the plains and valley areas and create biolinks to reconnect these habitats to
the areas of remnant vegetation predominantly on the ranges. This will result
in a net gain of endangered native habitat but also provide an opportunity for
native fauna to adapt to Climate Change by moving to cooler climates on the
Alpine areas.
 Over the past 10 years the
Mansfield district has been affected by drought with annual rainfall up to 55%
less than the long term average. As a result local nursery businesses have been
severely affected with many closing
permanently and therefore the demand for local native plant species cannot be met by remaining
businesses. Delatite Landcare group currently run a Community Nursery and Up2Us Landcare
Alliance propose to extend this non-for-profit service to supply seedlings to create the biolinks.
 The Mansfield community will be
invited to participate in seed collection and plant propagation to assist with the operation of the Community Nursery.
All organisations under the Up2Us umbrella can, and we hope will, be involved. Indeed, the Up2Us executive has begun to develop a strategy for implementation of the project.