Bat monitoring, revegetation and community workshops are some of the Moorabool initiatives that received funding through a Landcare grant round announced this month.
Announced on 8 October, fourteen Landcare groups that operate across Moorabool received grants, with the overall program providing $3.65 million towards 230 project grants and 302 support grants.
Moorabool Catchment Landcare Group received $13,425 towards a bat monitoring program and Lal Lal Catchment Landcare Group $17,890 towards a revegetation project.
Friends of Paddock Creek, Upper Williamsons Creek Landcare Group, Friends of the Barwon, Bunanyung Landscape Alliance, Bacchus Marsh Council Trench Committee of Management, Rowsley Landcare Group, Moorabool Environment Group, and Bacchus Marsh Platypus Alliance each received a $500 support grant.
In the Melbourne Water project grants category, Friends of Werribee Gorge and Long Forest Mallee received $19,984 towards revegetation, weeding, signage and education at the Werribee Gorge Circuit Walk; Moorabool Landcare Network received $4997; and Blackwood and Barrys Reef Landcare Group received $1890.
According to Moorabool Catchment Landcare Group, its project grant will go towards purchasing monitoring equipment to work with Federation Uni students, landholders and Arthur Rylah Institute experts to study microbats, install nest boxes and restore habitat.
Group Landcare coordinator Jackson Cass said the project’s title – Simon Cook Memorial Bat Monitoring Program – honours an important figure in the group’s history.
“The program honours the late Simon Cook, who was a former Moorabool Catchment Landcare president and Federation Uni lecturer,” he said.
“We hope through community involvement and education, it will raise awareness of bat conservation while ensuring Simon’s legacy continues through environmental stewardship in the Moorabool catchment,” he said.
Mr Cass said there are several microbat species in the Moorabool area, including many threatened species.
These include the Gould’s wattled bat, the chocolate wattled bat, the lesser long-eared bat, and the white-striped free-tailed bat.
“[The] greatest diversity of mammals in Moorabool is within the bat family, and we just don’t actually know a lot about them – including where they are and their number,” Mr Cass said.
Details: mooraboolcatchment.au
