A new initiative to boost the number of the rare and endangered Helmeted Honeyeater is gathering force in Melbourne’s Upper Yarra Ranges.
The “Yarra 4 Life” project is a Port Phillip and Westernport Catchment Management Authority (PPWCMA) initiative in conjunction partner organisations and is investing $100,000 within six months on two major on-ground projects.
The first is revegetation near the Yellingbo State Park that aims to link-up the habitat of the Helmeted Honeyeater with more natural habitat in three large parks nearby.
“The Helmeted Honeyeaters are effectively in jail in the middle of Yellingbo, surrounded by cleared land,” said PPWCMA Yarra 4 Life Coordinator Greg Milne.
“We need to restore habitat so they have corridors that enable them to get to these neighboring parks and increase the chances of building up their numbers.”
Yarra 4 Life will invest $30,000 into the Macclesfield Landcare Group and the Friends of the Helmeted Honeyeater to help these groups carry on the work they’ve been doing to restore habitat along creeks, particularly the Manna Gum, Swamp Gum, Tea-Tree and Paperbark species.
“Despite all the effort that’s gone on to date, the bird could still become extinct if we don’t deliver corridors linking to the other parks,” Mr Milne said.
The Helmeted Honeyeater exists solely in Victoria, and is the state bird emblem, but only about 100 remain in the wild and almost all of these are in the Yellingbo State Park.
Yarra 4 Life will also invest $70,000 in local horticulture and demonstration farms through the Shire of Yarra Ranges Landcare Facilitator. The process will deliver a series of demonstration farms showcasing modern best practice horticulture, particularly for water management.
Three demonstration farms will show how owners of small lifestyle properties can contribute to restoring habitat for the Helmeted Honeyeater on their land. A further three demonstrations will occur on commercial horticultural properties to show how growers can improve water use efficiency and management.
One year since its inception, Yarra 4 Life has been able to unite farmers, government agencies and the tourism sector behind a broad agenda aimed at restoring environmental values and generating new economic activity in the Upper Yarra Valley.
“Yarra 4 Life goes way beyond just the Helmeted Honeyeater, although that has become an icon for what needs to be done to improve the biodiversity and health of the whole area,” Greg Milne said.
Yarra 4 Life aims to improve water and landcare practices across 100,000 hectares of the Yarra Valley. The focus is on headwaters like the Woori Yallock Creek which flows into the Yarra River and the surrounding countryside between Lilydale, Monbulk, Gembrook and Woori Yallock.
“The Yarra River is an icon and often arouses public concern about its water quality. This is our contribution to improving it. It’s a large scale co-operative program of catchment restoration to enhance the region’s environment and livelihoods,” Mr Milne said.
“Our goal is to enable the public to experience, enjoy, love and care for the Yarra Valley while also delivering the important environmental improvements,” he said.
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