DISTRICT farmers have been lending a hand on conservation projects at Lake Charm in recent weeks.
A four-member crew from the Goulburn Murray Irrigation District (GMID) drought employment program has been working with the local Landcare group on several small projects around the town
Landcare secretary Gaby Hogg said the assistance had been welcome.
“We don’t have a lot of workers on the ground and we certainly appreciated their help,” she said.
“They did the tree planting and wood chip mulching around the information building and cleaned up the walking track near the Lake Charm east regulator, put Mallee loam down there.
“We’ve got more projects in mind too.”
The program, which kicked off in March, is being run by the Goulburn Broken and North Central catchment management authorities to provide participants work on projects that improve the health of the catchment and the local environment.
Local governments and Parks Victoria are also involved in the scheme, which was set up as part of the state government’s drought response package.
“One way to get it to rain is to get a drought crew going,” coordinator Anthony Sloan said.
“But it’s been going really well. It’s a great opportunity to build relationships and help out some of these bread and butter organisations like Landcare groups through the COVID period.”
The crew, made up of Gannawarra residents Warwick Hawken, Keith Crichton, Sherry Nurse and Bev Domaschenz, have been working up a sweat and also learning a bit along the way.
“They’ve got a really good work ethic and have been keen to get out, get their hands dirty and get some work done,” Mr Sloan said.
“It’s also provided them with some up-skilling, and learning about plants and the ecology of the area.”
“They’ve been doing some awesome stuff.”
North Central Catchment Management Authority will be running a similar program, Working for Victoria, in coming weeks.
