GOLDENFIELDS Water County Council launched their 500km wildlife corridor in Temora last Friday, with local politicians, schools and guest presenters in attendance.
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Member for Burrinjuck Katrina Hodgkinson officially opened the corridor and presented a plaque to representatives from local government areas who are supporting the project, including Cootamundra Shire Council deputy mayor Dennis Palmer.
The aim of the project, a partnership between GWCC and Riverina Local Land Services, is to plant and monitor a 500km stretch of native vegetation, which will also support native animals.
“It’s exciting for me as Riverina Local Land Services is a very new department and they’re forming partnerships with other organisations to get the job done,” Ms Hodgkinson said.
The event was attended by television personality Costa Georgiadis, who commended those present for signing on to the project, saying it is important to hold public figures to account.
Cootamundra is among eight local government areas who have committed to the GWCC500, the others being Bland, Coolamon, Harden, Junee, Narranderra, Temora and Young.
In excess of $700,000 has been committed to the GWCC500 over three years, including $300,000 from Riverina Local Land Services and $100,00 from the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage.
Mr Georgiadis also noted the importance of getting children involved, and students from seven area schools were present for the opening and the second of four planned workshop days.
69 schools from around the region have been invited to participate in the workshops and aid the project, with 28 currently participating.
“It’s all about partnerships and getting all the schools in our region involved so that they can keep it going,” GWCC general manager Andrew Grant said.
“The hope is they went home excited and educated their parents about it, and will want to participate in future projects in their area.”
Mr Grant indicated long-term plans for the workshops involve partnering local schools with Sydney schools to continue contributing to and monitoring the wildlife corridor, which will take around a decade to complete and might have some tourism benefits for the Riverina.
Wallendbeen Public School and a Year Seven class from Sacred Heart Central School were both present and took part in four workshops including electronic vegetation and wildlife monitoring, and building boxes for birds and bats displaced by removal of old trees.
Mr Georgiadis led a soil preparation workshop, engaging the students with his trademark style.
“He just bounces around, the kids loved him, he presented it in a brilliant way,” Sacred Heart laboratory assistant David Forsyth said.
Cr Palmer also commended Costa’s presentation style, saying he was clearly “very passionate” and his ability to engage the younger generation was “second to none”.
“It’s important to get the students involved and educated, because they are our future,” Cr Palmer said.
Mr Forsyth said all the workshops were really “hands-on” and some, such as the bat boxes, might be incorporated in to their school curriculum in classes like woodwork.
“It was really well organised and worthwhile, the students definitely enjoyed it,” he concluded.
Riverina Local Land Services senior lands officer in natural resource management Jonathan Berryman presented the planting workshop, teaching students techniques for establishing native vegetation.
Mr Berryman said the workshops were a great program for children and would tie in with future community projects as the corridor is established across the region.
