Private land plays part in environment response

A TORQUAY arts hub has partnered with local environment groups to rehabilitate its land as part of a long-term plan to restore parts of Spring Creek valley.

Staff members from Geelong’s WorkSafe office partnered with Surfers Appreciating Natural Environment (SANE) volunteers to continue ecological repair of Ashmore Arts.

The conservation team spent four hours earlier this month planning 250 understorey plants from three different species, including the locally rare vanilla lily (Arthropodium milleflorum).

Ashmore Arts owner Stewie Guthrie said the project aimed to support the arts hub’s day-to-day operations and revenue streams in a mutual partnership.

“Considering the needs of nature in how we manage the land here is as much an economic decision as it is environmental,” he said.

SANE stated that the project shows how more and more people from different backgrounds are finding ways to partner with farming properties to benefit nature.

SANE works closely with similarly minded local group Surf Coast Energy Group (SCEG), which is working on a 100-year plan to return Spring Creek to a thriving hub of biodiversity.

With around 60 per cent of land in Victoria under private ownership and just over a third protected under the public reserves system, the local organisaiton said there are gaps in the state’s conservation strategy that mean private properties have a critical role in environmental outcomes.

Local groups host monthly working bees that support landowners in Spring Creek valley and nearby catchments to improve their properties including through replanting woodland and removing serious environmental weeds.

For more information or to get involved, contact Graeme Stockton at [email protected]