Planting the seed for restoration

FOLLOWING a successful joint grant application, a local Landcare group are collecting a range of native seeds for revegetation projects, and are asking for donations of seeds.

Earlier this month, Moorabool Catchment Landcare Group announced it had received a grant from Moorabool Wind Farm’s Community Farm, to run the ‘Moorabool Seedpod’ project alongside Seeding Victoria.

Currently the groups are seeking 21 different native species’ seeds, and are asking people with the species growing on their property to allow them to come and collect their seeds.

The species include golden wattle, river red gum, lightwood, Bacchus Marsh wattle, and more.

A workshop will also be held on Saturday 4 May at the Moorabool Landcare Network Rowsley Nursery, and a second at the Seeding Victoria Depot in Creswick on Saturday 6 July.

MCLG Co-ordinator, Jackson Cass, shared what the project is all about, and invited anyone with questions to get in touch.

“This program will involve the purchase of seed collection equipment, obtaining seed collection licenses from DEECA, and a series of educational workshops delivered by Seeding Victoria,” Mr Cass said.

“Interested Landcare members will receive training on how to collect and process native seed. This seed will be used in our own revegetation projects and sold on consignment through Seeding Victoria, generating more funds for Landcare activities.

“If people are unable to attend the workshops but would still like to contribute to the project, they can do so by allowing our volunteers to collect seed from native plants on their property. In order to collect seed, we need plants to collect from.

“This project will increase the amount of native seed collected in our region, allowing increased environmental restoration to occur, positively impacting wildlife and ecosystems throughout the catchment and working with our community along the way.”

For more information, including the full list of plants that the MCLG and Seeding Victoria want to collect seeds from, visit the Moorabool Catchment Landcare Group Facebook page, or contact Jackson Cass via email at [email protected].