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Anyone can apply for grant funding, including groups, not-for-profits, schools, businesses and universities.

Grants from $2,000 to $25,000 are possible for projects which deliver environmental and community benefits.

“These annual grants are funded through the Environmental Levy and reflect our shared vision of a sustainable and thriving community,” said Coffs Harbour Mayor Cr Paul Amos.

Coffs Harbour Regional Landcare is ever grateful for CoCH Environmental Levy Grants, President Barry Powells told News Of The Area.

“We are looking at getting funding to help link up some specific landcare sites rather than having more individual locations where we work,” Barry said.

“This will provide wildlife corridors and habitat for many of our native animals and birds.

“We also hope to be able to work on other ecologically important tracts of land nearby to help reduce the spread of weeds such as lantana, senna and priority garden escapes such as Night Blooming Jasmine (Cestrum nocturnum).

“Weeds are the greatest threat to improving the diversity and sustainability of native vegetation.

“Ideally to be successful both ecologically and economically such funding will need to be required over several years as weed seeds can remain viable in soil for many years.”

Landcare currently has a number of active projects funded through the Environmental Levy Grants program.

Through a series of both land and water surveys of macroinvertebrate led by ecologist Lachlan Manning of Coffs Critters, Landcare volunteers have had the opportunity to get an insight into an aspect of local urban greenspaces which we don’t always see.

Macroinvertebrates are a diverse but generally not very visible part of our natural environment and include worms, snails, spiders, insects and many types of waterbugs.

They play an important role in our ecosystems by breaking down organic matter, providing nutrients to soil, pest control and pollination.

Their presence or absence can indicate how healthy the environment is.

Therefore, knowing the diversity of macroinvertebrates on Landcare sites will help Landcare volunteers understand how urban development is impacting natural areas and the improvements they are making through their restoration work.

Korora Landcare volunteers have been working hard to rehabilitate disturbed bushland in two locations at Korora for over ten years through weed control and revegetation.

To complement its restoration work the group has received funding through the Environmental Levy Grants Program to purchase, assemble and install nest boxes on their Landcare sites to provide habitat for local bird species that rely on tree hollows for nesting.

The loss of large eucalypts over time through clearing has meant that tree hollows are a dwindling resource in the local environment.

Volunteers from Korora Landcare recently held a working bee to assemble and paint the nest boxes which will be installed in the coming months.

For more information, visit coffsharbour.nsw.gov.au/elgrants.

By Andrea FERRARI