Crews crucial during pandemic
A project team formed to bolster employment opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic is proving to be a major environmental asset in the Wimmera.
Project Platypus Upper Wimmera Landcare Network has been working with Wimmera Catchment Management Authority to task crews employed under a Working for Victoria program with land management work.
The State Government’s $ 50- million Agriculture Workforce Plan, as a part of the employment program, created 40 new jobs in the Wimmera earlier this year.
Project Platypus co-ordinator Lachlan Mcintyre said crews were helping with revegetation and fencing of important environmental areas such as waterways, weed control, soil sampling and waterquality monitoring on private and public land.
He said their assistance had proven to be a major benefit to the Landcare network and partnering groups including Stawell Urban Landcare and Black Range Land Management.
“Having access to these crews has been vital in delivering targeted and broad scale environmental work in the upper Wimmera,” he said.
“We’ve been working closely with the Wimmera CMA and Landcare groups to identify priority works and deliver on some projects that have proven difficult in previous years due to reduced funding and high labour hire costs.”
Mr Mcintyre said Project Platypus would continue to make the most of the full-time workers to complete priority jobs.
“At this stage we have Working for Victoria crews available through to December,” he said.
Mr Mcintyre said the help came at a ‘much needed’ time, with reduced funding compounded by the economic impacts of the pandemic.