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Regenerative Farming and Blue Carbon

 

This 28th February 2022, CVA and the Bellarine Landcare Group partnered in a regenerative farming and blue carbon event as part of CVA’s Revive Our Wetlands Project.

 

 

With the help of funding from Chevron Australia, we’re equipping individuals and communities with the knowledge and tools they need to care for our blue carbon ecosystems, encouraging active ongoing nature stewardship to ensure these systems function optimally for long into the future. ​

 

In 2020, Bellarine Landcare facilitator Sophie Small and her team planted 2000 different Eucalypts, grasses, and shrubs on a 5-hectare escarpment, adjoining a creek that runs into Lake Connewarre.  The plant species were selected and planted with the help of the Bellarine Landcare Group’s Koala Corridors Project (part of the Victorian Landcare Grant 2019-20).

 

With over 95% of remnant vegetation cleared on the Bellarine, all remaining indigenous vegetation is extremely important for biodiversity conservation. Streamside (riparian) vegetation is especially significant since it helps to filter water running into creeks and dams and improves the quality of water flowing into ecologically important sites such as Lake Connewarre. Riparian vegetation provides a habitat for waterbugs, which in turn attract frogs and birdlife. Additionally, vegetation around waterways is essential to support koalas in extreme heat and facilitate their adaptation to climate change.

 

Over 20 volunteers listened closely to Sophie as she talked about regenerative farming and blue carbon, including why the plant species had been selected for the area and the long-term koala improvements planned for this site and Bellarine in general. Volunteers removed around 2000 vine guards from the 2-year-old trees that can now be re-used for our next regeneration project. The team conducted a flora survey, mapping the GPS coordinates of individual species that have not survived, helping to map the translocated plants and track how they adapt to different parts of the escarpment. Some volunteers also removed weeds as to boost the survival rate of the newly planted species.

 

As part of a larger Lake Connewarre study, the team then walked down to the Lower Barwon river and carried out a bird survey. A magnificent brown falcon was among the many species we were lucky enough to encounter.

 

 

Thanks to all the volunteers who came and made the day a huge success, to Sophie Small and the Bellarine Landcare group for co-hosting this event and to the private landholder who was so very generous with his time.