Round 7 Australian Government Envirofund
Victoria project examples
Temporary Feedlot Sheep Containment for Protecting Soils and Remnant Vegetation $1,909
This project will construct a temporary feedlot near Boort, as well as a 600m fence to exclude stock from remnant vegetation and plant 300 native trees, shrubs and grasses. Existing trees in the feedlot area will provide shade and be protected from stock by tree guards.
Sustainable Water Use $28,100
This project will protect, restore and improve native vegetation on frontage and adjoining farmland along the channel on the eastern side of Lake Elizabeth near Kerang by decommissioning three dams and installing ten troughs to reduce water wastage and seepage causing salinity problems.
Myers Creek Protection and Providing Off Stream Watering Points $36,500
This project will build on work completed in 2000 by the North Central Landcare Group by fencing off another 5.75km of Myers Creek near Raywood to exclude stock and protect riparian vegetation. It will also establish 13 off-stream watering points.
Red Gum Wetland Rehabilitation $38,325
This project will rehabilitate 13ha of red gum wetland near Wangaratta by constructing 3.153km of protective fencing and planting 1,500 trees and shrubs to create wildlife habitat corridors. The area will be permanently protected under a Conservation Covenant with the Trust for Nature (Victoria). The project will also rehabilitate an existing bore and provide four alternative stock watering points.
Stock Containment / Feedlot Area $3,591
This project will fence off an area of approximately 2ha near Nandaly in north western Victoria to establish a temporary feedlot equipped with 2 watering points. The perimeter of the area will be planted with 200 local trees.
Water Quality and Threatened Arboreal Mammal Nest Box Program $41,818
This project will exclude stock from waterways and areas of remnant vegetation near Yackandandah in north east Victoria by constructing 4.634km of fencing and installing 25 alternative stock watering points. It will also install 120 nest boxes for species such as the Brush-tailed Phascogale and the endangered Squirrel Glider.
Improving Stock Watering Points $1,832
This project will erect 350m of fencing at Windomal near Redesdale to exclude stock from dams and native vegetation. Four troughs will be installed and two small dams decommissioned.
Wallan Creek Aquatic and Riparian Weed Control Project $24,783
This project will remove invasive vegetation and plant 4,000 native seedlings on 700m of creek frontage. An expert weed identification contractor will conduct weed identification training for the volunteer Friends of Wallan Creek. The project will also protect and maintain plantings from a previous Envirofund project.

Conservation team sets sail for Mawson's Huts
A works party will sail for Cape Denison, Antarctica, on 9 December, to undertake conservation work on Mawson's Huts – remnants of the ‘Heroic Era' of Antarctic exploration and an important symbol of Australia's pioneering spirit.

Australia's Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Senator Ian Campbell, said the four-person works party, funded by the Mawson's Huts Foundation, would make the 25 day round-trip voyage to Cape Denison, Commonwealth Bay, in the far eastern sector of the Australian Antarctic Territory, on board the Aurora Expeditions tourist vessel MS Marina Svetaeva.

Mawson's four wooden huts were built during Douglas Mawson's Australasian Antarctic Expedition of 1911-1914. They were recognised for their historical, scientific and cultural significance in 2004 when they were included on Australia's National Heritage List and declared an Antarctic Specially Protected Area under the Antarctic Treaty.

"The Australian Government welcomes the ongoing commitment by the Mawson's Huts Foundation, and the support of Aurora Expeditions, to continue conservation efforts on these amazing heritage-listed buildings," Senator Campbell said.

"I was proud to help establish the Mawson's Hut Foundation as Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment in 1996. The foundation successfully conducted a number of voyages to Commonwealth Bay to restore the huts to their original condition – I have maintained my interest in this fascinating part of history since.

"To assist the team, the Australian Government's Australian Antarctic Division will provide tools, generators, communication equipment, clothing, medical supplies and cameras and film to document the work."

The most recent significant conservation work took place in 2002-03, with the assistance of the French Government, which operates a research station 200 km from Cape Denison. The conservation team repaired parts of the Main Hut, removed snow and ice from inside, catalogued artefacts, and installed sensors and data loggers to monitor the hut's internal microclimate.

This season, under a works plan developed by the Australian Antarctic Division, the works team will continue repairs and assess the state of the huts, with a view to returning to conduct further work in 2006-07.

"Conservation works are expensive at the best of times, but in places like Cape Denison - isolated, infrequently visited and battered by the elements – the costs can be extraordinary," he said.

"So it is important that the Government works with private enterprise and our Antarctic Treaty partners at every opportunity, to visit this far flung and windswept part of our Territory."

Conservation efforts were mounted by the AAD in 1977-78, 1984-85, 1985-86, 1997-98, 2001-02 (with the Mawson's Huts Foundation) and in 2002-03. This season's conservation programme is expected to take six days. The works party will return to Bluff, New Zealand, on 4 January 2006.