‘Green Dams’ project continues to support farmers in South Gippsland

L to R: Ecologist David Carew; Cassie Wright and Kirby Leary from South Gippsland Landcare Network; landowner Glenn Duncan; Rod Hayes from Food & Fibre Gippsland. Image credit: South Gippsland Landcare Network

After wrapping up its successful Green Dams project in June 2024, South Gippsland Landcare Network (SGLN) has received a second round of funding from the Victoria Drought Resilience Adoption & Innovation Hub (Vic Hub), supported by the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund (FDF).

Supported on ground by Food & Fibre Gippsland, as the Vic Hub’s Gippsland Node, the Green Dams initiative will continue working with property owners interested in enhancing dams on their property.

In the second year of the project, a case study dam will be established on a farm in Arawata. There will also be a focus on farmer education, with a training workshop and a public field day.

The training workshop was held in Hallora in late November last year, where participants heard from wetland ecologist David Carew about the benefits of plants in and around dams, including improved water quality for stock, and increased biodiversity.

David covered how to establish plants in the different zones from shallow to deeper and which species are appropriate for which area.

Kirby Leary, SGLN Project Officer, and David then took participants through a process to develop a plan for dam enhancement works on their own property, with advice about all aspects from fencing and revegetating, through to monitoring.

Reflecting on the high level of interest generated by the original project, Kirby described SGLN’s approach as one that brings farmers and landholders on board and builds their capacity to implement the ‘Green Dams’ method on-farm.

“We had a lot of interest and high numbers of participants at the two field days at Cape Liptrap,” Kirby said.

“This new workshop was designed to help landowners make a step-by-step plan for their own dam, with achievable goals and practical steps that they can get started with.”

A farm walk was then held at landowner Glenn Duncan’s farm, where Louise Kerferd from Melbourne Water discussed the support they provided to help Glenn fence and revegetate dams and waterways on his property. 

After the workshop, participants said they were going to check their dams to identify what plants are currently growing, and to fence off dams and plan revegetation works. 

A field day will be held in Arawata at the case study dam in May 2025, to share the story and results to date.

The event will be advertised closer to the time, publicised via the SGLN events calendar.

For more information, including presentations from the workshop, see the Green Dams Round 2 project on SGLN’s website.

Read about the first round of the project and case study, and see presentations from the training workshop.

You can also read more on the Vic Hub’s website.

The Vic Hub is one of eight drought resilience hubs established by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, and supported through the FDF.

Article written by Cassie Wright, SGLN Projects and Education Coordinator. For more information, contact Cassie.