Our ask: support and funding for the development and delivery of a Greenprint for Yarra Ranges
Yarra Ranges Council is seeking support and funding to develop a Greenprint, a strategic model to map, prioritise and reconnect fragmented habitats, restore ecological corridors and strengthen resilience. The Greenprint will deliver healthier Country that in turn will support healthier nature and people.
The Greenprint will be co-designed with Traditional Owners, community members and environmental agencies to ensure it reflects local knowledge, cultural values and scientific best practice. Community readiness is already evident through engagement, volunteerism and the proactive support from skilled professionals.
This initiative comes at a critical time, as Victoria faces a biodiversity crisis, with 75% of indicators deteriorating or unclear and extinction rates among the highest globally. Habitat fragmentation, invasive species, land clearing, and climate-driven stressors such as bushfires and drought are placing immense pressure on ecosystems.
Yarra Ranges is home to 188,000 hectares of native vegetation and supports over 2,700 native flora and fauna species. Its waterways, including the upper Yarra River and its tributaries, are vital habitats for platypus, frogs and fish.
The Greenprint represents an urgent and strategic response to protect and enhance these natural assets for future generations and we seek a commitment from government to co-invest in long-term monitoring and implementation.
Project outline
Yarra Ranges Council is seeking $1.5 million over 4 years to enable:
- Undertake mapping and ecological assessments
- Leveraging of AI technology to create a digital map that seamlessly integrates cultural and natural asset information with disaster risk data
- Foster community connection to biodiversity and cultural values through development and prioritisation phases and on-ground activities
- Progress policy and legislative change to embed habitat connectivity into planning schemes and land management frameworks
- Build partnerships, prioritise biolinks and commence implementation
Benefts
- Reconnect fragmented habitats to allow species movement and adaptation in a changing climate.
- Protect water catchments that supply 70% of Melbourne’s drinking water.
- Support Traditional Owner-led land management, including cultural burning and regenerative practices.
- Expand biodiversity extension programs to educate and empower landholders and volunteers.
- Create landscape-scale biolinks, corridors that enhance ecological services like pollination, carbon sequestration, drought resilience and water filtration.
- Partnerships that deliver cross-tenure conservation programs, citizen science initiatives and cultural land management practices.