This project successfully worked with community groups and individuals to increase their participation in natural resource management (NRM) activities. A tailored strengthening project built skills, enhanced knowledge and increased voluntary activity in the community, including among Indigenous people, women, and young people within our region. A Community Landcare Grants program worth a total of $460,000 supported community groups to deliver 52 projects that restored a combined 448ha of native vegetation, removed weeds from 510ha of bushland, and removed more than eight tonnes of marine debris across 390ha.

The project focused on four key areas that contributed to the overall goal of engaging the community in NRM activities;

1. Increasing community, skills, knowledge and engagement in NRM;
2. Protecting internationally significant (Ramsar) wetlands;
3. Conserving and protecting species and ecosystems; and
4. Restoring and maintaining urban waterways and coastal environments.

In particular, the project engaged community members and other stakeholders to protect the Ramsar-listed wetlands of Bowling Green Bay; protect the habitat of endangered species including the Little Tern, Eastern Curlew, Green Sea Turtle and Dugong; protect nationally endangered ecological communities including the semi-evergreen vine thickets of the Brigalow Belt and Nandewar Bioregions; and restore waterways and coastal environments through marine debris removal, revegetation and invasive species control.

The project supported 35 community NRM groups through 47 community landcare grants, 17 workshops, 11 field days and tailored support activities to protect and restore 1,348 hectares of native bushland, wetlands and the Great Barrier Reef foreshore in the Burdekin Dry Tropics region. Workshops and field days were attended by 1550 people which increased the community’s participation in NRM and the capacity of NRM community groups to undertake projects including protecting areas of national environmental significance.

NQ Dry Tropics will continue to work with community organisations to organise events that promote community involvement in NRM. Information on upcoming events can be found on our website.

The below resources are useful for community groups in delivering NRM projects: