Corangamite Catchment Management Authority
Saltmarsh Protection Project
Project partners
Landholders
Corangamite CMA
Glenelg Hopkins CMA
Port Phillip Westernport CMA
West Gippsland CMA
Funding 2012-2013
$1,000,000
Investors
Australian and Victorian governments and land managers
Victoria’s private and public coastal land managers are protecting 1,332 hectares of coastal saltmarsh vegetation as part of $1million project to help preserve critical habitat.
The project is a jointly-funded Australian and Victorian government initiative – Protecting Orange-bellied Parrot Habitat in Coastal Victoria or the Saltmarsh Protection Project.
The Saltmarsh Protection Project is a unique funding opportunity providing financial incentives to land managers who agreed to manage coastal saltmarsh vegetation communities.
There are approximately only 50 Orange-bellied Parrots (OBP) remaining in the wild. The species is nationally listed as critically endangered and coastal saltmarsh, which is recognised as a primary habitat has also been recently listed as vulnerable. OBP spend their winter months at sites along Victoria’s coast feeding on plants in and around coastal saltmarsh communities.
Key threats to saltmarsh vegetation include:
- uncontrolled stock access and associated trampling, grazing and weed infestation
- altered hydrology from drainage and levee banks
- access tracks resulting in fragmentation and trampling
- urban development.
The project used a market-based instrument (MBI) in the form of a competitive tender to determine project value versus cost and award contracts to eligible private and public land managers to protect high-value natural assets.
The 2012-13 management actions and activities included:
- expression of interest site assessments completed, covering 2,063 hectares over 74 sites
- new contracts awarded covering 1,332 hectares over 49 sites (36 private, 13 public), with 25 landholders across the four participating CMA regions protecting high-value OBP habitat and coastal saltmarsh vegetation.