Bushcare Project

In 2020 the Lake Grace LCDC were successful in achieving a $34,781 community stewardship grant from NRM for a bushcare project that involved:

Maintenance and rejuvenation of 5 remnant bushland sites around the Lake Grace townsite.
Development of a Tree Asset register
Development of a tree planting guide
Tree Walk Trail

This is a $49,601 project with the remaining $14,820 being provided in volunteer time and financial contributions from the Lake Grace LCDC, Shire of Lake Grace and the Lake Grace CRC.

The stimulus for this project was the worrying statistics concerning remnant bush. Wheatbelt NRM estimates – in a 25 kilometre radius of Lake Grace townsite – only 10.7% of the native bush remains. The surviving bush is suffering from the impact of people.

Across the Shire:

38% of the shire area has remnant vegetation cover.
83% (or >9500) of the remnant patches are smaller than 10ha (which are not necessarily ecologically resilient)
The other 17% (1916) of patches are larger than 10ha and collectively represent 94% of the entire remnant area and therefore an incredible environmental asset that requires protection. Less than half of these remnants are protected in the reserves system, the remainder is likely to be on privately owned land.

This project is now complete with a presentation being done at the Shire council meeting on Wednesday 24th April. The presentation included copies of the Management Plan, Flora Survey, Tree Asset Register and a localised planting guide that can be referred to for on farm plantings or varieties for the home garden.