LANDCARE volunteers, officials and the community came together to mark the completion of stage one of the Balnarring to Bay biolink on Wednesday, 12 April.
The project involved transforming 2.5 kilometres of degraded land to create a biolink along a natural drainage line from the centre of Balnarring to the mouth of Merricks Creek, Somers.
Stage one started four years ago with a community consultation at Balnarring Hall, followed by a planting and regeneration project involving the replacement of 240 Monterey pine trees with 2500 indigenous trees, shrubs and grasses.
An all-weather public access path has been built for walkers and cyclists.
Merricks Coolart Catchment Landcare Group president Murray Goddard said there had been community support and input to the project.
“The many volunteers who assisted with revegetation, including students from Balnarring Primary School, also ensured we managed to get all plants in the ground prior to the hot summer weather,” he said.
He said the area provided habitat for local flora and fauna and was “a very special community facility”.
“This biolink will now provide a safe corridor for some our threatened and endangered species, like our koalas,” Goddard said.
“The local [koala] population here is under increasing pressure from loss of habitat, cars and dogs, so this somewhere safe from roads.”
Goddard said that it was now almost impossible to conceive what the area looked like before the regeneration and intensive plantings.
“It’s just amazing, other than a few weeds there was nothing.
“It’s been a lot of hard work by all, we haven’t got here by accident.”
He said Landcare was working with Willum Warrain to create a bush foods garden in the future.
Stage two of the biolink project is expected to begin next month and will involve revegetating around 12 hectares of land owned by the charitable organisation the Presentation Sisters. The land borders Merricks Creek and is considered valuable wildlife habitat that will be protected with a covenant.
“This will leave a lasting legacy for the community and the environment,” Goddard said.
Mornington Peninsula Shire Council mayor Cr Steve Holland said volunteers behind the project had the vision that allowed the project to become a reality.
“We are very lucky on the Mornington Peninsula to have such high levels of volunteerism, it’s something we all value and cherish.”
The completed Balnarring to Bay biolink will connect fragmented areas of remnant vegetation linking Balbirooroo Wetlands to Merricks Creek across four private properties, continuing through Crown Land to Western Port. It forms nearly 44 hectares within the environmentally significant Western Port Biosphere.
