​​The Bass Coast Landcare Network Public Fund is a regional non-profit organisation focusing on conserving biodiversity throughout the Bass Coast.
We do this by supporting community groups to work in their local area to add value to their conservation efforts, encourage broader community ownership and participation and by working in partnership with other land managers. We help protect native plants and animals in Bass Coast’s most ecologically important landscapes.

Since its inception, the Bass Coast Public Fund has contributed to the following projects:
  • Improvement and Sustainable Management of the Kongwak Pioneer Reserve
  • Bass Coast Arc
  • Bass River Garden
  • Master Tree Growers Course

​There are a number of other very worthy projects which we hope to sponsor, but need the funds to do so. A contribution from you can help us achieve our vision to conserve and enhance biodiversity in Bass Coast​. By making a tax deductible contribution, you have the power to help shape the future of Bass Coast’s natural places – a future where habitat for our extraordinary wildlife and unique coastal landscapes remain intact. 

Scroll down to read about some of the Public Fund's successfully funded projects, and to see our new project targets.

Bass Coast Landcare Public Fund is entered on the Register of Environmental Organisations. Donations over $2 are tax deductible.​
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Click the image to download the brochure

"We encourage individuals and Community Groups to submit project applications, no matter how large or small, for consideration as part of the BCLN Public Fund”
Environmental Detectives Schools program
​Students detecting, protecting and conserving Bass Coast
The Environmental Detectives program connects schools to local environments to foster an attitude of pride and stewardship for our land, while educating the next generation about the intricate webs and interactions within our ecosystems, and what we can do to help when they get out of balance due to human activities. Through 10 curriculum-linked, themed activities, taken by experienced Landcare staff, including revegetation plantings and citizen science style monitoring, students connect to and assist landholders, land managers, Bass Coast’s traditional owners, the Bunurong, and other community organisations to restore local landscapes.

Over the past 13 years, BCLN has hosted over 750 educational activities for 60 schools, engaging over 16,000 students across Bass Coast and the Latrobe Valley. Through these activities, BCLN aims to increase understanding of our unique landscapes, to instill a sense of wonder, and empower students and schools to advocate and care for their local environments. These hands-on experiences help increase volunteer environmental action, plant and animal biodiversity, to ensure functioning ecosystems are safeguarded into the future.
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Funding is sought to:
  • Host up to 60 activities per year, including bus trips to remove barriers for schools of getting students to public land reserves, foreshores, parks or private farms to participate in activities.
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  • Involve students in tree planting days, allowing a hands-on, fun and meaningful experience, that contributes to restoring our landscapes.
  • ​​Construct a purpose-built, outdoor Landcare education Centre at the River Garden public land in Bass, adjacent to the Landcare office, creating a hub for Environmental and Sustainability education in our region. 
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If our next generations are to be the future caretakers of resilient and biodiverse landscapes, they need to physically and emotionally connect with the land and natural world in the communities they live in. Through participation in place-based, multi-themed environmental activities throughout the pre-school, primary and secondary years, that connect with volunteer community action, our youth become part of the solution, and our communities can all achieve so much more together in restoring our landscapes.
Weed Control and Revegetation Management Plan for the
​Outtrim Cemetery Nature Conservation Reserve
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​The Outtrim Cemetery Nature Conservation Reserve is approximately 2.8Ha within the whole of the 5.08Ha reserve managed by Parks Victoria at Outtrim in the lower foothills of the Strzeleckis. The grass area to the north east of the reserve is slashed on a regular basis resulting in a diverse flora of grasses, sedges, lilies and orchids. The southern 3 hectares is zoned as a nature conservation reserve and contains one of the most intact remnants of Damp Heathy Woodland on public land in South Gippsland, dominated by critically endangered Bog Gum (Eucalyptus kitsoniana). Most of the Damp Heathy Woodland vegetation community in South Gippsland has been cleared for agriculture and only scattered remnants are now found, mainly along roadsides. 

Funding is sought from the Bass Landcare Public Fund Community Grants scheme for a three-year project that will undertake weed control and strategic revegetation over that period to:
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  • Prevent ongoing reinfestation of weeds into the future
  • Conduct new planting of appropriate EVC species to retard weed re-growth, and provide greater biodiversity and resilience of the remnant native vegetation.
  • Monitor the site with wildlife cameras and audio recorders and conduct a much-needed flora and fauna survey. ​​

​Stage 1 of this project has been funded, but additional funding is needed for Stage 2 which will include monitoring wildlife/flora and further weed control and planting.
Bass Coast Arc - Community Access to Public Space
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​​The Bass Coast Arc – 'Community Access to Public Space' concept was dreamt up by passionate members of the Bass Coast community in 2015. The project aims to support local community groups to work with the relevant public land manager to improve the quality of our public spaces and create community access to these unique areas.
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Some key points for this project are:
  • Taking necessary steps to manage pest plants and animals, to prevent their devastating impact on native flora and fauna
  • ​Surveying and looking after vegetation that provides habitat for native animals
  • Repairing and upgrading infrastructure, including public tracks and fences

This project will get the community out into the environment and enhance  access, create wildlife corridors to improve habitat for threatened species and provide place based environmental education opportunities.
The vision of this plan is to identify public land areas of high community and biodiversity value that are viable sites for enhancement works, primarily the creation of linkages and corridors, and capital improvement. We aim to introduce connectivity in the landscape to improve the capacity for native plants and animals to move and adapt to climate impacts. Repairing and building on the areas identified will provide a mechanism for community involvement and engagement, as well as increasing access to public spaces and starting to address the loss of ecological function bought about by habitat loss and fragmentation.
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 The objectives of the plan are to:
  • Inform the community and supporters of the existing range, biodiversity significance, and main strategic linkages to connect remnant vegetation within the Bass Coast Landcare Network area
  • Provide an avenue for community and stakeholder feedback and engagement into the linking of biodiversity across the Bass Coast Landcare Network area
  • Provide an action plan for the implementation of revegetation across land tenures
  • Identify avenues and opportunities for funding 
Master Tree Growers Course
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The main objective of the Master Tree Growers course is to support strategies to help secure sustainable farms in which much of our community is so dependent upon, and to educate farmers from the Gippsland region regarding best practice agroforestry/biodiversity tree planting.

Throughout the program, farmers learn about marketing, economics, silviculture, tree measurement, and overall management of plantations. The program also looks at multi-storey farming and how to integrate farm forestry and biodiverse plantings into the overall operation of running a farm, with a major aim of making farms more diverse and sustainable.  
Another aim is to create Master Tree Growing mentors within the community, who then can go out and teach other farmers about being a Master Tree Grower. Participants from the program are encouraged to share their learnings with their neighbours and other Landcare members, creating a community of knowledgeable land managers.

This course ultimately results in more trees being planted in our region which sequester carbon, increased habitat for native fauna, a reduction in erosion and nutrient and sediment run off into our waterways, and graduates with the knowledge to empower other local farmers to have the confidence to buy their own trees and manage them into the future. 

This course was previously funded and successfully run in 2019, with so much positive feedback that we are seeking funding to run it again.
Mangrove Project
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Mangroves in Western Port Bay were once a core part of the Bay’s ecosystem, before a plan to clear them to make way for pot ash boring, as well as trying to create usable public spaces – jetties and beaches.  This clearing created a highly eroded, smelly and degraded landscape. The Bass Coast Landcare Network Mangrove project has started the rehabilitation of this landscape through the seeding and planting of more mangroves on remnant patches of trees. Planting Mangroves back into this space has already increased the biodiversity of the area, through providing habitat for the return of small fish, crabs, shrimps, and birdlife. 
Western Port mangroves are the second most southern growing mangroves on the planet. This is why they are so difficult to grow as there is a very a short window of summer temperatures suitable for growing conditions. 
 
Through our Mangrove Project, Bass Coast Landcare has begun the extensive process of rehabilitating the cleared beaches of Western Port Bay. 
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We are seeking funds to continue to harvest seeds, raise and plant out Mangroves in Western Port Bay so that we will have a beautiful and functioning environment to show future generations.  
Hooded Plover Protection Program
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​The primary objective of this project is to reduce the predatory pressure of the European Red Fox (vulpes vulpes) on the beach nesting Hooded Plover (Thinornis cucullatus).
By controlling fox numbers over large areas, we are also protecting other broad taxonomic groups that are preyed on by foxes such as reptiles, mammals and other beach nesting birds.
​This program has been implemented for the last 4 years with great success and we hope to continue to protect our beaches and the critically endangered birds that call them home. Funding is sought for a three-year project that will undertake strategic fox control and community engagement to educate locals and members of the public and grow the program for future years.
Control will be done with a combination of soft-jaw trapping and 1080 baiting. Soft-jaw trapping allows for local tailored control over specific areas where traps can easily be moved in response to fox activity for maximum effectiveness. 1080 baiting complements this control by targeting large areas as bait stations are set 500m away from each other, allowing for entire bush sections to be covered relatively easily.
 
As a secondary objective, control of Sea Spurge (Euphorbia paralias) will be conducted using a biocontrol in the form of a fungus (Venturia paralias). When released in areas with high infestations of Sea Spurge, the fungus can spread up to 500m in each direction along the beach, yielding large sections of control. The biocontrol is typically released seasonally before Sea Spurge seeds later in the calendar year. Furthermore, serious infestations of Sea Spurge can alter dune shape and form which heavily impact on Hooded Plover nesting sites as appropriate nest sites are changed. 
The Improvement and Sustainable Management of the Kongwak Pioneer Reserve - Fully Funded
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The Kongwak Pioneer Reserve is an area of approximately 41 Ha of significant remnant native vegetation overlooking the town, with well laid out walking tracks waiting to be explored. Apart from some blocks of native vegetation to the southwest and northwest (between 300m and 3km away) there is very little in the surrounding landscape, making this a very important patch of vegetation. The Reserve is home to an abundance of wildlife, including wallabies, koalas, wombats and owls and a diverse range of native flora.

Launched in March 2014, the Improvement and Sustainable Management of the Kongwak Pioneer Reserve successfully worked to improve and sustainably manage the Kongwak Pioneer Reserve, by:

  • Constructing paths to link up with existing trails
  • Creating the 'Voices of Kongwak' audio tour and  making it easily accessible to visitors 
  • Upgrading the information bay at the Reserve
  • Erecting information paddles at strategic locations
  • Building new picnic tables
  • Creating a logo and Facebook page to raise awareness of the Reserve

The Kongwak Hills Landcare Group partnered with the South Gippsland Shire Council, Kongwak Community Group and the Kongwak CFA,  receiving funding from the Bass Coast Landcare Network Public fund to enable works to be undertaken.