The official launch of the Mt. Beauty round of the Green Army program was held at the Pondage Playground area on Monday 30th March.
 Neil McCarty (centre)from NECMA launching the program with Greg (L), the Team Leader and Ben (R) from the current Green Army team. |
 The current team enjoying a BBQ lunch prior to the launch. |
| Alpine Shire Council Mayor, Jan Vonarx welcomed the team and the project. Ian Wilson from Conservation Volunteers, Australia spoke of their involvement and gave a update on the current program. Currently there are 546 projects approved across Australia. It is not a labour market program but one run by the Dept. of Environment. Most of the team members have previously completed training courses in conservation and/or land management and are participating in the program to get on-the-job experience. Of the 12 who started in Mt. Beauty, none of dropped out and 3 have secured employment since they started.
In this current season in Mt Beauty, the team have participated in clearing land on the Pebble Beach track and are now at Falls Creek clearing willows from the Alpine bogs. The next project involves clearing weeds from the southern side of the pondage. After that the plan is to tackle individual willows in the Mountain Creek area by spot spraying and replanting. The final planned work in this round is at Rock Pool Road and Damns Road. Alpine Shire Council, the North East Catchment Authority, AGL, Landcare, Parks Victoria, Falls Creek Resort Management and the Upper Kiewa Valley Community Organisation appreciate the work being done and look forward to securing the Green Army for another round of community conservation projects.
|
