Labor is making it easier to restore our native forests and vegetation following bushfires and storms.
Minister for Environment Steve Dimopoulos today announced a $900,000 investment to boost supply of the Goulburn Broken native orchard seeds.
This funding will expand five of the Euroa Arboretum's native woody orchards by the equivalent of 20 footy fields.
This will produce thousands more native seeds that will help meet the growing demand for native seeds and help restore wildlife habitat across Victoria.
The BushBank Seed Sector Support Grants were developed by Labor to address insufficient and unreliable supply of native seeds needed for restoration projects.
Planting new seeds early on is critical to restoring bushfire damaged areas and ensuring the local environment grows back and allow local wildlife to return.
Euroa Arboretum will use the funding to build a new purpose-built seedbank facility, doubling the arboretum's seed processing and storage capacity and streamlining operations.
Statewide the $3 million in BushBank Seed Sector Grants are helping to create and secure regional jobs, expand seed orchards and nurseries, and boost capacity to grow hundreds of thousands of seedlings.
Six organisations including two Traditional Owner corporations will benefit from the BushBank Seed Sector Grants.
Native seed for the BushBank program is collected from healthy stands of existing vegetation.
Cassinia Environmental is partnering with landowners across Victoria to accelerate plantings on private properties and help deliver BushBank's goal of revegetating 20,000 hectares by 2035.
As stated by Minister for Environment Steve Dimopoulos
"Boosting the supply of native seed and seedlings is essential to supporting the long-term restoration of Victoria's native vegetation and recover from bushfires."
"This will make it easier to collect, process and store native seed at the scale needed for projects like rebuilding bushfire impacted forests and supporting the return of native wildlife."
As stated by Member for Northern Victoria Jac Symes
"The Euroa Arboretum is an important asset locally and for the state. I am thrilled to see this new seed‑bank facility take shape thanks to this BushBank Seed Sector grant."
