Caring for our Catchments Catches on in Brisbane
19 October, 2006
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Caring for our catchments is certainly catching on in Brisbane, with Council's Catchment Coordinator Program assisting community-based catchment groups spend more than 7800 hours restoring local waterways across the city in the past year.
Environment and Sustainability Committee Chairperson, Councillor Helen Abrahams, said seven Council Catchment Coordinators worked full-time with 10 volunteer groups across the city under the innovative program.
"Council started the Catchment Coordinators Program in January 2005 to help build on existing activities already undertaken by the volunteer groups and explore exciting new opportunities that benefit our catchments and their waterways," Cr Abrahams said.
" Council officers work in conjunction with the voluntary groups to help raise awareness of waterway health in our community - in our schools and with industry, landholders, other levels of government and other Council initiatives."
Cr Abrahams said the coordinators drove new initiatives and raised the bar when it came to the outcomes of catchment groups, helping local catchment groups deliver the important catchment care message to a massive new audience.
"The coordinators have taken their environmental message to more than 2800 students at 42 schools across the city in a variety of roles and delivered 16 successful community education training events to almost 600 participants over the past 12 months," Cr Abrahams said.
"They have also assisted 27 private landholders remove more than 46 cubic metres of weeds and plant about 3200 indigenous trees in their place."
Cr Abrahams said the future health of local waterways rested firmly on the decisions and actions that were made by government and the community today.
"Our environment is already under significant pressure from growth and with the city's population expected to rise by more than 145,000 in the next 20 years, it's important that proper safeguards to protect the integrity of our catchments are put in place now.
"The health of Moreton Bay and our local waterways is crucial for the prosperity of our region in areas such as tourism and the local fishing industry.
"We can all take steps now to help our local waterways and I'm delighted that Council's Catchment Coordinators are already on-board and working with the local community to achieve such significant results in catchment care."