The Great Southern Rail Trail (GSRT) traverses over 100km of South Gippsland from Nyora in the NW to Port Welshpool in the SE. It has enormous potential to provide long-term habitat for local flora and fauna, plus engage the wider community in environmental education, surveys and restoration efforts. Six landcare groups also have an interest in the future management of the trail.
To help facilitate and prioritise future environmental restoration efforts along the trail SGLN has received funding from the Wettenhall Environment Trust to:
1) identify and map biodiversity hotspots along the GSRT between Nyora and Port Welshpool using data obtained for the Biodiversity Protection Plan e.g. species records and veg mapping
2) identify and map work area preferences of the six landcare groups that cover the GSRT
3) develop a prioritised 3-5 year Biodiversity Action Plan for the GSRT that gives direction to all six landcare groups and council.
SGLN will be running a series of workshops with landcare groups in May 2025 to present flora & fauna records and agree on priority areas.
More Information: Nick Stephens at nick.stephens@sgln.net.au
