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Overview

  • Business, Government, Not-for-profit groups, Traditional Owner Corporations
  • Closed

Green Links is a $10 million investment to improve habitat, water quality, and provide cool green spaces for communities around our urban creeks, rivers and waterways.

The program aims to fund up to 200 hectares of revegetation projects over 3 years. Green Links builds on work underway to protect our iconic urban waterways from inappropriate development and complements the aspirations of Traditional Owners and the community for our waterways.

Why are we investing?

The health and amenity of our urban waterways is important and provides environmental, cultural, and social benefits. Our waterways:

  • support biodiversity and provide a home for more than 1,800 species of native plants and 600 species of native animals
  • are sites of significant importance and cultural value to Traditional Owners, who maintain unique cultural and spiritual connections to Country, and its waterways, plants, and animals
  • enhance community wellbeing by providing safe natural places for people to spend time and engage with nature. This has a measurable impact on reducing depression, anxiety, and stress.

Now is the time to act to avoid a decline in waterway health and habitat. With action, the environmental values of catchments can be maintained or improved. Increasing the extent and quality of streamside vegetation can improve habitat for birds, frogs, fish, and platypus. Revegetation can also protect catchment wetlands and floodplains, which provides places where people can connect with nature.

Green Links will be delivered in partnership with Traditional Owners and local communities and will strengthen communities’ connection with their local waterways.

Successful projects

In 2023-24 the Green Links grants program awarded $6.037 million in grants to support 23 projects.

Projects include $1.77 million to revegetate the corridor along the Moorabool and Barwon rivers, more than $700,000 to restore the Yarrowee River and $464,000 to improve habitat conditions and connectivity along a 4 kilometre stretch of the much-loved Merri Creek.

Round 1 funding targeted projects on waterways included in the Waterways of the West and Barre Warre Yulluk / the Rivers of the Barwon Action Plans, Burndap Birrarung burndap umarkoo – the Yarra Strategic Plan, and 14 waterways identified for stronger planning controls.

Green Links grant program areas

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ApplicantProjectGrant
Brimbank City Council Kororoit Creek Connections & Maribyrnong River Valley Habitat Restoration $397,995.00
Bunanyung Landscape Alliance Urban Ripple: Restoring our Yarrowee River and its little Creeks $701,584.00
City of Melbourne Royal Park Creek Restoration $168,640.00
Corangamite Catchment Management Authority Rivers of the Barwon revegetation works $1,769,611.00
Eco Warriors Australia Planting the Seed: Helping Schoolchildren Create a Living Classroom $102,250.00
Friends of Edwardes Lake Creating habitat at Edwardes Lake, Edgars Creek Wetlands and Edgars Creek $316,771.20
Friends of Moonee Ponds Creek, Inc. Infill Revegetation & Biolinking along Moonee Ponds Creek, Brunswick West $25,473.00
Friends of Steele Creek Steele Creek Habitat Improvement Stage 1 $200,000.00
Golden Plains Shire Council Moorabool River Reserve Riparian Restoration $28,950.00
KooyongKoot Alliance Inc Gardiners Creek Reserve/KooyongKoot biodiversity Corridor revegetation $94,130.00
Maribyrnong City Council Maribyrnong River & Stony Creek wildlife protection & habitat creation $188,000.00
Melbourne Water Corporation Revegetation for connections in the West $54,288.00
Merri Creek Management Committee Connecting up Communities, Corridors and Refuges for Urban Fauna $463,731.00
Merri-bek City Council Edgars Creek Corridor Connection Project $115,953.10
Moorabool Landcare Network Parwan Gorge Conservation Precinct $77,185.00
Stonnington City Council Glen Iris Wetlands and Gardiners Creek (KooyongKoot) Biodiversity Project $196,863.00
Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative Native Grasses Revival: Enhancing Gilgais for Clean Waterways $200,000.00
Werribee River Association Restoring Werribee River park $152,796.00
Whitehorse Community Indigenous Plant Project Inc (Bungalook Nursery) Blackburn Lake Sanctuary Main Inlet Wetland Regeneration $53,655.00
Whittlesea Community Connections Community bringing Curly Sedge back to Curly Sedge Creek $47,307.00
Wyndham City Council Tarneet Islands Revegetation 2024-2026 $114,408.10
Yarra Valley Water Habitat Regeneration at Upper Yarra Treatment Plant $567,600.00

To find out more or be notified about future grant rounds, please contact urban.waterways@delwp.vic.gov.au.

Grant criteria - Round 1

These organisations and groups were eligible to apply:

  • land and/or water management authorities
  • local government authorities
  • Registered Aboriginal Parties
  • community or environmental volunteer groups/networks.

Round 1 funding targeted projects on 14 waterways where stronger planning controls are currently being developed through the Government’s Protecting Waterways so our Wildlife Can Thrive commitment:

  • Stony Creek
  • Jacksons Creek
  • Kororoit Creek
  • Cherry Creek
  • Werribee River
  • Moonee Ponds Creek
  • Maribyrnong River
  • Steele Creek
  • Darebin Creek
  • Merri Creek
  • Edgars Creek
  • Koonung Creek
  • Plenty River, and
  • Gardiners Creek

Projects within these geographic areas were also eligible:

Projects that were funded in this round targeted on-ground works for revegetation and associated works.

Projects must start in 2023-24 and be completed by no later than 30 June 2026.

Partnerships with Traditional Owners and/or community groups on applications were highly encouraged.

Community tree planting events and/or other opportunities for local community involvement, for example friends, community groups and schools were also encouraged.

Page last updated: 04/03/24