The Merri Creek Environment Fund
The Merri Creek Environment Fund is seeking donations for revegetation and conservation works in the Merri Creek catchment. Donations of $2 or more are tax deductible. Please make cheques out to Merri Creek Environment Fund and send to MCMC, 2 Lee Street, East Brunswick, 3057 with a filled in Donation slip, or drop in a cash donation (sorry, no credit card facilities) or contact us to arrange a direct deposit.
Bringing Merri Creek back to life
The Merri Creek Environment Fund is a tax-deductible fund which aims to ensure the preservation, restoration, environmental protection and ecologically sensitive development and maintenance of the Merri Creek and adjoining catchment areas, with a long term aim of securing a major regional park ("the Merri Creek parklands") with significant recreation and conservation values.
In order to fulfill this aim, the fund is set up to provide a long term, ongoing and independent source of grants to private landowners, community groups and to the Merri Creek Management Committee to:
- research and promote environmentally sustainable transport options in the catchments
- work with schools to involve children in environmental projects
- undertake educational activities about the Merri Creek environment
- revegetate areas along the Merri Creek and its tributaries with indigenous plants
- create or restore and maintain wetlands
- undertake habitat improvement works such as re-introducing rocks and riffles to the waterways
- fence areas of remnant vegetation
- purchase land for conservation
- install litter traps
Melbourne & Metropolitan Board of Works Depot, Northcote, circa 1990.
The Merri Creek Environment Fund does not receive sponsorship from businesses, but only gifts from the Community.
It is owned by Merri Creek Management Committee, and managed by a committee of people with a demonstrated commitment to the wider community, and reports to the Merri Creek Management Committee and the Federal Department of the Environment.
Donations of $2 or more are tax deductible.
Major donors will receive a certificate of appreciation to acknowledge their gift.
The MCMC and Merri Creek Environment Fund are non-profit and committed to ethical investments.
If you would like to leave money in your will to the Merri Creek, please ring Merri Creek Environment Fund on (03) 9380 8199.
The Challenge of restoring Merri Creek
Merri Creek stretches from the Great Dividing Range to the Yarra River. It flows from foothill forests, through farmland, rocky gorges, rare native grasslands, between quarries and factories and houses in the northern suburbs of Melbourne.
After 165 years of degradation the restoration work of the last 25 years has made a huge difference, but there's a lot of work still to do.
The above depot area transformed into Merri Park Wetlands, circa 2001.
The return of the Kingfisher is celebrated by a festival, but many other species are returning to the lower Merri Creek thanks to the revegetation and remnant vegetation protection works which have been carried out.
Improving the water quality of the Creek remains a challenge requiring revegetation of the Creek banks in rural areas, restoration of wetlands or creation of new ones, and better management of the urban catchments.
Completing the habitat corridor linking the foothill forests to the grasslands in the middle catchments and through the suburbs to the Yarra is a huge task.
Rare species in the catchments– there are seven nationally rare or endangered species, and hundreds of species which are rare in the state or in the Merri Creek catchments– need protection. These species need particular attention to ensure that their populations in the Merri Creek catchments flourish. This can involve careful weed control to remove their competition, burning, or collection of seed and re-planting.
For animal species especially, the protection of habitat is crucial, but ongoing management to ensure that habitat remains optimal is also critical.
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