June 5, 2015
Young people involved in the East Gippsland Rail Trail Green Army project have commenced on-ground works near Nicholson.
Federal Member for Gippsland Darren Chester was on hand to meet the young Green Army workers and their supervisors who will be responsible for restoring and rehabilitating significant amounts of vegetation.
The project will also protect the native habitat of endangered or threatened fauna and flora species along the East Gippsland Rail trail, through weed control, erosion management, mapping and planning projects, planting native species and provide breeding areas for birds.
“During the next six months we will see first-hand the benefits and improvements made to our local environment through activities undertaken by the Green Army,”
Mr Chester said.
“These participants will not only be generating real environment and conservation benefits for our community, they will be gaining valuable practical training and experience to help them prepare for the workforce or further their training and improve their career opportunities.”
The Green Army is a key Coalition Government commitment with more than $700 million budgeted over four years, including several projects across Gippsland.
The programme will encourage practical action to support local environment and conservation projects across Australia, providing training to thousands of young Australians by 2018.
This investment in the Green Army will bring the Government’s total investment in natural resource management to more than $2 billion over four years.
Further opportunities to join a Green Army project can be found online at
www.environment.gov.au/green-army.