The Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority has shared in a national award that recognises trailblazers in environmental and social sustainability.
Goulburn Broken CMA, as part of Victoria’s 10 CMAs collectively known as Vic Catchments, won the Nature Positive category of the 35th National Banksia Sustainability Awards this month.
The award celebrates achievements in conservation, habitat restoration and species protection and highlights contributions to safeguarding and promoting the richness of nature.
Goulburn Broken CMA Chief Executive Officer, Chris Cumming, said the Vic Catchments award submission focused on CMA achievements over 25 years.
“I am extremely proud of the Goulburn Broken CMA’s part in being changemakers for nature for more than 25 years, achieved through genuine collaboration with Traditional Owners, Landcare, community, government and stakeholders - to improve the health of our waterways and biodiversity from our alpine areas to our extensive floodplain environment,” Ms Cumming said.
“The Goulburn Broken CMA team works across the catchment, which stretches from close to the outskirts of Melbourne in the south, the alps including Mt Buller, to the Murray River in the north, and the Campaspe River to the west. Our team brings so much regional knowledge, passion and connection to the community to deliver projects in our natural environment.
“Our work includes protecting the natural assets that underpin irrigation, river and wetland health, flood planning, soil management, landscape restoration and biodiversity protection.”
Ms Cumming said that this year the Goulburn Broken CMA was renewing the community-led 30-year Shepparton Irrigation Region Land and Water Management Plan, with the initial plan having guided significant protection of soil, water and biodiversity in the irrigation district.
“We have also supported our communities through the October 2022, 2023 and January 2024 floods where our incident response, community flood information portal, river restoration, drain repair works and blackwater management were invaluable,” she said.
“Recent biodiversity projects include a partnership with Traditional Owners and Alpine Resorts to improve the trajectory of the endangered Mountain Pygmy-possum on Mount Buller.
“We are very excited about the state of our wetlands and the return of birds, including at those waterways that are part of our environmental watering program such as Moodie Swamp, south of Katamatite, and Barmah Forest.”
Ms Cumming said while there was a lot of work to be done to protect and improve the health of our natural environment, it was encouraging that CMA efforts, in partnership with the catchment community to date, had been recognised through this award.
Goulburn Broken CMA Chief Executive Officer Chris Cumming;
Mountain Pygmy-possum at Mt Buller.
Brolga at Moodie Swamp.