Shade and Shelter on Farms

Latrobe Catchment Landcare Network are working with Energy Australia to enhance farming properties in our catchment region.

For the last 3 years, LCLN have been working with a generous amount of funding from Energy Australia (…$75,000 to date ) to support projects on private land that provide shade and shelter for stock. Shelter belts, paddock trees and native vegetation provide enormous benefits in extreme hot and cold weather events to livestock productivity, as well as being valuable assets for biodiversity and carbon sequestration.

The goal of this project is to engage landholders within the Latrobe Catchment Landcare Network area to fence off remnant vegetation and/or to create native shelterbelts across their property. LCLN staff are continually conducting site visits and assessments, working with Landholders to identify and develop appropriate project areas. Some of the assessment used to assist prioritising projects are based on 3 basic criteria:

• Economic Value (Cost/Ha)

• Ecological Value (environmental outcomes)

• Landholder motivation/reputation

The objectives of this project are:

1. Protect our valuable soils from erosion by providing shelter in open areas.

2. Improve water quality and reduce nutrient runoff across the catchment area.

3. Educate landholders and community on the importance of shade and shelter.