Restoration and Revegetation

We facilitate restoration and revegetation effots at various sites across the Bellarine including:

• Queenscliff, Drysdale, Portarlington Cemetery (Planting Days)
• The Narrows (Community/School Weeding Days)
• The Point (Community Planting Day and ongoing revegetation management)
• Regular weeding sessions at Murrk Ngubitj Yarram Yaluk

Introduced Plants

Bellarine Catchment Network control invasive flora species at the following locations:

• Fellows Road (Spiny Rush, grasses)
• Leopold and Queenscliff Cemetery (woody weeds, grasses, bulbs)
• The Bellarine Rail Trail (Gorse, Broome, Wild Watsonia)
• The Narrows, Queenscliff (Polygala, Italian Buckthorn, Bridal Creeper, Boxthorn)
• The Point, Queenscliff (Spiny Rush, Boxthorn, Gorse, grasses) 

Introduced Animals

In previous years, Bellarine Catchment Network provided education and project delivery to help control and manage the impacts of the following introduced animals:

• Rabbits (Bellarine Rail Trail rabbit warren destruction in partnership with Bellarine Landcare)
• Indian Myna Control (in partnership with the City of Greater Geelong) - note that this program is not currently active.

Community Education

We aim to educate as many people as possible about the benefits of biodiversity and a health ecosystem. The following intiatives are just a snapshot of these opportunities:

• Biodiversity In Your Backyard (event celebrating local artists, educators, etc)
• Gardens 4 Wildlife (assisting residents to create wildlife friendly gardens)
• Greening the Songline (Planting at Big Rock and other locations along the Songline)
• Community Environment Days (Queenscliff and Point Lonsdale)

Indigenous Nurseries in Geelong and the Bellarine

There are many nurseries in Geelong and the Bellarine that can provide commercial and individual buyers with locally indigenous plants.

• Bellarine Landcare Nursery (Belchers Road, Drysdale)
• Geelong Community Nursery (212-216 Swanston Street, South Geelong)
• Nick's Natives - Indigenous plants of the Bellarine Peninsula (261 Rhinds Road, Wallington)
• Queenscliffe Indigenous Plant Nursery (79 Nelson Road, Queenscliff)
• Westcoast Indigenous Nursery (by appointment only)

Bellarine Biolinks

The Biolinks program aims to create a healthy biodiverse population of indigenous flora and fauna that flourishes in a network of connected habitat areas across the Bellarine Peninsula. This is a collaborative project with key environmental organisations across the Geelong region. The project aims to identify and map key habitat sites across the Bellarine Peninsula and to investigate options to create effective habitat corridors between these areas. Habitat will be created through on revegetation of locally indigenous flora species.

The creation of biolinks on the Bellarine has been identified as a priority because deforestation, habitat degradation and fragmentation has caused many local fauna extinctions on the Bellarine Peninsula since colonisation in the 1800’s. With degradation and fragmentation still occurring, there have been more local extinctions in the last few decades.