Laying the roots of a wildlife corridor on their 1375-hectare property has been a “last hurrah” for Coreen farmers Margaret and Ben Playford.
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For Mrs Playford, Murray Local Land Services’ connected corridors project, which establishes native vegetation corridors in priority areas, speaks for itself.
“This is our last year on the farm – our grandson will be moving in,” she said.
“We've always farmed, lived and worked here with the idea that agriculture can happen in partnership with the environment.
“We were given funding for fencing and our responsibility was to spray the site out from weeds and deep-rip from one end to the other to prepare for planting.
“When you look at this now, it just makes sense.”
The Playford’s property now hosts a corridor which links to wetlands –one of the most successful of 15 sites of the first round in 2013.
MLLS officer Shanna Rogers said funding was now open for the fourth round of projects - about $280,000 is open to eligible landholders.
“We’ve got a minimum size of five hectares and 30 metres wide,” she said.
“Then we look at the condition of the area they're linking up to – if it’s a really good piece of habitat, they’re going to score higher.”
Ms Rogers said the project, partnered this year with Corowa District Landcare, was enabling the return of woodland birds.
“We have done research with the Australian National University … they're finding around the five-year mark species come in,” she told The Border Mail.
Interested landholders should email: shanna.rogers@lls.nsw.gov.au.