Grants assist in preserving enviriomental and cultural heritage, Duncan
Author: Wendy Duncan
Published on: 11-July-2011
Coastal environments and communities in the Goldfields-Esperance region will benefit from over $46,000 in 2011 Coastwest grants, according to Mining and Pastoral MLC, Wendy Duncan.
Ms Duncan said that the grants, provided for the Yonga Quagi Community Coastal Reserve Restoration Project ($11,450) and a project aimed at enhancing the interpretive and educational values of the Culham Inlet ($35,320), would help preserve sites of considerable cultural and environmental significance.
Coastwest grants were announced recently by State Planning Minister John Day, and are funded through a partnership between the Western Australian Planning Commission and the Australian Government’s Caring for Our Country program.
The Culham Inlet project will be managed by the Shire of Ravensthorpe, and involve the Culham Inlet Management Group, the Ravensthorpe Agricultural Initiative Network (RAIN) and South Coast Natural Resource Management (South Coast NRM) and the South Coast Management Group.
The project will focus attention on the inlet, located 7km north east of Hopetoun. With a total budget of $65,000, it aims to educate the community about the inlet’s environmental and cultural heritage qualities, and to protect damage to the fragile ecosystem by providing facilities which will cater for increased visitor numbers in a sustainable way.
The Yonga Quagi Beach project (total budget $21,000) will focus on community rehabilitation and management of the popular reserve and camping site 74km west of Esperance. It will be managed by the Shire of Esperance, with the involvement of the South Coast NRM and the Esperance Nyungar Aboriginal Corporation (ENAC).
The dune system within the reserve is extremely fragile and not well adapted to community pressure. The project will include revegetation and dune stabilisation works plus a preliminary cultural heritage assessment. The works will be undertaken by the local indigenous community and involve measures tackling erosion, pedestrian and vehicle trail and fore-dune system management.
Ms Duncan said that both projects were notable in that they aimed to protect precious coastal environments, enjoyed by many members of the community, while they enhanced knowledge of their value in an environmental, historical and cultural context.
“Both projects have been developed in consultation with local indigenous communities.
The Culham Inlet is of cultural significance to indigenous groups both in the Albany and Esperance areas, while the Yonga Quagi project is being driven by the area’s traditional owners.”
“They both play an important role in highlighting the significance of these sites to their traditional owners, allowing a greater community understanding of the importance of looking after them while we continue to enjoy their natural attributes.”
