New NRRP funding announced

Cape York NRM will be one of 16 organisations sharing nearly $24 million in funds to improve soils and land management practices and build up native vegetation across the state.

Cape York NRM’s project was one of 51 projects approved to provide a range of community-based land and native vegetation management initiatives since the Natural Resource Recovery Program (NRRP) was launched in 2022.

Resources and Critical Minerals Minister Scott Stewart said the funds would help natural resources recover and become more resilient against the worsening impacts of climate change. 

“This funding is also designed to invest in our people, our science, our natural resources and ultimately drive regional economies,” he said.

“The program is open to not-for-profit natural resource management organisations, and they have told us they want to do more.

“We want to ensure our natural resources are nurtured for sustainable industry growth now and into the future.”

The Cape York NRM’s Maintaining and Improving Monitoring and Evaluation in Cape York Peninsula project was developed to undertake legacy monitoring to inform future natural resource management priorities.

Project Officer Maree Coulson said it was a great result for the region and the organisation.

“The money will fund Cape York NRM’s ongoing commitment to improving and embedding monitoring and evaluation across our projects, while also contributing to ongoing land condition monitoring across the Cape,” she said.

“It is a great result for the ongoing monitoring of land and vegetation conditions across the Cape.

“It will provide continuity to the work we have been doing on the ground over the past six years and will fund two additional rounds of follow-up monitoring for the landscape resilience and woody thickening projects, allowing us more time and resources to accurately assess their impacts.”

She said the results of the project would be valuable to landholders and Cape York NRM to support future investment decisions and frame future projects.