The Devolved Grants Program was run in three discrete rounds with Round 1 closing in December 2001, Round 2 in March 2002 and Round 3 in March 2003. The program was open to the member councils of the six participating ROCs, and all applications had to address both an on-ground works task and a strategic (or planning) task.
The third round of the Devolved Grants Program was operated a little differently to the two previous rounds and was initiated with a specific focus on the management of council seedbanks. Propagation and seed collection programs are included as Recommendation No. 13 in the Green Web Sydney Action Plan and are seen to be a critical step in ensuring local councils have ready access to local provenance for their revegetation programs. With this in mind, we invited local councils to submit an application for funding to help with the ongoing maintenance costs of their seedbank and also for the purchase of essential equipment.
The response to the call for applications in all three rounds of the program was exceptional both in terms of quality and quantity, thereby demonstrating that local councils in Sydney are strongly committed to enhancing and protecting their local green corridors. Over the 2002/2003 period, the Devolved Grants Program provided in excess of $345,000 to 20 local Councils.
The most important criteria considered in the assessment of the applications was a clear and long term commitment to the protection of native vegetation, including provisions within the Council's relevant statutory planning instruments. Such provisions include planning and zoning mechanisms, plans of management, management agreements, development controls and incentive mechanisms. It was not sufficient for a Council to simply submit an application for on-ground works without demonstrating a commitment to the long term management and protection of these on-ground works. Thus the success of Green Web Sydney can be measured not only in dollar value to the Sydney region, but also in terms of the additional level of long term protection and enhancement of the city's vegetation resource.
The on-ground works funded in the 20 councils that received funding under the Devolved Grants Program varied enormously but the majority were involved with the restoration and rehabilitation of endangered ecological communities, including the Cumberland Plain Woodland and Cooks River Clay Plain Scrub Forest communities. Summary details of the on-ground works projects are provided in the Projects section of this site.
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