The Melbourne Pollinator Corridor is set to be the most significant street garden environmental project to be undertaken by Rotary District 9800 and will act as a model for other high density urban areas throughout Victoria and Australia. The aim of this project is to bring community together, create vital biodiversity and wildlife corridors through urban Melbourne and improve the health of our city, environment and community.
Part of The Heart Gardening Project created by Emma Cutting, a South Melbourne mum with a passion for street gardening, the Melbourne Pollinator Corridor (MPC) will focus on harnessing community support to participate in street gardening. The Heart Gardening Project will run the MPC through four identified highly urbanised suburbs of inner Melbourne, being Port Melbourne, South Melbourne, Southbank and Melbourne. It will involve using public and private land through the four suburbs and will cover an 8km wildlife corridor joining Westgate Park and the Royal Botanic Gardens.
Through the MPC, 200 indigenous gardens will be created by harnessing the power of community and those who want to see positive change. Using mainly nature strips, the MPC will help bring back our devastated understory where most of our native insects live. Caring for Country, the project will return 18,000 indigenous plants to this land while also bringing community together, increasing habitat for our native wildlife, concentrating the focus on our incredible native pollinators and insects and creating joy, inspiration and beauty in the area. Designed alongside scientists and specialists and within government constraints, the MPC will be a safe haven for native bees, other flower-visiting insects and all other critters that come along with them. This project creates desperately needed connected habitat that will increase indigenous biodiversity, create more movement for species and stronger genetic diversity and health within our indigenous flora and fauna.
Ten Rotary clubs located within the MPC boundaries have been identified and club representatives are being sought to take up a street garden project in their geographical area, either individually or collaboratively with other clubs. A field visit is planned on 18 July 2021 and these Rotary clubs will be invited to attend to experience the outcome of Emma’s work and access resources to assist with their project.
If you would like to know more, please contact Peter Berg, District 9800 Environmental Sustainability Committee in collaboration with Rotarians for Bees at pberg8@bigpond.net.au