Green Shoots program for Quaama and Kiah communities

22 March 2021

Bega Valley Shire Council encourages the communities of Quaama and Kiah to have their say on the development of the Green Shoots program in their region.

“The Green Shoots program focuses on post-fire environmental restoration works, and the Quaama and Kiah areas have been selected due to the severity of the impact of the 2020 fires in these communities and their significance as key catchment areas,” Council’s Environmental Education Officer, Natalie Ryan said.

“Through this program, community members will have the opportunity to have a say in how and where the environmental and landscape restoration efforts will be focused, learn more about their local environment and be involved with the regeneration of environments in their localities.

“It’s about the community coming together to shape and support the program, based on what they love most about their spaces and their vision for these into the future.

“We will host a community planning session in both localities, where Council will seek feedback on where and how the restoration efforts should be focused. Participants will also be asked to fill out our survey.

“While there, community members can provide us with local environment topics they would like us to cover in an upcoming educational field trip with a local environmental expert.

“This aspect of the Green Shoots program is supported by Atlas of Life in the Coastal Wilderness.

“If community members are unable to attend the planning sessions, the survey is on our Have Your Say webpage for Quaama and another for Kiah.

“The culmination of this community consultation will be an environmental education session with local experts discussing the communities’ chosen topics and a community planting day where residents can actively participate in restoration of their localities.”

The successful Green Shoots Tathra project, implemented after the devastating March 2018 bushfires, demonstrated the physical and psychological benefits of community involvement in environmental restoration following a disaster.

The planning session for Quaama will be held at the Quaama Memorial Park or Quaama Hall, weather dependant on Wednesday 21 April from 3pm to 6pm.

The planning session for Kiah will be held at the Kiah RFS shed on Saturday 24 April from 11am to 2pm.

The Have Your Say survey for Green Shoots Quaama and Green Shoots Kiah will be open until Sunday 25 April.