CORANGAMITE COASTAL CMA SMALL GRANTS (<$10,000) ROUND 5

GUIDELINES

1. INTRODUCTION The Corangamite CMA Coastal Small Grants (CSG) program makes available National Landcare Program, (Australian Government) funding for community coastal projects delivered by non-government organisations (NGOs,) coastal community groups and schools for works on public land.

2. OBJECTIVES The objective of the program is to support community involvement in protecting and/or enhancing coastal biodiversity assets with a focus on combining community engagement activities with on ground coastal outcomes. The Coastal Small Grants program is designed to provide opportunities for community based groups along the Corangamite coastline to be engaged in environmental works on public land.

The Coastal Small Grants Program is designed to contribute to the following:  Facilitate on ground biodiversity conservation in coastal areas.  Enhance and maintain the capacity of individuals and / or community groups to undertake coastal biodiversity activities.  Increase the volunteer movement for coastal NRM.  Relationships and partnerships are built, maintained and strengthened.  Raise awareness and generate enthusiasm for participation and innovation in coastal NRM activities.  Provide a catalyst for changing coastal land management behaviour/practices.

3. FUNDING CONDITIONS The Coastal Small Grants program places emphasis on combining community engagement with on ground coastal outcomes. Projects are sought with multiple benefits and where appropriate encourage groups to work together to achieve coastal biodiversity outcomes. Each project must address four key selection criteria; the current biophysical state, the likelihood of project success, the social outcomes of a project and the timing opportunity / risk (see Attachment 1 for a description of the assessment criteria). Projects will be funded on a cost versus benefit basis. Projects must have a nominated project manager. Projects must have the consent of the appropriate public land manager to receive funding and prior to any works commencing.

1 Corangamite CMA Coastal Small Grant Guidelines 2016-2017 ROUND 5 Criteria Conditions Projects must cover at least one coastal biodiversity  The on-ground works projects should not management practice: be on-going maintenance projects.  Weed management;  Projects for weeds must be for high threat weed species at a project site (CCMA Catchment  Pest management; Officer can assist with determining high threat  Soil erosion; weed species for a site).  Vegetation protection, enhancement or  Program will NOT support the employment of coordinators, facilitators or establishment; or project officers  Protective fencing.

AND

 Education / Engagement (for example, forums, field days, newsletters, training, school events).  Proponents who demonstrate engagement practices with Indigenous communities and/or non-traditional groups with an interest in learning and actively participating in environmental works. Proponents may be community based groups or Projects are for public not private benefit. schools or NGOs. Projects will be assessed based on cost versus Requested funding must not exceed $10,000 per benefit. Project benefit will be determined against project per annum. Multiple year projects may be established assessment criteria (Attachment 1) approved and a multiple year approach is encouraged where this will provide benefit to the outcomes achieved.

4. EXPRESSION OF INTEREST PROCESS Proponents will need to register an expression of interest (EOI) by calling the Corangamite CMA. At this stage basic details about the proposal and proponent organisation will be collected. The person lodging the EOI should be suitably prepared to provide a basic overview of the site location and approximate size, as well as information about the nature of the works to be undertaken and contact details for the group. Following lodgment of an expression of interest, a site assessment will be undertaken by a Catchment Officer from the Corangamite CMA. This officer will organise a time to meet at least one representative of the proponent group on site. The proposed project will be discussed, the site will be mapped, and an assessment of the quality of the vegetation will occur. Recommended management actions will be discussed at this stage. Following this site assessment and discussion, the field officer will develop a summary management plan for review by the proponent. This process may take some time (probably weeks if not months) as these staff have other competing tasks to also complete. The Management Plan will form a core part of the contract, in the case that the project is deemed to be good value for money and therefore contracted / funded. The proponent will be given an application form at the end of the site assessment to provide additional

2 information and a proposed project costing. All proponents will have to submit application forms within 28 days of receiving their management plan and proposal pack. 5. ELIGIBILITY Grants are available to NGOs, coastal community groups and schools for eligible works on public land. 6. INELIGIBILITY Grant funding cannot be spent on:  Project administration only;  Community education / capacity building projects alone;  The costs associated with the establishment and maintenance of an organisation;  Primarily commercial tree crops e.g. agro forests or plantations;  Provision of incentives for activities where an existing duty of care requires them to occur (typically through legislation);  The hire of equipment owned by organizations’ or groups members (may be shown as contribution in kind).

7. TIMELINE This current round of the Coastal Small Grants opened on 30 January 2017. The call for expressions of interest will remain open until the Corangamite CMA is satisfied that either; 1) a sufficient number of proposals has been nominated to effectively utilise available funding or 2) additional interest being registered is insufficient to keep the current round open to EOIs.

8. FUNDING RATES & BUDGET Applications are sought for project budgets ranging up to $10,000 per project per year. The total funding available for coastal small grants through until June 2018 (three years) is $200, 000. An additional one round of grants are scheduled to be run following this current round. Applicants should use the following table to guide proposal costing. Funding rates detailed below are the maximum rates to be applied. Proponents may wish to apply for lesser rates in order to ensure that proposals are competitive.

Activity Maximum Funding Rates (GST Exclusive) Weed Control Non-woody weed control (spray) $1,000.00 / hectare Woody weed (spray) $1,000.00 / hectare Wood weed (cut/paint) $1,000.00 / hectare Rabbit Control High population density $1,000.00 / hectare Low/moderate population density $650.00 / hectare Revegetation Tree or shrub (stake/guard/delivery) $4.00 / stem Grass (stake/guard/delivery) $2.00 / stem Fencing Seven wire $7.00 / metre Four wire plus electric $5.50 / metre Flood fence (sacrificial) $7.00 / metre

3 Corangamite CMA Coastal Small Grant Guidelines 2016-2017 ROUND 5 Flood fence (drop-down) $7.50 / metre Difficult terrain fence $10.00 / metre

9. ABORIGINAL CULTURAL HERITAGE All Aboriginal cultural heritage, that is, Aboriginal places, Aboriginal objects and Aboriginal human remains, are protected under the Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006. It is an offence to disturb or desecrate Aboriginal cultural heritage or carry out works that is likely to harm Aboriginal cultural heritage.

Under Section 27 of the Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006, all Aboriginal cultural heritage is protected. It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that Aboriginal cultural heritage is not impacted upon by proposed works. Mitigation strategies against impacting cultural heritage may include checking the Aboriginal Heritage Register for previously recorded Aboriginal cultural heritage places. An application can be made to the Registrar under Section 147 of the Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006 for advice as to whether registered sites are present within a nominated area of land. The application for this advice is available by contacting the Corangamite CMA, 03 5232 9000. There may be a fee for accessing the register. It is important to note that not all sites will be registered and suitable management of potential impacts must be incorporated into all projects.

10. PAYMENT Successful applicants are required to enter into a signed agreement with the Corangamite CMA. The Applicant shall receive 50% of the payment upon signing of the contract, 25% payment on satisfactory completion of the progress report and the final 25% upon satisfactory completion of the final report. 11. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS Progress reports will be required to be submitted on a six monthly basis. A standard reporting proforma will be supplied by the CMA, and will be based on the management activities of the project. Reporting will include the need to provide photo point monitoring of on ground works, these points will be established in the first instance as part of the site assessment conducted by the CMA project officer. 12. LODGEMENT OF PROPOSAL The proposal must be lodged electronically with the CMA using the standard coastal small grants proforma. The proposal will consist of a proposal costing, the project management plan (to be developed by the CMA) and other relevant details to enable the proposal to be effectively assessed. A standard grants proforma will be provided by the CMA with the draft project management plan. 13. ASSESSMENT CRITERIA Please see Attachment 1 for a full description of the assessment criteria and explanation of each criteria component. Each of the three criteria are weighted and a score out of 5 is assigned to each criteria. Each criteria has a final score which is determined by multiplying the criteria score by the weighting. The total score is developed by adding each of the four final criteria scores and then dividing this by the investment sought for each project. 14. FURTHER INFORMATION For further information regarding the coastal small grants, please contact Polly Matthews – Catchment Coordinator on 0407 341 350. Please note that Polly does not work on Thursdays.

4 Attachment 1 Selection Criteria

(1 page) Category Criteria Component Assessment Method Current biophysical state EVC Status The EVC status of every potential project site will be determined with assistance from a CCMA Catchment Officer. Projects will be prioritised based on their EVC status with the most endangered EVCs being prioritised - from endangered, vulnerable, depleted, rare and least concern. Vegetation Condition The EVC condition of each potential project site will be undertaken using either the Habitat Hectares method or the Index of Wetland Condition method. This approach includes assessment of the landscape context of sites. Site size The size of each potential project site will be measured using a GPS Unit and recorded in hectares. Threatened species habitat This criteria will be assessed using two methods. The first method is use of the GIS layer, NaturePrint which is a state-wide mapping layer that identifies priority areas for environmental projects based on a range of parameters, including threatened species habitat. The site assessment process will also be used to assess this criteria, where threatened species are observed in the field. Note that this does not include identifying suitable habitat for threatened species at a site, the threatened species must be observed (and preferably photographed) to be included. Likelihood of success Likely management gain Assesses how significant and certain is the environmental gain that can be achieved from the project. In other words, how effective will the project activities be in delivering the intended environmental outcome? 0-3 highly uncertain, 4-5 somewhat certain, 6-8 certain 8-10 very certain. Methodology Is the project logic sound? How do the methods contribute to the proposed outcomes? Is the project technically feasible ? Are there better methods? Proponent Capacity Has the proponent demonstrated capacity to deliver agreed outcomes on time and

5 Corangamite CMA Coastal Small Grant Guidelines 2016-2017 ROUND 5 within budget, including capacity to adhere to reporting requirements? Predicted benefit Partnerships Are appropriate project partners part of the bid? Is co-investment appropriate? Community capacity building How does the proposal maximise community capacity building? Is what is intended appropriate in its nature and scale given what is proposed? Appropriate engagement with Indigenous and non-traditional NRM groups would be highly regarded Timing opportunity / risk Timing opportunity and risk How urgent is the project and what would happen if it did not proceed?

6 Corangamite CMA Coastal Small Grant Guidelines 2016-2017 ROUND 5