Take a trip to the picturesque Kugerungmome/Powlett River on Bunurong Country and you will see how the local community has been caring for the river and its catchment first-hand.

Kugerungmome/Powlett River enters Bass Strait at Kilcunda. It is a much-loved river alive with biodiversity, stories and cultural values. The vision for, and priority action to improve the health of the catchment have collaboratively been identified by Traditional Owners, community and partnership agencies.  

A total of $1 million has been secured to support the delivery of some key projects. This second stage of the Kugerungmome project builds on the previous four-year program which established strong partnerships and collaborative delivery of on ground outcomes.  

The current project will deliver environmental improvement outcomes on the ground and continue to build even stronger partnerships to work together in and advocate for the catchment and river to deliver on our shared vision. 

On-ground projects will be delivered by the West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority (CMA), Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation, Bass Coast Landcare Network, Trust for Nature, Birdlife Australia and South Gippsland Water. They will bring landholders and community together and expand the reach and possibilities of works. They will also build a sense of stewardship to leave a lasting legacy in the catchment covering over 50,000 hectares.  

Sub-projects include protecting cultural values, controlling predators to protect wildlife, protecting threatened birds such as the Hooded Plover, revegetating riverbanks and improving water quality across the Powlett catchment.  

West Gippsland CMA sees everyone in the catchment as part of the river’s future with opportunities to act as stewards to play a small or large role in caring for it.   

“When you bring everyone together it creates a groundswell of possibility and the large task of taking action becomes bite-size and manageable – supported by each other. That’s how integrated catchment management works,” explained Deb Archer, Manager Catchment and Communities at the West Gippsland CMA.  

The Kugerungmome/Powlett Partnerships project is funded as part of the Victorian Government’s Our Catchments, Our Communities program aiming to improve the health of waterways and catchments across regional Victoria.    

West Gippsland CMA is responsible for over 40,000 kilometres of designated waterways across the region. All these waterways flow to the Victorian coast, discharging through the Gippsland Lakes, or directly into Bass Strait and the Southern Ocean.