Melbourne Pollinator Corridor
A group of Rotary Clubs have been invited to collaborate and create an 8-kilometre Melbourne Pollinator Corridor (MPC) from the Botanical Gardens to Port Melbourne. This initiative is inspired by Emma Cutting who has led a street garden project in the very densely populated urban area of South Melbourne. For more details see the The Heart Gardening website and Emma’s Instagram page.
We are encouraging each Rotary Club to ultimately contribute to the Melbourne Pollinator Corridor in their local area by filling any undervalued and undernourished public space such as nature strips, lane ways, dedicated garden areas and any available land with green, biodiverse, pollinator-friendly plants.
Plans are in place to start a ‘prototype’ street garden which forms part of the MPC by the Rotary Club of Melbourne South. Surrounding Clubs will be invited to share in the Project journey and assist with the hands on planting in the next few weeks for learnings for their own project.
To assist clubs build their knowledge and understanding a street garden walk to view the Emma’s achievements was planned but has had to be cancelled (twice) due to the COVID lockdown. We intend to reschedule a new date subject to lifting of restrictions. Participating in the Pollinator Corridor is the most significant street garden environmental project to be undertaken by Rotary District 9800 and we hope it becomes the model for other high density urban areas throughout Victoria and Australia.
For more information, please email Peter Berg pberg8@bigpond.net.au Fabienne Nichola, District 9800 Environmental Sustainability Committee in collaboration with Rotarian for Bees