CEO Kim Sampson said young people from the Summervale community would receive training to undertake the work of stabilising the riverbank and removing noxious weeds from a section of the river.

The project aims to recruit and train about 12 participants in accredited units of the Certificate III in Conservation and Land Management course which will cover protective fencing, weed eradication of blackberry, St John’s wort, hawthorn, briar rose, scotch thistle, black thistle, nodding thistle, saffron and other invasive weed species, stream bank erosion control and revegetation and ongoing maintenance of the project area on the Apsley River on Summervale Aboriginal Community at Walcha.

The goal of the project is to teach sustainable natural resource industry skills that will be used beyond the life of the project.

A total of $500,000 was offered under the Protecting Our Places program in 2009. Grants of between $2,000 and $35,000 were available.

The aim of the program is to protect land that is culturally significant to Aboriginal people and to support education projects about the environment and its importance in Aboriginal life.

The Trust received 27 applications requesting a total of $873,493 and it awarded 17 grants totalling $520,173.