VRAN Community Grants 2021

20 April 2021

In 2021 VRAN invited Victorian community groups and organisations working in rabbit management to apply for the VRAN Community Grants Program. This grant program was funded through the Australian Government’s Agricultural Competitiveness White Paper project in collaboration with the Agriculture Victoria.

VRAN offered grants to help community groups and organisations raise awareness of the rabbit issue and best practice control methods.

The aim of the Grants Program was to support coordinated, community-led action across Victoria. VRAN wanted to provide community groups with an opportunity to improve their rabbit management programs so they could:

  • increase land managers awareness and use of best practice rabbit management
  • increase the level of community participation and effectiveness of on-ground rabbit control across Victoria
  • provide an opportunity for community groups to deliver innovative programs that raise community awareness on best practice rabbit control and showing the need for effective control of rabbits in our environment

Grant Packages

Round 1 – The VRAN Learning Network grant program was initiated to provide Learning Network members with an opportunity to run their own education program and share their new knowledge with others.

VRAN administered $15,660 to 5 Learning Network Members.

Round 2 – VRANs Community Action Grants program was initiated to continue building awareness in the community on best practice rabbit management.

VRAN administered $55,307.20 to 14 Community groups.

Program Outcomes

19 Community Groups Received Funding

31 Community Events Held

740 People Engaged

182 New People Engaged

Engagement Tools & Events

  • Field day and demonstrations
  • Technology demonstrations eg. Rabbit scan
  • Community information sessions
  • Distribution of a Glovebox guide to managing rabbits

Knowledge Exchange With:

  • Community
  • VRAN Mentors
  • Agriculture Victoria Biosecurity Staff
  • Contractors
  • DPI NSW
  • CMAs
  • Local & State Govt Agencies
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Signage created by Mornington Peninsula Shire for their project Beyond our Boundaries – Managing Rabbits across the lower Balcombe Catchment.

“The [East Gippsland field days] stall highlighted the negative impacts from rabbits on farming productivity and environmental values and provided a range of information and working examples of rabbit management techniques and knowhow, including the use of Rabbit K5 virus and the PestSmart app. A highlight of the project was the dedication and willingness of the Landcare Pest Plant and Animal subcommittee members to volunteer and donate their time throughout the event and our collective capacity to increased awareness within the community around rabbit and other pest species management.”
Gippsland Plains Conservation Management Network
“Our Rabbit Blitz was successful in visiting a number of sites to demonstrate a variety of methods and tools available for managing rabbits in difficult to access locations (such as under buildings, woodpiles, graves and in revegetation and native vegetation sites). The demonstrations and workshops gave the wider community a better under-standing of on ground rabbit control techniques available to them”.
Latrobe Catchment Landcare Network.
“The Rabbit workshop opened communication about rabbit controls between government, contractors and landowners/managers and got landowners communicating with each other about their controls, timing and coordination with each other. Rabbit control is usually not on the forefront of land operations, but project highlighted the need for continued coordinated integrated management otherwise time and effort being put in will not show long term effective results”.
Hopetoun Landcare Group
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To learn more about the White Paper project visit the Weeds and Rabbits project website: weedsandrabbits.com

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