Eleven community-led projects have been funded through the Upper Murrumbidgee Community Stewardship Grants Program, sharing a total of $400,551.
Community collaboration is essential to the success of the Restoring the Upper Murrumbidgee River Program. Healthy rivers sustain the communities around them, and a network of river stewards means care for the river continues well beyond formal project timelines. An informed and well-supported community also provides the oversight and guidance needed to safeguard the river’s health for the long term.
That is why the ACT Government delivery team is running a grants program focused on growing the capacity of communities to do exactly that. The funded projects create opportunities for people to take part in river care activities and to build the skills, knowledge and resources needed to monitor and maintain the upper Murrumbidgee River. They range from upskilling volunteers in on-ground restoration to bringing new audiences to the river for the first time. The projects run through to April 2028.
On-ground work includes habitat restoration for riparian birds, weed control and native planting by volunteer recreational fishers at Casuarina Sands, a new Roving River Carers group working a 2.7 kilometre stretch from Pine Island to the Tuggeranong Creek confluence, and training in conservation work by kayak in remote, hard-to-reach sections of the river.
Other projects focus on knowledge and participation: field-based ecology workshops, 12 guided walks reaching people who are less likely to visit the river, workshops strengthening Aboriginal participation in caring for the Upper Murrumbidgee through reciprocal knowledge sharing, and a year-long Murrumbidgee River Guardians program for children and families. Two take different routes again — creative workshops in poetry, photography and painting leading to a community exhibition, and an online game connecting ACT residents with the river.
The successful projects are
| Project | Organisation |
| Birds, Bush and Blackberries: riparian bird habitat restoration along the Murrumbidgee corridor | Southern ACT Catchment Group |
| Reading Riparian Ripples: ecology workshops along the Murrumbidgee River | Southern ACT Catchment Group |
| River Carers along the Murrumbidgee River | Southern ACT Catchment Group |
| Wellbeing Wonders Along the Murrumbidgee | Southern ACT Catchment Group |
| Maintaining the Murrumbidgee River Corridor at Casuarina Sands | OzFish Unlimited |
| Branching Out: Murrumbidgee River Walks | Conservation Council ACT |
| Riverbank Creative Sessions | SEE Change |
| Waterways, Knowledge, Country | Molonglo Conservation Group |
| Guardians of the Murrumbidgee: building the next generation of environmental stewards | Canberra Montessori Society |
| The Adventure of Community Stewardship | Bush Heritage Australia |
| From Play to Protection: raising river awareness through digital engagement | Upper Murrumbidgee Catchment Network |