There is no shortage of awards at the Parkes Shire Council this year, with the PAC Park Rehabilitation project taking out its second accolade in a month. The project won Division A of the Natural Environment Protection and Enhancement: On-Ground Works category at an awards ceremony held in Sydney last Tuesday. The annual awards recognise outstanding achievements by local government in managing and protecting the environment.
Last month the community-driven work done at PAC Park was recognised with a Blue Star Sustainability Award.
Parkes Shire Council Mayor, Cr Ken Keith OAM thanked the community for helping deliver this important project.
“This award is recognition of the time and effort our community members, local organisations and Council staff dedicated to ensure the potential of PAC Park was realised.” “Thanks to their hard work, the area has been transformed into a beautiful outdoor precinct for residents, visitors and wildlife to enjoy.”
The project has transformed a degraded stormwater channel into an ecologically complex wetland treatment system, while improving the overall public amenity of the reserve. As part of the project, dredging works were undertaken to remove a large amount of gross pollutants and sediments that had accumulated within the waterway. An existing
island infested with exotic weeds has been turned into a mudflat area to accommodate water plants that will provide habitat for native birds as well as improve water quality.
Funding for the project was made available through the Public Reserves Management Fund Program for Crown Lands, the Building Resilience to Climate Change program, and the Central West Local Land Services incentive program for Local Government. The Local Government Excellence in the Environment Awards were initiated in 1998 and are held annually. The Awards are open to all local government organisations in NSW.