The Open Valley Urban Ecosanctuary Project

Nature in the Neighbourhood

​Residents, visitors and volunteers are vital to see this vision through, by taking action in their own backyards and community spaces including: removing invasive weed species, growing and planting native plants, trapping and monitoring introduced mammalian predators, as well as taking part in Citizen Science, the online community and being involved at an organisational level as part of the steering group. 

Current Projects include:

Habitat Restoration

Backyard planting and weeding - we have plants available for your backyard!

Community planting and weeding - Lindsay Creek - Riparian habitat restoration​

Native Plant Propagation

Lindsay Creek Restoration Plan

We are working towards a long-term plan for the restoration of Lindsay Creek.

Predator Management - Backyard Monitoring and Trapping

​With increased community energy for trapping possums and rats, we have been empowered to increase our trapping efforts by bringing on a new team member. Our new Community Trapping Coordinator is available to install and maintain free-to-borrow possum traps and support new and existing backyard trappers on their backyard trapping journey.

Backyard Possum trap Installations

For possums you need a possum trap in a tree. Our Community Trapping Coordinator, can assess your property’s trapping needs, install appropriate traps, and support you in your backyard trapping journey. Backyard possum trapping helps support our beautiful native bird and plant species. 

Contact emily@northeastvalley.org if you are interested in hosting a possum trap on your property. 

As a prerequisite for trap installation, our Community Trapping Coordinator may ask you a few questions, to ensure the trap can be installed safely on your property (i.e. Is there a suitable tree or fencepost to install the trap?). 

Get Involved

We’d love for you to be a part of the Open VUE family!

Volunteer opportunities:

• Backyard predator trapping
• Volunteer reserve trap line checking
• Backyard native tree planting and weeding
• Working bees (planting and weeding) at adopted sites
• Working bees at native plant propagation nursery
• Species monitoring

If you're keen to be involved, please contact by email on: openvue@northeastvalley.org or Emily (trapping specific) on: emily@northeastvalley.org or Phone us on: 03 473 8614, or check out the links below!