Cape Paterson Eco Village | Modern environmentally positive sustainable design | Victoria's Bass coast near Melbourne | Sustainable design, habitat restoration, water treatment, and the fostering of a cohesive community in a coastal setting | Project by Brendan Condon, Mike OÕMullane, Ross Henry, David Gold, Damien Cook

One of the key things that distinguishes the Cape Paterson Ecovillage from other  projects is that it will result in significant environmental net gain.  The site of the Ecovillage was chosen specifically because it is highly degraded marginal farmland that has been cleared for many decades. It provides a terrific opportunity to restore large areas of vegetation from ecological communities that are becoming increasingly rare and provide habitat for local animals that are under increasing pressure.

The Ecovillage will involve a massive ecorestoration programme involving the  restoration of over 60% of the site with approximately 1.4 million plants, including  Wet Heathland, Damp Heathland, Sand Heathland, Coast Banksia Woodland, Swamp Scrub, Brackish Swamp Scrub and a number of wetland communities. This will be the largest Heathland restoration programme ever undertaken in  Victoria.

The objectives for the ecorestoration and management of the vegetation at Cape Paterson are:

1. To protect and enhance the diversity and structure of indigenous plant communities
2. To maintain or increase the populations of indigenous plant species
3. To maintain and improve the habitat of native fauna
4. To prevent weed invasion and reduce the cover and diversity of weed species
5. To eradicate or reduce the impact of feral animals
6. To minimize the impact of visitor pressure on the values of restored habitat and remnant areas
7. To minimize off-site impacts (eg - noise, nutrient pollution, significant changes to hydrology) on the ecological values of indigenous vegetation.

All seed will be collected locally. Plants will be grown at the Australian Ecosystems nursery and transported to site. Plants will be planted by local staff with the supervision of Australian Ecosystems managers. The restoration process will provide good employment opportunities for locals. Once the plantings are completed a ranger will be permanently employed and an annual      budget set aside through the body corporate for the purposes of maintaining the restored vegetation in a healthy state into perpetuity. The project provides a good opportunity for creation of habitat for rare fauna including the Swamp Antechinus, Southern Brown Bandicoot, Swamp Skink, Glossy Grass Skink and Growling Grass Frog.