Junee Shire Council has completed a number of estimates for work at the Bethungra dam and reserve with the most expensive estimate coming in at $1 million.

Following a meeting between the Department of Land and Property Management Authority (LPMA), council staff, the dam safety committee and other bodies, the estimates have been completed on the total costs of a number of options for the dams future.

The options included an upgrading of the road and strengthening of the wall with a major concrete buttress on the wall to be built.

Council engineering services manger Colin Macaulay said that there were options for lesser work to the dam, which was deemed unsafe, included pulling the dam wall down or bolting the wall to bed rock.

Mr Macaulay said both options were estimated to cost roughly $180,000 to $190,000.

Yass – Grant for Murrumbateman

A local project to restore the missing links of native vegetation on land east of Murrumbateman has been awarded $10,000 under the Murrumbidgee Community Partnerships program.

Murrumbateman Landcare Group will use the money to direct seed, plant tubestock, fence protected areas and carry out bio surveys on a thin 25km strip of land stretching from Mundoonen Nature Reserve, 12km east of Yass, to Picaree Hill, 10km southeast of Murrumbateman.

Members of the Murrumbateman Landcare Group, representatives from the Murrumbidgee Catchment Management Authority and a delegate from the Australian Government whose environmental management arm ‘Caring for our Country’ provided the funding gathered to discuss the progression of the project and celebrate the grant.

At the afternoon tea, guests were given an overview of the project and shown maps of the 250 square kilometer corridor, detailing its demise since European settlement.

Vice-president of the Murrumbateman Landcare Group, Ro McFarlane, said any assistance for the worthwhile project was always welcome.