Annual Report 2018 | Page 8

8 | ANNUAL REPORT 2017-2018 Achieve great things WE greatly value working with our corporate partners on natural resource management projects across the region. These partnerships bring mutual benefits: •  We provide expertise, advice and community connections that can assist our partners to meet their strategic environmental objectives, contractual obligations, development approval conditions or sustainability commitments. •  Private sector partnerships and investment add value to our projects. If you are interested in supporting natural resource management and partnering with a proven, professional and passionate organisation that delivers high-quality projects, please contact CEO, Dr Scott Crawford, on 4799 3500. THIS year we continued partnering with Evolution Mining to remove aquatic weeds from Kalamia Creek, near Ayr, and investigate ways of turning the harvested material into an organic compost – benefiting productivity and soil health on local cane farms. The project aims to show the compost will improve soil carbon and water storage capacity, and reduce the need for synthetic fertilisers. Evolution invested $200,000 under its Shared Value program, which funds sustainable initiatives to benefit communities. We made this investment go further by leveraging an additional $66,000 of in-kind support – from water delivery provider Lower Burdekin Water ($31,000), Burdekin Shire Council ($10,000), JCU’s water quality research group TropWATER ($5,000), and local landholders ($20,000).