The ACT Government’s environmental grants have increased for the first time in 25 years, since the program began in 1997, and the grants are easier to apply for, too.

The grants fund community groups and volunteers to act as stewards for the ACT’s reserves, parks, urban green spaces, and rural lands.

This year, $480,000 in total funding is available in three streams, $128,000 more than in previous years.

$280,000 is for nature conservation, such as protecting threatened species or managing ecological threats, rewilding Canberra, or for Indigenous people to care for country (Environment Grants). Up to $35,000 is available per applicant.

$150,000 is to make urban open spaces more liveable, such as reducing urban heat, retaining and reusing rainwater, or maintaining biodiversity in the city (Nature in the City Grants). Up to $15,000 is available per applicant.

$50,000 is for groups to recruit new members, to run environmental workshops, for training, or for planning (Environmental Volunteer Group Assistance Grants). Up to $5,000 is available per applicant.

“This is making good ideas happen – a thousand seeds blooming across our city,” said Rebecca Vassarotti, ACT Minister for the Environment. “When local people identify what they can do for their community, this is a way that we can partner as government and make that happen.”

In Bragg Street Park, Hackett, for instance, local volunteers received government funding last year to build swales (small dams) to stop runoff blocking stormwater drains and flooding garages and gardens. The swales send water into the subsoil, helping plants to grow. Nearly 560 mL of rain has fallen since the swales were built in August.

“They’ve worked very nicely,” said convener Chris Mobs.

The government has also streamlined the process, making it easier for volunteers to apply for the grants.

Volunteers had said that applying for grants and acquitting them was “quite onerous”, Ms Vassarotti said. So the government halved the paperwork, and simplified the language to make it more readable.

“We want volunteers to do the work they love: working on the land, rather than filling out paperwork,” Ms Vassarotti said.

“Volunteers are hard-pressed for time, especially if they’re working full-time,” Mr Mobs said.

Applications open today, and close on 4 April.