Healthy Rivers Program delivers nearly $400,000 in grants to local groups as Commonwealth chips in

At an announcement in Tamworth on Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister and Member for New England Barnaby Joyce revealed five grants were being handed out to address issues including revegetation and protecting wildlife.

The big winner from the announcement was the Glen Innes Natural Resources Advisory Committee (GLENRAC), with the agricultural service receiving nearly $200,000 for two projects.

Just over $99,000 was provided for revegetation in the Glen Innes region, which will increase catchment health and biodiversity. While in the Stonehenge region, close to $100,000 has been pledged to help improve and maintain catchment headwater health.

"I'd like to commend the locals in these communities, in particular GLENRAC, who have been at the forefront to make sure they fight for the proper balance between farming and environment," Mr Joyce said.

"Working together in such a way so we have a win-win situation, and this just goes to show how farmers can be at the front of an environmental issue.

"Because they do it in such a way that they understand the environment and they don't compromise the capacity of their district to earn money, to get cattle to sale, to get sheep to sale and to get crops planted."

Tamworth Regional Council mayor Russell Webb was also at Wednesday's announcement, and said it was a good sign to see money being spent in the region.

As a farmer himself, Cr Webb said he was thrilled to see money in the hands of locals who understand the wants and needs of the area.

"The announcements today about healthy rivers is fantastic because that adds to our local water security policies," he said.

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Gwydir Shire Council was given $85,000 to work with First Nations groups to control weeds and revegetate woodland at Myall Creek Memorial Site; I.G & Lockwood will use close to $63,000 to protect and enhance the Bell Turtle habitat at Deepwater River; and J.L & P.A. Symons at Emmaville were given nearly $49,000 for the Heatherden waterways protection project.

A recipient of seven separate grants worth roughly $50,000 each during the first round of the funding, OzFish, said the money has worked wonders for its efforts to improve the health of local rivers.

"Because of the drought weeds have become invasive and taken over, but now there's water, there's flow and our fish are happy again so we'll knock down those weeds," said project manager Harry Davey.

"We've got banks eroding away, we'll replant and we'll fix that water quality. If you look at the quality of that water at the moment it's absolutely filthy.

"It's loaded up with rubbish because it's got flows, but we've also got no proper vegetation to filtrate that water."

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