Last month, Jon Stanhope MLA, Chief Minister made the decision to give the STEP Project the resources needed to make our vision a reality within the Arboretum. We wish to thank him for his trust and belief in our vision. And we wish to thank every one of our members who have supported STEP during the last seven years. Your efforts have been vital to creating our project. Please keep your support for us going through the next phase.
There has been an immense effort to get this far. Jon Stanhope’s decision is a sign of his trust and belief that STEP can make a difference and contribute to our national heritage and to the well being of our Canberra community.
There have been seven years of planning, with many moments of anxiety, sometimes high hopes, occasional fears, meticulous preparations, shifting parameters, and, at the end, the trust without which we would never attempt anything, risk anything. Sometimes we needed blind faith to keep going during periods when we were tempted to give up.
Thank you to the many organisations and individuals who have helped us: Friends of the Grasslands, the ANPS, the Conservation Council of the ACT, the ACT Southern Catchment Group, the Field Naturalists, the Canberra Ornithologists Group, the Queanbeyan City Council, the Friends of Eurobodalla Gardens, the ACT House of Assembly Planning Committee.