The project is now eleigible for funding via the Volunteering Innovation Fund which will award $2 million in funding over multiple rounds, with the final round closing in 2023.

There is an open voting process to determine each round of the funding with the projects that receive the highest number of votes, awarded funding, up to a cumulative total of $400,000.

President of Black Range Land Management Group Mick Douglas said the group created a submission which targeted increased education and conservation around the Black Range environment.

"Parks Victoria called for project ideas that encourage innovation and consider new ways of volunteering in and for the environment," he said.

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"Black Range Land Management Group submitted an application to train volunteers to survey the plants, animals and birds of Black Range and develop a Black Range Conservation Survey.

"The project is now competing with a number of other projects across the state for votes from the community.

"Black Range is a beautiful, but very fragile area in our region and it is wonderful to see how many local members of our community are behind this project through voting and sharing information or by putting their hands up to get involved when the project is ready to go ahead.

"If successful, in collaboration with Nature Glenelg Trust ecologists, we will run a series of workshops to train volunteers to become citizen scientists.

"Upon completion of the workshops, we will commission a conservation report, informed by the data collected by volunteers and a literature review.

Online voting closes on Thursday August 12 at 5pm, with Mr Douglas encouraging those who are interested to vote for the project via the Engage Victoria webpage.

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