Tag: Landcare Led Bushfire Recovery Funding

Media Release: Local landcare leads the way for resilient environments and communities in the Hunter

Luskintyre Landcare member John Schultz has seen a great deal of change occur in Maitland in his lifetime, but the changes that have occurred over the last three years have impacted the landscape and local environment in a dramatic way not seen previously.

Drought, bushfires, floods and growing urbanisation have had a massive impact on native species with more and more species being pushed to the fringes, and into isolated ecological areas to survive.

Yet the local landcare community have come together and their efforts have helped to mitigate the impact on the landscape and environment, especially along vital waterway habitat corridors.

“Over the last three years we have planted over 60 different species local to the area. With support from the Landcare Led Bushfire Recovery Grants, we extended existing wildlife corridors and planted over 16,000 tree and shrub species to support native habitat recovery,” John Schultz says.

“Our landcare work is helping to restore and enhance native species so they have a future and we’ve noticed changes already. The trees may be 20 years away from being mature, however we have already observed an increase in birds and other native animals visiting the corridors,” said John.

“Much of our riparian restoration activity has been impacted by the flooding so it’s great to see the tree corridors provide a safe refuge during extreme weather events.

The local landcare group said that the changes in the way people can now get involved to support the local environment have been a major driver in getting the project, and many others that they facilitate, over the line despite the challenges in recent years.

John said as people become more aware of the environment and their impact on it, they are joining their Landcare group to help make a positive contribution to their environment.

“We’ve noticed an increase in people wanting to become members of Luskintyre Landcare in recent years.  Landcare is a great way you can get involved as a volunteer to do something that will make an immediate, and a long-term impact, and you can help support and connect with your local community too.”

Funded by the Australian Government’s Bushfire Recovery Program for Wildlife and their Habitat, the $14 million Landcare Led Bushfire Recovery Grants are supporting projects in regions impacted by the Black Summer bushfires of 2019–20. For further information visit https://landcareledbushfiregrants.org.au/

About the project: This project has extended two existing wildlife corridors in the Hunter region, revegetated around two water bodies, one of which is zoned E2 and created stepping stones across 9 farms, covering approximately 15 hectares. Over 10,000 native plants including trees, understory and ground cover were planted to increase habitat for all native species including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians that have been displaced by clearing or fires and rely on the diverse vegetation structure. The project is aimed at enhancing the recovery and maximise the resilience of fire-affected native plant and animal species, ecological communities, and natural assets within the seven regions identified as most impacted by the 2019-20 bushfires.

Available for interview:

Name: John Schultz

Contact: schultzherefords@gmail.com

MEDIA CONTACT:

Samantha Stratton / Landcare NSW / communication@landcarensw.org.au

Media Release: Sowing the seeds for renewal in the Eurobodalla

Landcarers have been sowing the seeds for renewal to ensure the future of the last remaining species of Warty Zieria in the Eurobodalla.

A small bush with delicate white flowers, there are only 3,000 remaining in the wild meaning that the work undertaken by Eurobodalla Landcare is crucial in its recovery and reestablishment.

It’s been two years since bushfires ravaged much of the east coast of NSW, and since the fires invasive species such as Lantana have flourished without any competition hindering the recovery of the more delicate species.

Funding through the Landcare Led Bushfire Recovery Grants will ensure that local landholders will have the resources to remove the hardy invasive species and work to ensure widespread recovery of Warty Zieria.

Eurobodalla Shire Council Environment Project Officer, Tom Gear, says the involvement of a collaboration of private landholders and widespread community engagement will mean that habitat opportunities may increase for Warty Zieria.

“This project is about building community collaboration and participation in protecting and supporting threatened species.

“Most of the habitat of the remaining plants is on private land and so community-led involvement means we are helping everyone take a targeted widespread approach to recovery,” says Tom.

The project, held at Tilba on the South Coast of NSW, will be held at six key management sites and involve the managers of all land tenure where the species is known to exist.

Tom said the project will work with landholders to deal with invasive species such as Lantana and Blackberry and help support and identify existing sites.

“Warty Zieria is very habitat-specific, and its distribution isn’t wide. It can be found primarily on rocky habitat with shallow soils and a northerly aspect so we will be working directly with private landholders with weed control to help free up habitat areas so that existing plants can thrive.

“The wider Central Tilba and Tilba Tilba community, including residents and local landholders, Tilba Landcare and business owners will also be engaged in this project through education events and opportunities.”

The Landcare Led Bushfire Recovery project has been supported by the Australian Government’s Bushfire Recovery Program for Wildlife and their Habitat.

Key statistics

– Warty Zieria (Zieria tuberculata) is exclusively found in the Tilba area around the base of Mt Guluga and Najanuga

– The project includes provision of spray packs that can be borrowed by residents to assist weed control in Warty Zieria habitat.

– Given the species preference for shallow rocky soils, we can target potential and existing Warty Zieria habitat with our weed control efforts.

– Community education on the species is vital, many locals aren’t aware of the species and its limited distribution or its Vulnerable Conservation Status.

Media contact:

Samantha Stratton / Landcare NSW / sstratton@landcarensw.org.au

Eurobodalla Shire Council/ p: 4474 1000 e: tom.gear@esc.nsw.gov.au

Hasting Hollows Project to bring species back from the brink

Threatened species in the Hastings region will now be better supported back to recovery thanks to a project led by Hastings Landcare.

Hollows in the Hastings, funded by the Landcare Led Bushfire Recovery Grant Program funding, will help install 190 nest boxes and hollows across 19 different properties in the region.

Camera monitoring and data analysis of species occupying the hollows will help guide future installations says Hastings Local Landcare Coordinator Stephen Allwood.

“Threatened species recovery is a slow process, particularly for hollow dwelling species. Hollows can take up to and over 100 years to naturally form, so nest boxes and artificial hollows will help recovery efforts in areas where many old growth trees were lost during the bushfires.

“The loss of hollow bearing trees is listed as a key threatening process in NSW with additional contributing factors to the ongoing loss of hollows including bushfires, development, land clearing and forest harvesting,” says Stephen.

“This project will help support threatened owl species such as the powerful owl, masked owl, sooty owl and barking owl while our smaller ‘prey’ boxes have the potential to help additional threatened species such as yellow-bellied glider, squirrel glider, greater glider and micro bat species.

“We are looking for landholders interested in taking part in the project and installing nest boxes on their properties to support native populations.”

Hastings Birdwatchers Representative, Sue Proust, says the project is about supporting habitat and providing education about local species.

“This project is a fantastic opportunity to not only create vital habitat but create greater awareness of the significance of natural hollows and the need to preserve them. Large hollows suitable for owl species can take hundreds of years to form!” said Sue.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) Environmental Scientist, Dr Alexandra Knight, says the collaboration between Hastings Landcare, its wider network and CSU will help understand and support the species who use the boxes.

“Understanding the thermal properties of nest boxes greatly contributes to effectiveness and use by wildlife. I look forward to working with Hastings Landcare and building our relationship to better support local wildlife back to recovery.”

The Hastings Hollows Project is part of a wider project across the North Coast where hollows will be monitored by Landcare groups to establish valuable data, improve future nest box projects and provide significant information on particular species.

This Landcare Led Bushfire Recovery Project has been supported by the Australian Government’s Bushfire Recovery Program for Wildlife and their Habitat.

If you are interested in being involved in this project, Expressions of Interest will be open very soon. For more information, please contact Hastings Landcare on 0467864465.