Supporting threatened species and ecosystems recover from bushfires

The North Coast and adjacent Northern Tablelands regions were among the most severely impacted areas of Australia, with nearly a quarter of their total land area burned.

"It's quite devastating. Dozens of threatened species have been pushed closer to extinction and nearly half of the Gondwana Rainforest World Heritage Area in our region burned. Rainforests are very sensitive to fire - they're not supposed to burn," said Senior Land Services Officer Sarah Maclagan.

Since the bushfires, the Australian government has provided $4.5 million for North Coast Local Land Services to support the most impacted native species and ecosystems through strategic on-ground works. Activities so far have included pest animal control, weed control, fauna surveys, nest boxes, protection of large habitat trees and cultural burning.

The Minyumai Indigenous Protected Area near Evans Head has been subject to a range of recovery works, delivered by the resident Indigenous ranger team.

Minyumai ranger Dewayne Edwards said "It's been great for us to be able to get out here and chip in to help all these animals and help the land".

Partnerships have been, and continue to be, fundamental to the success of this project.

"We owe a huge amount of thanks to all our delivery partners. We simply couldn't have acted so quickly or effectively without them," Ms Maclagan said.

So far, these partners have included: the NSW Saving our Species Program, NSW NPWS, NSW Forestry, Yaegl Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation, Minyumai Land Holding Aboriginal Corporation, BirdLife Australia's KBA Guardians, Conservation Volunteers Australia, Nature Conservation Council of NSW, Border Ranges-Richmond Valley Landcare Network, Clarence Landcare, Bellingen Landcare, private landholders and community volunteers.

There is still much work to be done, with the program currently set to continue until at least June 2022.

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