Dear

Spring has well and truly sprung and our regional partnerships have been busily popping seedlings into the ground to create new habitat for wildlife and enhance the future resilience of local communities and their land. In this edition, we announce the launch of an exciting new initiative with IFAW, hear how landholders in different parts of the ranges are being supported through our partnerships with WWF-Australia and WIRES, and end with some good news about Wombeyan's southern greater gliders.  

Queensland’s Lockyer region is the first benefit from Koala Climate Corridors – our new project with IFAW which will work with local partners to reconnect and regenerate habitats to help koalas, rainbow bee-eaters and other wildlife adapt to climate change by providing them with safe spaces to move as conditions and food sources shift.  Our regional partner, Lockyer Uplands Catchments Inc., is leading on-ground activities to support the creation of the first of these corridors, Bunya to Borders, which runs along the western ‘horn’ of the Greater Border Ranges.

South Coast landholders still feeling the effects of the Black Summer bushfires are receiving a helping hand as part of GER’s large-scale project to restore Country, Culture and Community in NSW. In collaboration with our regional partner Coastwatchers, we are supporting impacted landholders such as Rae to regenerate their land and build their resilience to future climate disasters. The project is funded through the Australian and NSW Government’s Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Fund.

Our first trial of a ‘virtual fence’ at a roadkill hotspot on the South Coast has been a major success at preventing wallabies, wombats and other wildlife from getting struck by vehicles. One kilometre of virtual fencing was installed along Cullendulla Drive north of Batemans Bay in October last year – a section of road notorious for its high number of wildlife fatalities and injuries. The project was spearheaded by our local partner Coastwatchers in collaboration with council and WIRES, with funding from our partnership with WWF-Australia. Due to the success of the project, we are supporting the installation of a second virtual fence this year at Dunn’s Creek Road. 

Our partnership with WIRES is providing landholders in Nymboida, a small town in northern NSW that was decimated by the Black Summer bushfires, with a way to heal by helping their local glossy black cockatoo population and other wildlife to recover. With funding through Glideways, Flyways and Stepping Stones, Clarence Landcare is working with landholders in the region to support the recovery of the iconic birds by assisting she-oaks, their primary food source, to regenerate.

A recent survey has surprised ecologists by finding a significantly increased population and good post-fire recovery of the southern greater glider in the vicinity of the Wombeyan Karst Conservation Reserve. With the 2019-2020 Black Summer bushfires resulting in an estimated 60% decline in the species in the region, these results are encouraging. Kanangra-Boyd to Wyangala Inc. engaged local ecologists to assess the post-fire recovery of gliders and other tree-dwelling mammals as part of a repeat annual survey they run as part of Cores, Corridors and Koalas.

Thank you as always for your continued support
and contribution to the Great Eastern Ranges initiative.

We know what needs to be done and where it will have the biggest impact on the ground. Together we can reverse the damage at the vast scale needed and create a thriving, resilient Australia for people and nature. Will you help us?

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