Great Eastern Ranges

A new tool developed by Griffith University researchers to help practitioners plan projects to strengthen vital connections between wildlife habitats is being heralded as a game changer. An interactive map enables users to explore important movement corridors and patches of habitat for a selection of forest-dependent animals in eastern and south-western Australia. These include glossy black-cockatoos, gliding possums and rainforest pigeons. The habitat connectivity data can be downloaded for free by practitioners from the 'State of connectivity' website for further analyses. Learn more and view the analyses and research paper at https://lnkd.in/g68CrbYg

A new climate corridor for koalas, greater gliders and other wildlife is springing to life along the western ‘horn’ of the Greater Border Ranges. Over the last twelve months, local landholders have helped plant over 3,500 trees, and installed dozens of nest boxes and wildlife water drinkers across 53 properties to establish the Bunyas to Border (B2B) climate corridor. The corridor is the first in a series that the Great Eastern Ranges and ifaw hope to support as part of Koala Climate Corridors to help wildlife adapt and communities build resilience to the impacts of climate change. Regional project partner, Lockyer Uplands Catchments Inc. has been engaging local landholders and communities in B2B to regenerate and reconnect habitats to provide wildlife with safe spaces to move as conditions and food sources shift. Learn more at https://lnkd.in/gf6jgEsT #connectivityconservation #wildlifecorridors #KoalaClimateCorridors

JOB OPPORTUNITY: GER's regional partner, Lockyer Uplands Catchment Inc, is seeking to contract a project coordinator to deliver the second year of our Koala Climate Corridors project in the Upper Locker - Bunyas to Border. If you are an enterprising, self-directed and strategic-thinking project manager who has a knack for coordinating on-ground conservation activities that have meaningful impacts, engaging and collaborating with local communities and partners, and securing additional funding, resources and in-kind contributions to sustain projects, we encourage you to apply. Applications closing soon. More details at: https://lnkd.in/dhxHeSt9

Wollondilly Landcarers are helping to smooth the path for koalas on the move by enhancing a corridor that runs through Douglas Park. The forested Nepean River, which winds its way through the township, serves as an important corridor for koalas expanding westwards from the thriving Campbelltown population. One of the last significant disease-free koala populations in the country. Koalas, whose natural ranges can extend across several hundred hectares, once moved freely across the Sydney Basin. Over the past few decades, however, rapid development and other threats such as clearing and weeds have carved their habitat into isolated patches and blocked key movement corridors. To enhance the koala corridor that runs through Douglas Park, Greater Sydney Landcare has been removing large quantities of choking weeds, planting trees and laying coir logs to control erosion as part of a project supported by the Great Eastern Ranges and Amazon Web Services (AWS). Learn more at https://lnkd.in/ggkTv4Je

Masked owls, brush-tailed phascogales, squirrel gliders and other animals in Nymboida have received new cutting-edge residences. State-of-the-art Habitat Modular Nest Boxes and biodegradable Habitat Pods have been installed to provide wildlife in Nymboida with additional homes after a fire ripped through the region in October last year – a place still recovering from the Black Summer bushfires. The supplementary habitat was put up by Clarence Landcare as part of Glideways, Flyways and Stepping Stones – a partnership between the Great Eastern Ranges and WIRES Inc. Learn more at https://lnkd.in/dwB4X2jv

Local communities and groups in the Wollondilly Shire have been helping to plant thousands of seedlings and tackle weeds across hundreds of hectares to improve water quality and output, curb riverbank erosion and regenerate their catchment lands. The community-led effort is being supported through a partnership between the Great Eastern Ranges and Amazon Web Services to improve the health and resilience of this important part of the Greater Sydney Water Catchment. Since February, on-ground partner Greater Sydney Landcare has been working on the project alongside Wollondilly Shire Council and hundreds of landholders, community members and other volunteers. Learn more at https://lnkd.in/g-XXqa_B #waterbenefits #biodiversity #community #catchments

Over 32,000 stems have been planted, habitat connectivity improved across more than 10,000 hectares and hundreds of new homes created for wildlife over the past two years through a partnership between Great Eastern Ranges (GER) and WIRES Inc. As part of Glideways, Flyways and Stepping Stones, GER’s regional partners have been working with landholders in three landscapes in NSW to assist dozens of wildlife species still recovering from the Black Summer bushfires. This includes collecting she-oak seeds and planting food trees in Nymboida to encourage glossy black-cockatoos back to the bushfire-impacted region; creating hundreds of new hollow homes for greater gliders and other animals in the Hawkesbury-Nepean; and working with dairy farmers in the Bega to create stepping stones of habitat across farmland. Learn more at https://lnkd.in/gtgcyt7i #connectivityconservation #wildlife #community #makingadifference

Artificial tree hollows are being carved around the Hawkesbury region to replace homes for wildlife lost in the Black Summer bushfires with funding through partnership between GER and WIRES Inc On-ground project partner, Mountains for Wildlife, is working with an experienced arborist to carve hollows directly into trees and offcuts of wood using a Hollowhog. Offcuts are hoisted into the canopy to provide homes for tree-dwelling mammals while others are left on the forest floor for ground-dwelling animals. An ecologist was engaged to ensure the hollows meet the needs of the local wildlife they are targeting, including gang-gang cockatoos, spotted-tailed quolls and feather-tailed gliders. Learn more at https://lnkd.in/gF7Dbuak #supplementaryhabitat #wildlife #connectivityconservation

Meet Pamela Denise, one of the incredible landholders who is working with our on-ground partner Clarence Landcare Inc to help bring glossy-black cockatoos back to the bushfire-impacted region. Says Pamela: "It is not the time to be acting in fear. It's the time to really be thinking about things and working it out. It is a matter of collecting information and being brave enough to try." The project is supported through the Great Eastern Ranges partnership with WIRES Inc which is assisting animals that are still recovering from the devastating 2019-2020 bushfires. #wildlife #habitat #connectivityconservation #makingadifference #GenerationRestoration

This is a great example of how the Great Eastern Ranges network builds community and shares knowledge. An amazing group of people in one room when the K2W link organised a Land for Wildlife forum. They all came together to share their experience and knowledge in private land conservation and help grow the network of dedicated landholders providing connections and habitats for our biodiversity. This event was supported through a partnership between the Great Eastern Ranges and WWF-Australia as part of a broader bushfire recovery effort.