There are two significant World Heritage Areas behind the Gold Coast – one of which was impacted directly from wildfires in 2019.
Almost $70,000 in funding from the Landcare Led Bushfire Recovery Grants will be used for two landscape scale projects aimed at creating wildlife corridor connecting Springbrook and Lamington National Parks which ensures the resilience of species is maintained during natural disasters.
The project area is directly connected to the Nerang River – the water supply of the Gold Coast, and will improve water quality.
Ben Kober, Secretary, NVEEC P&C said, ‘Through our monthly field days we want to create opportunities for the Gold Coast community to build knowledge and capacity in restoring landscapes after natural disasters (and historical landuse), participate in project works like tree planting and develop a connection with a very special part of South East Queensland.
We are also very excited to engage directly with local high school students in our project by supporting a hands on service learning opportunity. Local high school students will be transported to the sites which are normally difficult to access and engage directly in this landscape resilience project.”
The students will meet with experts and learn hands-on skills. They will build nest boxes for hollow dependent animals and visit the project site to plant trees and learn about the importance of forest restoration It also provides an opportunity for connecting students to country.
This project is building on the Gold Coasts Biggest Tree Planting Day from 2019 where 1500 people planted 15,000 trees about protecting an important water source that feeds the Gold Coast.