Tallebudgera Valley Nature-Culture Alliance
In 2019 the Tallebudgera Valley was inundated with smoke and several (smaller) fires broke out raising concerns for local residents. ‘Understories’ is taking a bottom-up community approach using the arts to foster natural and community resilience and minimise the risk, impact and consequences of fire disasters in the rainforests of South-East Queensland (QLD). The Landcare Led Bushfire Recovery Grant of $50,000 supported the opportunity to engage in a collaborative community approach with landholders, residents, and other stakeholders to achieve a shared conservation and bushfire mitigation outcome.
The target sites include wet sclerophyll ecological communities, on private sites located in Tallebudgera Valley along Petsch Creek and Tallebudgera Creek which offer greater habitat value to native fauna including Koalas if intact. The end goal is to ensure the development of an Ecological Management Plan (EMP) with management recommendations for specific ecological communities and local stories to help forge a bushfire resilience strategy. The project is taking lessons from communities that are strongly connected, can share their histories, identify what has been learned from the past and plan for future.
At the Tallebudgera Valley Fire Brigade Community Day children and adults alike made kites, while engaging in conversations about their needs, idea and their relationship to the valley.
Two arts-based workshops were facilitated by Gold Coast Indigenous Artist Norton Fredericks –
Retritus . Participants gathered foliage and learnt about the species with input from Envirosphere Ecological Consultants. Portraits of local characters are being created by local artist Guy Warren which will be showcased in an exhibition along with the stories being told and contribute visually to ecological mapping.
Following the March 2021 deluge, repairs to fire trails and stabilization of the creek is being undertaken to protect these ecological systems. https://www.talleyvalleynica.com/