Disaster Recovery
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Bushfire recovery
The devastating 2019-2020 bushfires necessitated a coordinated and complementary effort to restore habitat and assist wildlife across eastern Australia. With the people and structures already in place, the Great Eastern Ranges was in a unique position to be able to respond to this need through a staged approach that reacted quickly to the immediate threat, whilst ensuring the long-term restoration, resilience and connectivity of our land, wildlife and communities post-fire.
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Flood recovery
The heavy rainfall and mega floods of Autumn 2022 devastated local communities, wildlife and landscapes across southeast Queensland and northern NSW. Many of the areas that were the hardest hit were still recovering from the aftermath of the Black Summer bushfires which followed many years of drought. With an established network of regionally based partnerships in priority locations, GER was well-positioned to work with first responders to plan and build a strategic, long-term approach to recovery that complements and builds on existing efforts.
Projects
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Healing bushfire affected wildlife and communities with IFAW
The Great Eastern Ranges (GER) Initiative and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) have combined forces to roll out integrated bushfire recovery efforts to support wildlife and people in three priority landscapes in NSW and Queensland. As part of GER’s bushfire recovery program, we are working with IFAW on key activities to restore native forests, assist animals in need and boost community healing and resilience over the next twelve months in the Lockyer Valley, Southern Border Ranges and Greater Blue Mountains.
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Restoring country, culture and community in hard-hit NSW
The Great Eastern Ranges (GER) initiative has been awarded a significant government grant for a large-scale effort to help restore country, culture and community in four heavily bushfire affected landscapes in New South Wales. Through funding from the Australian and NSW Government’s Bushfire Local Economic Recovery (BLER) Fund, GER is working with its regional partner networks, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and the Community Environment Network, to roll out recovery activities in the NSW North Coast, Blue Mountains, South Coast and Far South Coast.
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Delivering a science-informed bushfire response
To provide a science-informed response to the devastating 2019-2020 bushfires that optimises wildlife and landscape recovery, the Great Eastern Ranges Initiative is supporting a large-scale, cross-tenure research effort.
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Cores, Corridors and Koalas
Partnering with WWF-Australia to restore and reconnect habitat for koalas in six priority locations across eastern Australia following the devastating bushfires of 2019-2020.
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Lockyer Valley ‘health check’ and recovery strategy
Lockyer Valley partners are working to conduct a rapid stocktake of flood damage in the Lockyer Valley to inform long-term recovery and restoration activities. This includes visits to affected landholders to check on their wellbeing and to assess the impacts of the floods on their property, local wildlife and bushland. A new disaster recovery app developed alongside Griffith University is being used to collect and evaluate flood and habitat data, identify key threats to recovery, and pinpoint safe sites for the release of sick and injured wildlife. This data will in turn inform and support the…