Trust for Nature is pleased to announce that the organisation has been successful in obtaining funding through the Supporting Communities and Habitats in Fire Impacted Landscapes project.

This two-year project is funded through the Victorian Government’s Bushfire Recovery Victoria program, jointly funded by the Victorian Government and Commonwealth Government under the Commonwealth-State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements.

During the 2019-20 summer bushfires, vast areas of native vegetation and millions of native animals were impacted. Communities within these areas have been greatly affected and the impact of these bushfires on wellbeing has been immense.

Thanks to this project, Trust for Nature will be able to work with landholders with a Trust for Nature conservation covenant within the shires of Alpine, East Gippsland, Indigo, Mansfield, Towong, Wangaratta and Wodonga.

Webinars and field days will be held on habitat recovery and will provide landholders with opportunities to meet others and talk about their experiences of bushfire recovery.

Monitoring will continue on fire-impacted covenants and will be established on covenants that are providing important refuge areas for flora and fauna. Landholders have the opportunity to be trained in Trust for Nature’s monitoring techniques, enabling citizen science to support recovery efforts.

Funding will also be available for eligible landholders for a range of activities including weed control, revegetation and installing nest boxes.

Over the next few months, an expression of interest process will identify landholders with conservation covenants who would like to be involved in the project.

“Trust for Nature works closely with landholders to permanently protect nature on private land. This project will support landholders with conservation covenants in bushfire impacted areas to recover from the 2019-20 summer fires,” said North East Area Manager, Amelia Houghton.

“There is a direct link between environmental health and community health, which were both severely impacted by the bushfires. This project is exciting as we can work directly with landholders, enhancing their wellbeing through the habitat recovery process,” said Gippsland Area Manager Robyn Edwards.