Big Scrub Landcare has successfully secured funding from the NSW Environmental Trust for its ongoing Remnant Care and Science Saving Rainforests Programs. This is the 14th grant that Big Scrub Landcare has received from the Trust through its Restoration and Rehabilitation Program.
The grant will fund over 100 days of weed control and monitoring by professional regeneration contractors across nineteen significant Big Scrub remnants plus site preparation work for the first genetically diverse seed plantation being developed under the Science Saving Rainforest Program that is led by Big Scrub Landcare. The plantation will be located on land made available by the NSW Department of Primary Industries at its Pearce’s Creek property near Wollongbar in northeast NSW
This project, in combination with the Saving Our Species Conservation Co-funding Project, will deliver weed control and monitoring in 43 remnants over 2020-21 and 2021-22. Project sites include ten NSW National Parks and Wildlife (NPWS) remnants and four Ballina Council remnants.
Dr Tony Parkes, President Big Scrub Landcare said, “Weeds, including invasive vines, are a significant threat to our critically endangered lowland subtropical rainforest. Strategic, systematic and ongoing control of these weeds is important to maintain the health of critical habitat for our threatened species.”
Site preparation for Big Scrub Landcare’s genetically diverse seed plantation will integrate sustainable agriculture methodologies to enhance soil fertility and hydrology, incorporating soil analysis, conditioning treatments as well as pasture and stock management and other measures to increase organic matter and enhance soil biology and soil nutrient availability. The plantation will produce seed of 23 key rainforest species that has optimal genetic diversity for use in restoration plantings. For more information, please visit Science Saving Rainforests Program
“The Science Saving Rainforests Program is critical to combat the major long-term threat to the survival of our critically endangered lowland subtropical rainforest caused by lack of genetic diversity in many key species in restoration plantings and remnants” Dr Parkes says.
You can contribute to this internationally innovative project by donating to Big Scrub Landcare at https://www.bigscrubrainforest.org/support-us/
