“In addition to the vast array of seedlings that will grow to provide critical habitat for nationally threatened species, we’ll install rock and log structures to increase the complexity of the habitat early on and encourage the return of small ground dwelling animals.”
Greening Australia’s Director of Impact Dr Blair Parsons says that Australia needs projects like Ediegarrup on a massive scale to make genuine headway on the challenge of rebuilding nature, addressing climate change and turning the tide on the biodiversity crisis.
“We need to come together and think differently if we are to tackle a rapidly warming climate and chronic biodiversity loss. Our approach at Ediegarrup exemplifies what is needed to achieve the urgent impact required via restoration,” said Dr Parsons.
“We’re striving to build high-end restoration in an ecologically strategic location and make use of multiple environmental markets to support this work. Together, we’re going above and beyond in terms of design, implementation and experimental trials that aim to enhance the quality of habitats being established. Fundamental to this is tracking and demonstrating the biodiversity outcomes of the planting as well as carbon outcomes.”
The project team has carefully matched vegetation communities with historic and contemporary on-ground data, cultural heritage, soil types and future climate projections to commence the complex process of restoring the property towards its precleared state and ensuring that the habitat is resilient to a changing climate. Importantly, the team is also drawing on the substantial knowledge base that has been built up in the Gondwana Link region after decades of collective restoration effort.
Local Nowanup Rangers and Badgebup Aboriginal Rangers have been working alongside the Bush Heritage and Greening Australia teams to plant seedlings, which include species of bush foods found in the local area.