This new Queensland study published in Ecological Engineering is already transforming sand mine rehabilitation practices across South East Queensland. Led by Christopher Johnson (Griffith University PhD candidate and Senior Environmental Officer at Southern Pacific Sands) with some helpful guidance from Healthy Land & Water’s Portfolio Manager Mark Waud. The research showed that direct seeding can outperform traditional tubestock planting in both cost-effectiveness and ecological recovery when proper site conditions are met.

This innovative Queensland case study provides mining operators with a proven alternative that delivers superior environmental outcomes while significantly reducing rehabilitation costs, a win-win approach that could reshape restoration strategies across the region.

Read more about the encouraging results.

Last month, the River Basin Management Society Flood Community of Practice group and the Healthy Land & Water team visited multiple sites around Ipswich and Tarome for a flood resilience field day. The visit explored revegetation successes, community engagement challenges, and hydrology considerations across diverse project sites ranging from early-stage plans to years-old restoration projects, including both council-led public land initiatives and landholder-driven private efforts.

By shifting focus from who led each project to how the measures shaped the landscape, the day highlighted common issues for discussion and the broader ecological impacts of collaborative stewardship.

Read on for some of the key takeaways from the field day.

At this year’s International Congress of Conservation Biology (ICCB) held in Brisbane, Healthy Land & Water’s Dr Diana Virkki, co-presented alongside Githabul (Waringh Waringh) People, Melissa Chalmers and Nathan Charles to share insights from their collaborative fire management project.

Together, they presented on their project, Promoting culturally and ecologically significant species through fire management on Githabul Country. This vital work helped inform a broader project on a First Nations-led landscape-scale fire management strategy – a framework originally designed by the Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation to protect both cultural heritage and ecological values.

As bushfire season approaches, we’re rolling out a series of free property mapping workshops across regional Queensland this September, offering vital support to primary producers and rural landholders in preparing for fire threats.

Delivered in collaboration with the Department of Primary Industries and Healthy Land & Water’s Queensland Fire and Biodiversity Consortium, the workshops will deliver hands-on fire management planning tailored to individual properties.

A new series of riverside hotels has opened in Pine Mountain, Ipswich, but this hotel chain won’t be welcoming guests of the human kind anytime soon. 25 cod log hotels have been installed underwater in the Brisbane River to support the recovery of the Mary River Cod, an apex predator introduced to replace the extinct Brisbane River Cod which disappeared from local waters over a century ago. These purpose-built shelters, made from disused logs that were otherwise heading to the chipper, have been installed to provide additional breeding habitats for this endangered species, aiming to boost its population. This follows recent efforts by Healthy Land & Water, supporting the release of Mary River Cod fingerlings into the Brisbane River.

Read on to learn more about the importance of the cod log hotels and the inspiration behind the recent installation at Pine Mountain.

Growers and industry partners from the pineapple industry joined together on the Sunshine Coast recently for the pineapple industry’s annual event – Pineapple Field Days.

Lene Knudsen from Healthy Land & Water's Sustainable Agriculture team and SEQ Node Manager attended the event where innovation and trial work were on the agenda as well as tours of the Sunshine Coast pineapple farms.