Healthy Land & Water, through its Water by Design initiative, secured $1 million in funding under the Australian Government’s Urban Rivers and Catchments Program (URCP) to deliver waterway naturalisation projects at two regional Queensland sites: Lex Semple Park in Yeppoon and Woodlands District Park in Mackay. The projects will transform degraded urban drainage channels into thriving, naturalised waterways, delivering lasting benefits for native wildlife and local communities.

Almost 20,000 tonnes of sediment is being prevented from entering regional waterways on average every year following the completion of a fifth stage of creek restoration works in the Lockyer Valley by Port of Brisbane Pty Ltd (PBPL) and Healthy Land & Water.

Thousands of South East Queensland (SEQ) residents are taking action in their backyards and on their balconies, with a growing grassroots movement seeing native everlasting daisy seeds planted across the region.

The Natural Resource Recovery Program (NRRP) is supporting land managers across South East Queensland (SEQ) to protect and restore populations of Callitris baileyi (commonly known as Bailey’s Cypress Pine), a native conifer species recognised for its ecological significance and limited distribution.

Fire is a natural part of many Australian landscapes, and it can be both a threat and a tool. The difference for wildlife and flora often comes down to the details: how often an area burns, how hot and extensive the fire is, what season it occurs in, and whether unburnt refuges are left nearby. Understanding those patterns helps land managers plan burns that reduce risk while still supporting the habitats animals rely on.

Two members of Healthy Land & Water’s Fire Ecology & Preparedness team, Dr Miranda Rew-Duffy and Jaime Kruusmaa, attended the 8th International Fire Behaviour and Fuels Conference (FBF Conference) in Hobart last month. Jaime presented on Bridging Science and Practice: Collaborative Fire Management for Biodiversity and Community Outcomes, while Miranda co-presented a poster with Clare Rogers from Brisbane City Council titled Improving threatened species outcomes in fire management through collaborative approaches: the collared delma (Delma torquata). They shared their conference insights with us.