Big Scrub Landcare takes out top award

A north coast Landcare group has received first place in the highly regarded Society of Ecological Restoration Australasia (SERA) awards for Excellence in Ecological Restoration Practice.

The award acknowledges Big Scrub Landcare’s ‘significant and enduring contribution to the practice of ecological restoration’ over its 24-year-long Big Scrub Rainforest Restoration Program, aimed at save our region’s critically endangered lowland subtropical rainforest and its magnificent biodiversity.

The award recognises the group’s a strong science base and significant environmental outcomes.

Big Scrub Landcare president Dr Tony Parkes said the group was ‘delighted to receive this award’.

‘Through the Big Scrub Rainforest Restoration Program we have facilitated the planting of about 1.3 million trees and have successfully developed, funded and managed over 35 projects worth more than $5 million on both private and public land including 10 of the 11 Big Scrub remnants on National Parks land. These projects have contributed to the ecological restoration of more than 90 lowland rainforest remnants with a total area of more than 600 hectares.’

Big Scrub Landcare was started in 1992 by a small group of people who were passionate about the local rainforest and today boasts a membership of over 400.

‘We encourage and welcome new members to join us in our efforts to protect and restore our unique, internationally significant and extremely valuable lowland rainforest in Big Scrub and nearby areas,’ Dr Parkes said.

A number of Big Scrub Landcare’s projects have been conducted in conjunction with local specialists EnviTE Environment.

EnviTE’s environment manager Mike Delaney said that seeing the benefits that have occurred over the last 24 years has been ‘extremely rewarding’.

‘It somehow goes some way to setting right the tragic clearing of the Big Scrub.

‘To be acknowledged for ecological restoration excellence by this award reinvigorates us as a Landcare group. We know we are on the right track with our long-term on-ground restoration of critically endangered lowland subtropical rainforest, ongoing management of remnants and revegetation of cleared rainforest land,’ Mr Delaney said.

To become a member of Big Scrub Landcare to help support the protection and restoration of our critically endangered lowland subtropical rainforest visit www.bigscrubrainforest.org.au.