Over 37.15ha of ecologically significant land has been gifted to the Billinudgel Nature Reserve by North Byron Parklands.
Parklands general manager Mat Morris said, ‘More than 14 per cent of Parklands’ 256ha has been dedicated to National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS).
‘This land will increase the total size of the Billinudgel Nature Reserve by more than five per cent. Parklands has spent over ten years revegetating some of these lands. What was once open cattle pasture is now complex native forests.
‘The majority of the land now dedicated to NPWS is well established mature forest, immediately adjacent to the Billinudgel Nature Reserve’.
Sue Walker, NPWS Area Manager, Tweed Byron said, ‘The new areas demonstrate the outcomes of a positive relationship and are welcome. They provide important habitat for a wide range of species. The addition helps improve Billinudgel Nature Reserve which protects large tracts of natural lowland coastal vegetation, and supports a wide range of fauna including rare, threatened, significant and migratory species.
Morris added, ‘Parklands continues to revegetate previously degraded cattle grazing country adjacent to the Billinudgel Nature Reserve through its habitat restoration program, including ongoing tree planting, placement of nest boxes and exotic weed removal.
Bush regen
‘Parklands continues to employ a team of local bush regenerators on a weekly basis, as it has done so for the past decade.
‘A longer-term commitment by Parklands’ was always to give NPWS a number of ecologically valuable forest blocks to increase the size of the Billinudgel Nature Reserve’.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
