Community resilience restores natural environment after fire
This month the final seedlings for the Restore – Recovering Wheatbelt Landscapes after Fire project will be planted across Corrigin and Wickepin Shires.
The project was put in motion following devastating fires which ripped through both the Corrigin and Wickepin Shires during February 2022.
Bushfires wrought extensive damage across areas of the Wheatbelt during 2022, including fire that destroyed 3204 ha of remnant vegetation across reserves, private land and roadsides in the Corrigin/Bruce Rock shire as well as a further 3284 ha of bushland being affected by fire in Wickepin.
These areas are now in recovery with extensive work going into restoring remnant vegetation including a total of 38.5km of new fencing and 46,000 biodiverse native seedlings being planted over the past three years.
The project was made possible through funding from the State NRM program Community Stewardship Grants and coordinated through a successful partnership between Corrigin Farm Improvement Group (CFIG), Facey Group, Wheatbelt Natural Resource Management and local landholders.
Wheatbelt NRM Sustainable Agriculture project delivery officer Aimee Ray said a total of 16 landholders made the most of available funds to fence, revegetate and perform feral animal management across areas of their remnant vegetation affected by fire.
She said the project results were a testament to the value that local landholders place on areas of their remnant vegetation, often considered their special spaces and offering many benefits to farming families.
“One local Corrigin farmer that utilised the funding opportunity to fence off a vegetated rocky outcrop on the farm identified that they had been meaning to protect the favourite family picnicking spot for years,” Ms Ray said.
“The remnant trees on the site are recovering vigorously after being protected from stock.”
Ms Ray said some landholders have had to choose more salt tolerant species to plant as seedling losses occurred from rising saline water tables following the loss of large trees in the landscape from the bushfires and a couple of wet winters.
The majority of vegetation lost in the bushfires was located on private property.
The visual devastation of bushfire can be extremely disheartening to local communities and farmers especially over a particularly long hot summer.
“The loss of carbon in the form of organic matter and retained stubble has an impact on soil health and fertility cycles that can impact production and fertiliser requirements well into the future,” Ms Ray said.
“With the blessing of time, a highly resilient community and farmers willing to go the extra mile for their natural woodland habitat, the restoration of wheatbelt landscapes after fire is possible.”
Wheatbelt NRM is always happy to offer advice around local seedling selection and appropriate planting preparation. (Prior preparation prevents poor performance!)
Our Sustainable Agriculture Facilitators are here to help landholders with advice around protecting and enhancing their on farm natural assets. For advice email Aimee.
The project was made possible through funding from the State NRM program Community Stewardship Grants
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Published eNews #403, June 2025