Rejuvenating bushfire affected walking trails
A Nature Valley Trails™ Landcare Grant is enabling the Nambucca Heads Landcare Group to rejuvenate the Summit to Sea Walking Track in Mt Yarrahapinni National Park.
Landcare Australia and Nature Valley™, a General Mills brand, have just awarded a total of $80,000 in Nature Valley Trails™ Landcare Grants to two not-for-profit environmental conservation groups. The grants will enable the groups to rejuvenate iconic bushfire affected walking trails on New South Wales’ mid-north coast and the Adelaide Hills.
The Summit to Sea Walking Track is a 12km trail connecting the summit of Mt Yarrhapinni to the coast at Grassy Head. When 68 percent of the Nambucca Valley was impacted by the 2019 bushfires, this trail was one of the last areas for animals to seek refuge. As the fires did not directly affect the trail itself, it remains one of the last pockets of rainforest in the area.
This project will enable Nambucca Valley Landcare in collaboration with National Parks and Wildlife Service, Nambucca Valley Council and local schools, to enhance accessibility along the track by adding boardwalks, steps and managing vegetation. When the Track officially reopens in September 2021, it will be safe for walkers, providing them with the best quality experience to connect to nature in this park that is highly significant to the Dunghutti, Ngambaa and Gumbaynggirr Aboriginal people.
The Cudlee Creek bushfires in December 2019 burnt Lobethal Bushland Park with such heat and intensity that the park suffered an unprecedented 95 percent loss of flora. The Nature Valley™ Trails Landcare Grant is funding the The Friends of Lobethal Bushland Park Group to purchase materials for building a 250-metre boardwalk and other restoration work. The project will also provide urgently needed soil stabilisation works to reduce the effects of erosion on existing trails and lessen the threat of Phytophthora (a destructive soil-borne water mould) infecting native plants in this extremely sensitive post-fire landscape.
The Group will work with the Adelaide Hills Council (Park landowners) who will provide the labour for the path improvements. When the project is completed, local residents and nature lovers from all over South Australia and beyond will be able to enjoy safely walking through this magnificent bushland park.
