Grants and Partnerships Manager, Robyn Edwards, explains that, “This Wildlife Unlimited project is partnering with landholders, Biodiversity Legacy, Far East Victoria Landcare, Moogji Aboriginal Council and Friends of Mallacoota. As part of the tour we visited two properties participating in the project and the Moogji Aboriginal Council nursery, where She-oaks for planting are being grown. The group also looked at a different protective guarding just installed by the project, where heavy browsing of previously planted seedlings had been occurring.”

Far East Victoria Landcare Facilitator, Josh Puglisi, added that, “larger exclusion fences and other types of tree guards will be utilised across the sites as browsing by deer and macropods are the biggest threat to the establishment of the seedlings.”

This tree planting project builds on the Landcare, Birdlife Australia and DEECA She-oak recovery works that were undertaken as part of the Black Summer bushfires response. Project sites range from Lakes Entrance and Marlo through to Wangarabell and Genoa in the east.