Projects funded under the Natural Resource Management Expansion Program

More than $106 million in funding has been awarded to 30 projects, delivered by 12 regional natural resource management (NRM) organisations, helping protect and restore Queensland’s natural landscapes.

Burnett Mary Regional Group for Natural Resource Management Ltd

The Burnett Mary Cool Burn Squad: Protecting Agricultural Lands Through Proactive Fire Management project will:

protect 50,000 hectares of prime agricultural lands from destructive wildfires
enhance landscape resilience
improve soil health and preserve biodiversity by undertaking cool burns to reduce fuel loads and wildfire intensity and extent

Healthy Land and Water Ltd

The Threatened Species Resilience project will improve habitat resilience and reduce key threats to vulnerable wildlife species including the Koala, Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby, Glossy Black Cockatoo, Greater Glider, and south-eastern Yellow-bellied Glider in South-East Queensland by undertaking threat reduction activities and improved fire management strategies across 3,250 hectares of habitat in South-East Queensland.

The Urban Rewilding project will strengthen the biodiversity of urban and peri-urban areas across Southeast Queensland by improving native vegetation and protecting threatened species by:

improving 140 hectares of native vegetation condition by managing weeds and controlling stock and vehicle access to allow for natural regeneration
increasing the extent of native vegetation by 180 hectares through restoration activities including revegetation and threat exclusion works
protecting threatened species by installing 70 habitat refugia to support reproductive success and population growth.

The Living Landscapes & Resilience project will target streambank restoration to increase flood resilience, safeguard productive agricultural land and support the regeneration of native vegetation along Laidley Creek by:

restoring 1.25 kilometres of streambank through engineering works, revegetation and property-management improvement activities
improving soil health across 400 hectares by undertaking improved agricultural practices informed by soil testing
improving land condition across 50 hectares by controlling invasive weeds.

Desert Channels Queensland Ltd

The Rangeland recovery in the Mitchell Grass Downs and Channel Country bioregions project will partner with land managers and local councils across the Thomson, Cooper Creek, Georgina, and Diamantina River catchments. The project will:

increase the extent of native grassland vegetation by 3,200 hectares by implementing improved land management practices
improve 23,100 hectares of wetland condition by improving agricultural practices to protect streambanks
protect threatened species by reducing the impacts of feral pests and weeds and improving land management practices across 850,000 hectares
improve 350,000 hectares of land condition by improving grazing land management practices.

Southern Gulf NRM Ltd.

The Invasive Biosecurity Outcomes for the Southern Gulf Region project will improve land condition across 48,000 hectares in the Flinders catchment by controlling weeds and feral pigs.

The Protection of the Gulf Snapping Turtle in the Southern Gulf project will protect the Gulf Snapping Turtle nesting sites and habitats in the Burke Shire by controlling feral pigs which pose a significant threat to this freshwater turtle.

The Feral Pig Reduction for Improved Wetland Health in the Southern Gulf Region project will work with 10 properties throughout the region to control feral pigs and their impacts on waterways. The project will improve wetland health across 50 hectares, with benefits extending over a greater area downstream.

Cape York Natural Resource Management Ltd.

The Cape York Wetlands and Native Vegetation Resilience project will partner with Cape York land managers to undertake landscape scale control of weeds and feral animals, resulting in improved condition of:

10,000 hectares of wetlands
10,000 hectares of native vegetation.

The Cape York Wildfire Resilience project will work with Cape York land managers to increase wildfire resilience across 40,000 hectares through the coordination and implementation of appropriate fire management practices that improve the condition and resilience of native vegetation.

Gulf Savannah NRM—Northern Gulf Resource Management Group Ltd

The Improving condition of Native Riparian Vegetation by Tackling the Neem Threat in the Gilbert River Catchment project will target the removal of neem trees, including the removal of an historical need planation, resulting in:

100 hectares of improved native riparian vegetation along the Gilbert River
1,580 hectares of improved grazing land condition.

The Restoring the ecological value of springs forming part of the groundwater dependent ecosystems of the Great Artesian Basin (GAB) project will improve 12 hectares of GAB spring wetlands in the Northern Gulf NRM region by managing feral pigs, cattle, weeds and undertaking revegetation works.

The Indigenous-Led Weed Surveillance and Control program in the Northern Gulf project will:

address major threats to native vegetation condition across at least 400 hectares
support indigenous rangers to deliver these on-ground works on their respective traditional lands
undertake large-scale aerial weed surveillance and control across approximately 300,000 hectares of remote and hard-to access areas.

The Rewilding Farm Dams: Wetland Enhancement for Biodiversity and Water Quality project will:

improve the health of 30 hectares of wetlands (former storage dams) across the Northern Gulf region
install cattle exclusion fencing to reduce grazing pressure and support wetland recovery
undertake targeted weed management to control invasive species
deliver native revegetation and establish habitat to enhance biodiversity and ecological function

NRM Regions Queensland—Queensland Regional Natural Resource Management Groups Collective Ltd

The Measuring and Communicating our on-ground impact project will:

develop new and improved methods to monitor and collect evidence-based data to demonstrate the impact of projects
build on the Queensland Government's investment in the State-wide Indicators Framework (SWIF).

The Supporting on-ground outcomes through strong governance and consistent cross-regional coordination project will:

provide strategic state-wide coordination and support across the natural resource management (NRM) sector
support collaborative communication and collective adaptive management to support delivery of the program by the NRM sector.

The Coral Reef Habitat Protection in the Torres Strait will:

partner with the Torres Strait Regional Authority to reduce crown-of-thorns starfish densities
improve coral resilience across 1,750 hectares of reef near Erub and Mer
enhance habitat for threatened species including sea turtles, dugongs and reef fish which are critical to both ecological function and cultural significance.

NQ Dry Tropics Ltd.

The Climate-Ready Coastlines in the Lower Burdekin project will protect coastal and wetland ecosystems by reducing weeds, pests, fire and human impacts. The project will improve:

60 hectares of wetland health through the control of aquatic weeds and feral animals
10 kilometres of waterway connectivity by the removal of barriers to fish passage
20 kilometres of streambank condition through the control of riparian weeds and feral animals
58 hectares of native vegetation condition (beach scrub) by reducing direct threats including weeds and feral animals
4.8 hectares of coastal zone condition through dune stabilisation works including revegetation and fencing.

The Climate Resilient Rangelands project will support land managers to undertake threat mitigation and better grazing management activities in the Upper Burdekin region to improve the condition of:

1,400 hectares of grazing land
30 hectares of native vegetation (softwood scrub)
20 hectares of wetlands.

The Fighting Invasive Species Together project will support land managers in the Townsville Offshore and Lower Burdekin catchments to improve:

26 hectares of native vegetation condition by controlling weeds and feral animals
2,000 hectares of vegetation resilience to wildfire through low intensity cultural burns and collaborative fire management planning.

Reef Catchments (Mackay Whitsunday Isaac) Limited

The Cattle Creek – A reach scale approach to riverine restoration project will:

improve streambank condition along an 8 kilometre reach of Cattle Creek through engineered streambank restoration
increase native vegetation extent across 8 hectares adjacent to Cattle Creek by revegetating riparian areas with endemic species.

The Improving Koala Habitat and Connectivity in the Mackay Whitsunday Isaac region project will undertake on-ground works to improve the condition and connectivity of 57 hectares of prime koala habitat from Koumala to the Eton ranges

The Mackay Whitsunday Inshore Resilience project will:

support the recovery of inshore fringing reef around the Whitsunday Islands, using coral larval reseeding
improve 1 hectare of coastal wetland health, specifically the Pioneer Bay seagrass meadow, through targeted re-seeding of damaged or fragmented patches of the seagrass meadow
Improve 9.5 hectares of coastal zone condition (saltmarsh and mangrove habitats) by reducing key threats.

The Coordinated Threat Response to Protect Threatened Ecological Communities across the Mackay–Whitsunday–Isaac region project will improve the condition and extent of threatened ecological communities, including beach scrub and Broad-leaf tea-tree woodlands, by undertaking:

90 hectares of weed management
3 hectares of targeted revegetation.

Southern Queensland Natural Resources Management Ltd.

The Protecting Southern Queensland Waterways through Grazing Management project will:

improve the condition of 124,500 hectares of land and riparian native vegetation along priority waterways in southern Queensland
support land managers to design and install fencing and watering points to better manage stock in high value ecological waterways.

The Ensuring Thriving Koala Populations in Southern Queensland project will:

improve 300 hectares of habitat through enhanced fire management practices
reduce predation from wild dogs and invasive cactus across 17,000 hectares
install 12 Koala ‘bridges’ over wild dog exclusion fences to improve connectivity for foraging and breeding
define the genetic relatedness of Koala populations in the priority areas through the collection and analysis of 72 eDNA samples.

Terrain NRM—FNQ NRM Ltd

The Green Connections—Regional nature repair for climate resilience project will improve the extent and condition of 75 hectares of threatened ecological communities and native vegetation across the Wet Tropics region.

The Transitioning NQ agricultural production systems to climate-smart sustainable agriculture (Future Farms) project will collaborate with at least 8 farming enterprises in the Wet Tropics region to enhance soil health and land condition by implementing climate-smart, sustainable agricultural technologies and practices. This will result in the improvement of:

40.5 hectares of soil health and condition
300 hectares of improved land condition
10 hectares of native vegetation extent through revegetation activities
2 kilometres of improved stream bank and riparian condition.

Fitzroy Basin Association Ltd

The Marine Turtle Guardians project will provide specialist pest management control activities across 295 hectares to support the health and survival of marine turtles that nest and hatch along the Capricorn and Curtis Coasts. The project will also support volunteers to assess and respond to threats during the turtle nesting seasons.

The Nature Positive Fitzroy Farms project will work with land managers in Brigalow Country to improve:

10,400 hectares of land and soil condition
2,880 hectares of native vegetation
2,000 hectares of King Blue Grass (part of a threatened ecological community)
2,400 hectares of Koala habitat.