December Stanthorpe Today Column
First published in Stanthorpe Today, December 2024.
Living in the Granite Belt gives us an appreciation of its amazing flora and fauna. Many plants and animals call the Granite Belt home too and some of these species are vulnerable or endangered. Some are unique to this region and not found anywhere else in the world!
The Granite Belt has a high degree of habitat diversity and 45% of the land remains as remnant vegetation and is a distinctive feature across the landscape. Over 900 species of flowering plants occur in the region with 45 listed as threatened, including 6 classified as critically endangered. 28 fauna species here are listed as threatened such as spotted-tailed quolls, koalas, glossy black cockatoos, powerful owls, Bell’s turtles and Border thick- tailed geckos.
Granite Belt Sustainable Action Network’s (GBSAN) Landscape Linkages project involves building communities of landholders interested in and managing for biodiversity. The aim is to create property clusters to eventually link up, forming corridors of bush to allow movement of species across the landscape and avoids habitat fragmentation and subsequent species decline.
GBSAN already has over 30 property owners signed up. It is important to note that the project does not affect land tenure and does not share information except to identify clusters of like-minded landowners. It is also free!
A concurrent and complementary project is to relaunch the Land for Wildlife (LfW) program that has previously operated on the Granite Belt. It is active over the border in NSW where it is hosted by Granite Border Landcare. We hope to benefit from their experience and expertise to build cross border LfW in this region. Along with protecting our landscape, the goal of the LfW programme is to employ a dedicated Bush Care officer who will assist landholders directly in managing their properties and to access targeted grants for specific initiatives like weed control, fire management and habitat enhancement.
So, an exciting time to be on the Granite Belt! You can join in by completing the form on our website: https://www.gbsan.org.au/biodiversity-landscape-linkages-project
More information is available and your questions can be answered by emailing community@gbsan.org.au
Looking forward to having you on board!