Healthy Land & Water, a Southeast Queensland Natural Resource Management Organisation has been granted $12.25 million to deliver three environmental programs under the Queensland Government’s Natural Resource Management.
The three projects, Threatened Species Resilience, Living Landscapes & Resilience, and Urban Rewilding, represent a significant scaling of Healthy Land & Water’s landscape-level approach to environmental management
Healthy Land & Water CEO Julie McLellan said the three projects will deliver measurable environmental outcomes across some of South-East Queensland’s most critical landscapes.
“These projects target the environmental challenges that matter most to our region, protecting threatened species like brush-tailed rock wallabies, greater gliders and Glossy
Black-Cockatoos, restoring degraded streambanks to reduce flood risk and improve waterquality, and enhancing natural areas in our urban environment where most Southeast Queenslanders live,” McLellan said.
“In priority catchments like Laidley Creek, we’ll be working with landholders to restore streambanks and improve land and soil health, delivering benefits for agricultural productivity, water quality, and flood resilience. In urban areas across Southeast Queensland, we’ll be strengthening habitat corridors and installing nest boxes to support wildlife in our growing cities.”.
Projects cost and more details
Threatened Species Resilience ($250,648)
This project will improve habitat resilience and reduce key threats to threatened wildlife, including the Koala, Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby, Glossy Black Cockatoo, and Greater Glider, by undertaking threat reduction activities and improved fire management strategies across 3,250 hectares of habitat adjacent to Main Range National Park.
Living Landscapes & Resilience ($4 million)
Targeting streambank restoration within the Laidley Creek sub-catchment and surrounding areas to increase flood resilience and water quality, while safeguarding productive agricultural land, this project will restore 1.25 kilometres of streambank, improve soil health across 400 hectares, and improve land condition across 50 hectares through controlling invasive weeds.
Urban Rewilding ($8 million)
This project will strengthen the biodiversity and disaster resilience of urban and peri-urban areas across Southeast Queensland by improving 140 hectares of native vegetation condition, increasing the extent of native vegetation by 180 hectares, and supporting threatened species by installing 70 habitat refugia.
Evidence-informed action at scale
Healthy Land & Water has strengthened its approach to landscape-scale solutions that address multiple environmental challenges simultaneously.
“What makes these projects powerful is how they address multiple challenges at once. When we restore a riparian corridor along Laidley Creek, we’re improving water quality for communities downstream, protecting productive farmland from erosion, creating wildlife habitat, enhancing biodiversity, and building resilience against floods and droughts,” McLellan said.
“These aren’t just environmental projects, they’re investments in the liveability, productivity, and resilience of Southeast Queensland.”
Healthy Land & Water’s Chief Science & Sustainability Officer, Dr Andrew O’Neill, says the success of these initiatives stems from science and strong collaborative foundations.
“Success depends on strong partnerships across government, industry, and community. It also stems from over 25 years of monitoring conducted in partnership with the Queensland Government, water utilities and universities. This year, Healthy Land & Water has worked on 75 programs, all driven by science and demonstrating the power of collaborative environmental management,” O’Neill said.
While maintaining core focus on proven environmental management techniques, the organisation continues to explore innovative approaches, including environmental markets through the ENVestor program, circular economy principles, and improved monitoring technologies.
This positions Southeast Queensland as a leader in evidence-based environmental management, creating approaches that can be adapted and applied in other regions facing similar challenges.
All projects are funded by the Queensland Government’s Natural Resource Management Expansion Program.
Read more about the Crisafulli Government is delivering a plan for Queensland’s future and supporting regional land managers, with 10 new projects receiving funding under the $117.8 million Natural Resource Management Expansion Program here.
