Hawkesbury City Council has welcomed new tree planting grants that are now available from the Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife (FNPW) to restore bushfire affected regions, including the Hawkesbury.
Supporting the restoration of our local environment is an important part of our bushfire recovery, the Mayor of Hawkesbury, Councillor Patrick Conolly said.
"The FNPW bushfire restoration grants aim to support individuals, community groups and organisations that are working to bring communities together to restore the bush that was left scarred by the 2019-2020 bushfires," Mayor Conolly said.
If you are working to restore large areas of habitat by tree planting in areas that were impacted by the 2019-2020 bushfires, then you can apply for a Bushfire Restoration Grant from the Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife (FNPW) to receive trees to plant. Please note that you must apply for the grant first before going to the Nursery for the trees and large orders are preferred.
The bushfire restoration grants are open for online applications at fnpw.org.au/grants until 30 June 2021.
Individuals, community groups, organisations or government departments working in these areas are all eligible to apply for support for projects commencing in 2021.
In 2020, FNPW supported the upgrade of the Hawkesbury Community Nursery to become a bushfire recovery nursery to assist in restoration activities.
"I'm proud that Council's Hawkesbury Community Nursery in Mulgrave is supplying the trees for the 2021 planting season under this grant program," Mayor Conolly added.
"Our local area has experienced first-hand the effects of the bushfires but fortunately, we have a well-developed community nursery volunteer program that helps support the regeneration of our local flora and fauna. The tree planting grants will make a big difference to regenerating the native habitat for Australian wildlife."
The FNPW Bushfire Recovery Program aims to plant one million trees in bushfire impacted areas across Australia. The key areas of focus for the Bushfire Recovery Program are:
- Restore - lost habitat by replanting native vegetation, and protecting natural regeneration
- Rebuild - rebuild or replace lost nursery assets
- Grow - a healthy and natural environment to enhance ecosystems and services
- Support - local communities to become more resilient.
