In the wake of the Western Victoria bushfires, Project Platypus is working with local Landcare groups and landholders across nine Wimmera properties to monitor wildlife recovery and restore vital habitat. Using a combination of community-led citizen science, expert ecological assessments, and hands-on restoration works, we're equipping landholders with the tools and knowledge to understand what's returning to their land and how to help it along. Together, we're rebuilding not just habitat, but the community confidence and connection that makes long-term recovery possible.
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What we're doing and why it matters
The Western Victoria bushfires left a deep mark on the Wimmera landscape and the people who care for it. For many landholders and Landcare volunteers, watching habitat they had spent years nurturing burn down was devastating and the question of how to move forward has felt overwhelming.
This project is our answer to that question. Alongside Horsham District Landcare Network and Hindmarsh Landcare, we're establishing nine fire recovery demonstration sites across the most significantly affected areas of the Wimmera. Each site is a focal point for community-led restoration: a place to monitor, to learn, to act, and to show others what's possible.
What we're doing at each site
1. Monitoring wildlife recovery with citizen science
We're working with landholders to equip each site with automated BirdWeather PUC stations and camera traps so birds and nocturnal mammals can be monitored continuously. Landcare volunteers are also being trained to conduct vegetation surveys using iNaturalist and simple habitat protocols to build a picture of what's recovering, what's struggling, and what needs a hand.
All of this data is shared through open biodiversity libraries including iNaturalist, BirdLife Australia and BirdWeather, so the benefits flow to the whole community.
2. Bringing in the experts
Local ecologists are working alongside landholders and volunteers to assess native plant regeneration, identify weed and pest threats, and validate what the monitoring stations are picking up. Together, this community and expert data is used to develop a tailored restoration and monitoring plan for each site: a practical roadmap for recovery that can also serve as a guide for other fire-affected properties in the region.
3. Workshops and shared learning
Each Landcare group will run community workshops to share what they've found and provide practical guidance on monitoring and restoration. Topics are shaped by the site surveys, so every workshop is grounded in what's actually happening on the ground locally.
4. Getting our hands dirty
Funding flows through the Landcare networks to support the highest-priority on-ground works at each site: controlling invasive weeds and pest animals that have surged since the fires, installing nest boxes for hollow-dependent species, and preparing sites for targeted revegetation where it's needed most.
Why this matters
For people:
The fires didn't just burn habitat, they shook the confidence of people who had given years of work to protecting it. This project is as much about rebuilding hope as it is about restoring habitat. When a landholder hears their first woodland bird call detected by their bird station, or spots a squirrel glider on their trail camera, something shifts. The tools we're putting in place give people a way to witness recovery in real time, and to know that their actions are making a difference.
Neighbours are supporting neighbours, sharing what they're learning, and finding connection in a shared purpose. That community fabric is part of what this project is building.
For wildlife:
Post-fire conditions are a critical window. Invasive weeds and feral animals are quick to take advantage of disturbed, open ground and if left unchecked, they can lock out native species for decades. Getting on top of these threats early, and making targeted decisions about where to revegetate and where to let nature do its own work, is how we make the most of every dollar and every hour of volunteer effort.
Two threatened species are front of mind. Malleefowl, one of the most iconic and vulnerable species in the Little Desert, were hard hit by the fires, with many mounds destroyed or damaged. We're working in close partnership with the Victorian Malleefowl Recovery Group to survey affected areas and develop management plans. Squirrel gliders - the last isolated western Victorian population, clinging on in the Northern Grampians - are also being monitored across both burnt and unburnt sites to understand how this precious population is faring and where habitat improvement is most needed.
What success looks like
By October 2026, we aim to have:
- All nine demonstration sites active, with robust biodiversity data collected and shared
- Nine collaborative biodiversity assessments completed and informing recovery planning
- Nine community workshops delivered across the three Landcare networks
- Early-phase habitat works underway at priority sites
Beyond the milestones, success will look like a community that feels capable, connected and hopeful, equipped with the knowledge and tools to keep supporting nature's recovery long after this project ends.
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