The Fire Wise Nature Project
This nature project is a collaboration between Second Nature Conservancy and
The Mount Barker District Council. It is supported by the Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife who have
received grant funding from the Australian Government, through the Preparing Australian Communities local stream.
The Objective
The Fire Wise project explores, experiments with, and showcases how planting indigenous flora can lower the threat of bushfires while also improving local biodiversity and habitat quality.
Improving community education and resilience will be achieved through a series of activities including community workshops, propagation and planting of low flammability native species, and development of resources for future use.
Our project forms part of a larger collaborative effort in South Australia and beyond. Local project partners include Fleurieu Environment Centre and the Nature Conservation Society of South Australia.
Further Details…
This project has seen significant progress made in researching and facilitating greater knowledge and understanding about how the use of local native species in landscaping and restoration projects can also contribute to minimising the risk of spread of bushfires.
Demonstration Gardens
We designed and planted two demonstration gardens showcasing a variety of local native low flammability plants. Easily accessible by the community, the gardens will be used to demonstrate how these plants can help reduce fire risk whilst enhancing biodiversity and form a living seedbank for future plant propagation activities. See map below to download.
Community Workshops
We delivered 12 community education workshops and planting events sharing knowledge about fire-wise landscaping, collecting seed and propagating native species.
2 educational resources were developed including an update of the Mount Barker ‘Sustainable Garden Design’ booklet, download your copy below.
Community Nursery and Seed Bank
Plants for the project were grown at the Mount Barker Community Nursery. A range of activities were held at the nursery, including a community nursery network session, aimed at increasing capacity and efficiency for hard to propagate species. We also established living seed banks to increase the diversity and availability of appropriate seed.
Seedbank updates
We upgraded the Second Nature regional seedbank, cataloguing and upgrading the storage facilities for seed.
GIS mapping
We completed geolocation of key project sites including rate and threatened plant populations for living seedbanks.
Fire Wise Plant propagation
Over 12,600 local, low flammability plants which were planted across 8 project sites including the incorporation of fire wise species at open spaces managed by local developers in Mount Barker.
Nature Project Activity
We recently had the privilege of working with the students at Mount Barker South Primary School in partnership with Arborgreen and Mount Barker District Council.