The mission of the Black Mountain Range Catchment Extensions Project (BMRCEP) is to protect and enhance the floral and faunal biodiversity which occurs in the Cooroy and Black Mountain locales. These areas are part of the Mary River catchment.

The projects’ goal is to establish corridors of vegetation linking differing regional ecosystems to enable migratory movement of fauna within the Cooroy and Black Mountain catchment area. Increasing biodiversity and establishing connectivity between significant areas of high environmental value is the core aim of the project.

The proponent of the project is the Noosa and District Landcare Group (NDLCG) with funding being supplied from the National Heritage Trust Environmental Grants which are allocated by the Burnett and Mary Regional Group (BMRG).

The BMRCEP was developed from an earlier, smaller project which began in late 2005 and had the objective of protecting and restoring the riparian vegetation along Cooroy Creek. At the time, the riparian zone along Cooroy Creek, although continuous, was narrow and highly vulnerable to degradation. It was under threat from rapid development, subdivisions and population growth within the region. The initial project intended to increase the area of the riparian zone and to reduce degradation occurring along the creek, thereby increasing available habitat along the watercourse margins and consolidating on the ecological values which were already present. This initial project was very successful and provided the impetus to increase its scope.

The Cooroy Creek project was expanded to include Happy Jack Creek, Blackfellow Creek, Middle Creek, Skyring Creek and the Western branch of Six Mile Creek giving birth to the Black Mountain Range Catchments Extensions Project (BMRCEP).

The focus of the project changed from addressing creek conditions and health at a local level to rehabilitating and connecting areas of significant ecological value at the regional level.

The BMRCEP offers technical and material support to local residents to achieve the aims of the project. This support can range from simply providing free trees to landowners to carry out their own revegetation processes to providing comprehensive property management plans, planning and implementing co-operative projects between landowners and NDLCG and conducting rehabilitation works on areas of high ecological value.

With a particular emphasis on landholder education, the BMRCEP has contributed to the capacity building of the local community and has been instrumental in strengthening community bonds and cohesiveness. Noosa Landcare’s Black Mountain Project is an outstanding example of how grass roots organisations can use local partnerships and relationships to achieve the greatest on-ground outcomes for the local environment.

For information about this project please contact Paul Sprecher on 07 5485 2155 or email: projects2@noosalandcare.org