Prosper Coffs lends a helping hand to native wildlife

It was estimated that more than one billion animals perished in the Australian bushfires in 2019. Both coastal and inland environments were ravaged in what was our country’s worst bushfires on record.

To help the long term survival of native wildlife the Prosper Coffs Environmental Trust initiated the Native Fauna Recovery Project, targeting the most fire affected areas across the Coffs Coast in the Orara Valley region.

The project launched with the support of the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital who provided Prosper Coffs with three watering stations for wildlife, affectionately known as ‘Blinky Drinkers’.

‘The Blinky Drinkers will play a key role in the recovery efforts of our native wildlife, providing up to 200 litres of water per station. The watering stations have been dispersed into key areas affected by the fires and will be instrumental in the long term survival of wildlife if we are faced with drought conditions again’, said Prosper Coffs Fundraising Manager, Melissa Nunn.

In addition to the watering stations, it was clear that there was also a need for additional food and artificial hollows with so many trees decimated in the fires. The recent rainfall has seen some relief for the Orara Valley region, with regeneration and the ecosystem becoming healthy again. Fauna, however, will be disadvantaged until the ecosystem is able to regenerate enough growth to provide solid support, which could take upward of 12 months.

To help fulfil this need Prosper Coffs established a food drive between February – March 2020, collecting donations of carrots, sweet potato, bird seed, apples and goat pellets. The Nana Glen Landcare Group were instrumental in this project dispersing food out weekly for wildlife. Due to the COVID-19 virus the food drive has been postponed. However, during the time the food drive was being undertaken it received such immense support, with generous donations from community groups such as the Coffs Harbour Animal Rescue Collective and local business C. ex Coffs.

This week nesting boxes for fauna is being sensitively installed within key areas in Nana Glen. Thanks to the generous support of Coffs City Rotary Club, Prosper Coffs has been able to support 10 nesting boxes for parrots, brushtail possums, kingfishers and kookaburras.

‘The nesting boxes will provide much needed habitat for native wildlife, as much of their normal habitat was lost in the fires. We are delighted to collaborate in this activity, and very grateful to all the donating groups for their support. These activities have reaffirmed what a strong and caring community we have in this region’, says Adam Rees from Nana Glen Landcare.

To find out more please visit the Prosper Coffs website prospercoffs.org.au or send through your enquiries to admin@prospercoffs.org.au.

Prosper Coffs Harbour Limited

PO BOX 858

COFFS HARBOUR NSW 2450

ProsperCoffs ACNC

Phone: 0437 767 451

Email: admin@prospercoffs.org.au

ABN: 95 154 984 415

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