Landcare group creates seed bank for Indigenous plants
4 years on from black summer, a Landcare group in east Gippsland is working to protect indigenous plants that were ravaged by flames through a seed bank. The initiative is already sprouting inspiration for other fire-prevention projects in the Victorian region.
Transcript
00:00 Loading up the boot with precious cargo, Orbot Landcare is on a mission to help safeguard
00:08 East Gippsland from future bushfires.
00:10 The project's all about collecting rare plant seed from wild populations, propagating them
00:18 in nurseries and planting them in community gardens.
00:23 Many of the seeds saved in its Seed Bank initiative have come from plants scorched by the Black
00:27 Summer bushfires. Thirteen species, several critically endangered, have already been propagated.
00:34 If they're impacted again in the wild, then we have an insurance policy that protects
00:40 them.
00:41 Taking a leaf out of Landcare's book is the local primary school in the town of Nungurna.
00:46 Students here have helped plant this fire-resistant belt around the campus.
00:50 On a catastrophic day, the students won't be at the school. It does make me hope that
00:54 if we do have a major bushfire that comes through the area that the school may not burn
00:58 down.
00:59 All one percenters add up.
01:01 Authorities say this year's fire season could arrive later than expected due to recent heavy
01:06 rainfall and high humidity.
01:09 The East Gippsland region has seen two major floods in recent months. Late November saw
01:14 a landslide cut off Mallacoota from the rest of the state for more than a day.
01:19 This is not the first time we've seen us coming out of a wetter period into a drying period.
01:26 This is a cycle that we have forecasted for some time. We are very prepared here at Forest
01:33 Fire Management Victoria.
01:35 That preparation includes boosting its workforce by nearly 200 people who are ready to respond
01:41 when flood is traded for flames.
01:43 [END]
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