The Morrison Government today announced the second tranche of its Wildlife and Habitat Bushfire Recovery grants program as it released a detailed list of plant and invertebrate species most impacted by the fires.
On-ground and scientific efforts to aid wildlife and habitat recovery are continuing throughout the COVID-19 crisis with some activities modified to protect those in the field.
A fund of up to $12 million has been set aside for dedicated emergency recovery actions for bushfire affected wildlife and habitat and the second tranche that we are announcing today will focus on support for plants and invertebrates.
Today’s announcement marks an important next step in the roll-out of our initial $50 million Wildlife and Habitat Recovery Package which has already seen more than $30 million invested into a range of activities including protecting unburnt habitat, on-ground assessment of bushfire impacts and feral predator and weed control.
To ensure we are targeting support where it is needed most, the Wildlife and Threatened Species Bushfire Recovery Expert Panel today released a list of 471 plant species and 191 invertebrate species as the highest priorities for urgent management intervention to support recovery from the bushfires.
This important stocktake means we now have a crucial benchmark analysis of impacted animal, plant and invertebrate species, as well as threatened ecological communities.
Grants from $100,000 to $1 million are available for projects that can commence as soon as possible and finish on or before 30 June 2021. Tranche 2 grant applications close on 28 May 2020.
Information on the priority plants and invertebrates that will inform tranche two is now available via GrantConnect (www.grants.gov.au) with grant guidelines and instructions on how to apply.
