Greater Blue Mountains world heritage area conservation

• Greater Blue Mountains world heritage area covers one million hectares and includes 7 national parks and the Jenolan Karst Conservation Reserve.
• The area contains more than 1,500 plant species (10% of Australia's total), including 13% of all eucalypt species, the ancient Wollemi pine and around 70 different vegetation communities.
• More than 400 vertebrate species of native animals, including one third of Australia's bird species, have been recorded within the area.  

Project objectives

Local Land Services (LLS) is working with NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), land managers, First Nations communities, species experts and community groups to restore and preserve soils, waterways, species and habitats of the Greater Blue Mountains world heritage area in the Greater Sydney, Central Tablelands and Hunter LLS regions.  

By the end of the project:

• the landscapes at the selected work sites will be showing strong signs of recovery
• the world heritage area will be more resilient to threats
• native plants and animals, including threatened species, will be preserved and their habitats and refuges enhanced
• First Nations communities will be more empowered to share knowledge and continue their traditional caring for Country practices, ensuring cultural heritage continues and the Greater Blue Mountains ecological communities remain for generations to come.  

Project background

Greater Blue Mountains Area is a UNESCO-listed world heritage area with a large part of Australia’s biodiversity within it. The Greater Blue Mountains world heritage area is also of high cultural significance to First Nations peoples with ancient rock formations, diverse ecosystems and sacred sites.

Key threats to the area and native species include:

• fragmentation of habitat
• wildfires
• pest animals
• invasive weeds
• damage from surrounding urban areas and heavy tourism
• climate change.

Project delivery

We are working in both the park and border areas with key delivery partners, including First Nations communities, valuing their cultural and historical knowledge to enrich project outcomes. 

Work includes:

• threat management, such as pest animal and invasive weed control
• reducing the impact of heavy tourism
• riverbank and waterway restoration, including raising community awareness about stormwater impacting threatened ecological communities
• soil stabilisation
• appropriate fire/burning programs led by First Nations communities or traditional land management practices, such as cultural fire, to protect sensitive habitats, threatened ecological communities and sacred cultural sites
• monitoring the endangered brush-tailed rock-wallaby in the Hunter Valley
• capacity building with private land managers to support threat management.

Project timeline

2023–24:

• stakeholder engagement activities for works planning
• contracting of delivery partners.  

2024–25:

• stakeholder engagement activities
• community education events
• pest animal monitoring and management
• invasive weed management
• plant surveys
• baseline survey for brush-tailed rock-wallaby monitoring
• cultural burns
• waterway restoration.

2025–27:

• pest animal control works
• invasive weed management
• brush-tailed rock-wallaby monitoring
• cultural burns
• waterway restoration.

2027–28:

• pest animal control works
• invasive weed management
• waterway restoration
• project close (June 2028) and outcomes reporting.

Work underway

Work in the Central Tablelands includes:

• stakeholder consultation underway
• riparian workshop delivered with Landcare
• presented on the Living on the Edge project at the inaugural Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area Conference (August 2024)
• pest animal baseline monitoring completed in key areas
• delivery partner contracts finalised.

Work in Greater Sydney includes:

• pest animal control completed in Macarthur, Megalong and Kurrajong
• strategic weed control completed in Blue Mountains, Hawkesbury and Thirlmere
• erosion control and stormwater mitigation structures installed at 3 sites in the Blue Mountains
• landholder engagement and onground works completed in the Kurrajong area to raise awareness about how to protect and improve koala habitat
• 2 Aboriginal cultural burns completed in the Megalong Valley led by Gundungurra Elders and fire practitioners
• 2 Aboriginal cultural practice events completed in the Megalong Valley led by Gundungurra Elders.

Work in the Hunter includes:

• stakeholder engagement activities underway, including planning for First Nations led events, workshops and cultural burning activities
• 2 aerial bait runs completed for pest animal control
• work underway with NPWS on the baseline data for the brush-tailed rock-wallaby monitoring site.

How to get involved

Opportunities to get involved during this project in field days, education workshops, threat management work and Aboriginal cultural awareness activities will be promoted through our social media sites, e-newsletters and local media as they become available. 

Funding and partnerships

Local Land Services key delivery partners are:

• NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service
• Forestry Corporation NSW
• First Nations led organisations  
• Local Aboriginal Land Councils  
• Landcare groups
• community groups
• local councils
• private land managers.

This project is jointly funded by the Australian Government under Saving Native Species and the Natural Heritage Trust, and delivered by Local Land Services, a member of the Commonwealth Regional Delivery Partners panel. All outcomes for this project are recorded in MERIT for Central Tablelands, Greater Sydney and Hunter.