One of our most proactive, affiliated Landcare groups, ZNET Uralla, has just completed another project, "The Elephant in the Woodland". This was a three year project on sustainable firewood funded by NSW Environmental Trust.
It's been a great three years working right across the firewood supply chain – from biodiversity assessments with land holders to look at the importance of leaving benchmark levels of dead wood in the environment, to training workshops with firewood collectors, to home energy reviews and curtain making to improve thermal comfort in our homes and reduce the amount of wood needed for heating.
ZNet did 18 biodiversity assessments, helped over 12 firewood collectors demonstrate the sustainability of their wood, conducted over 60 Home Energy Reviews, held 9 curtain making workshops and delivered educational activities with 4 schools.
In total the ZNET volunteer community put in nearly 1700 hours of their time to contribute their skills, support project activities and learn about wood and sustainability.
It is estimated nearly 700 tonnes of the firewood used in Uralla was sustainably harvested over the three years. The 'elephan't is still in the local woodlands, but at least we are now talking about it and taking steps to reduce the impact winter heating has on our precious woodland ecosystems!
Images:
Top: Project mascot, ‘Zigby the Elephant’ at the 2018 Mt Mutton nature event, with Trish Rasmussen, ZNet's Project Officer, and Bob Crouch.
L - R: (1) Uralla Central School students learning about the impact of different positions on the amount of power created by the solar panel; (2) Jill Middleton assisted Dave Carr recording data for the Biodiversity studies, at the Wooldridge Council site; (3) 2020 Sustainable Wood Collection course was presented by Dave Carr, hosted by Scott Green; (4) The Home Thermal Performance Curtain Workshops proved popular with the local ladies.
