PARK WATCH Article June 2025 |

Sera Blair, NatureWatch Coordinator, and Ben Gill, Parks and Nature Campaigner on the Life after Fire project at Mt Cole and Mt Buangor

One year on from the devastating bushfires that swept through Mt Cole State Forest and Mt Buangor National Park, the forest is showing early signs of recovery – and so is the community.

Since the fires, I’ve been visiting regularly with VNPA campaigner Ben and working alongside our wonderful partners – the Mount Cole Pyrenees Nature Group and Upper Mt Emu Creek Landcare – to run our Life After Fire citizen science project. Together, we’re uncovering how the forest and its wildlife are responding to fire, while deepening community connections with nature.

Tracking wildlife after fire

This year, NatureWatch teams completed three expeditions to Mt Cole, each spanning two days. Our focus has been on monitoring wildlife in areas that burned, including sites where the elusive Brush-tailed Phascogale had been recorded before the fire. While we haven’t captured the phascogale on our wildlife cameras yet, other animals are returning – including Agile Antechinus, Swamp Wallabies, Eastern Grey Kangaroos, Common Brush-tailed Possums, White-winged Choughs, Grey Shrike-thrush, Grey Currawongs and Spotted Pardalotes. Sadly, we also recorded pest species like Sambar and Fallow Deer, foxes and a feral cat.

Night spotlighting surveys were quieter than usual – we didn’t see any gliders or possums in the burnt forest this time. We were treated to sightings of Gang-gang, Sulphur-crested and Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos, as well as a Tawny Frogmouth and a Southern Boobook Owl.

Rare plants rising from the ashes

In truly uplifting news, Mt Cole Grevillea (Grevillea montis-cole) seedlings are sprouting where mature plants once stood. This threatened plant is found nowhere else in the world, and we counted over a thousand seedlings across our survey sites. However, they remain vulnerable – many are growing in exposed spots and are still quite small. We’ll return to monitor their progress over time, with the help of local volunteers.

Community stepping up for wildlife

We’ve also installed wildlife cameras along roadside reserves between farms – areas that provide vital habitat corridors but are under threat from post-fire clearing. Community concern has been strong, and the cameras are providing important evidence of wildlife using these strips. So far, we’ve recorded Agile Antechinus, Swamp Wallaby, Eastern Grey Kangaroo, Common Brush-tailed Possum, Echidna, Crimson Rosella, Grey Currawong, Grey Shrike-thrush, Red-browed Finch, Superb Fairy-wren, White-browed Scrubwren, Australian Owlet-nightjar, Fox, Cat, European Rabbit, European Hare, House Mouse and Eurasian Blackbird.

Beyond the fieldwork, we’ve hosted two community events to share campaign updates on protecting the central west forests, including Mt Cole, as a new national park. We’ve offered locals the chance to get involved in citizen science and learn about the recovery of Mt Cole Grevillea.

A recent community seminar featured grevillea expert Neil Marriott, researchers from the Arthur Rylah Institute and Parks Victoria staff, who spoke on the plant’s recovery and the future reopening of Mt Buangor National Park.

A growing community of citizen scientists

It’s been a real joy to work with the Mount Cole community, whose enthusiasm for the natural world is infectious. Together, we’ve trained local residents to set up wildlife cameras, nest boxes and song meters on their own land – empowering them to collect and understand data from the very places they fought to protect after the fires.

We’ll be back in Spring, continuing our Life After Fire work and – we hope – celebrating the declaration of a new national park for Mt Cole.