| Habitat and species recovery continues across fire affected parts of Kosciuszko National Park and is being assisted through a number of post-fire natural recovery projects. The habitat box project was initiated in 2020 by a dedicated
group of volunteers from the Nordic Ski Club and friends that saw the devastation of the recent ‘Black Summer’ fires
and wanted to help habitat recovery across the Park. An initial donation of 250 habitat boxes were received by
NPWS last year and were swiftly installed across areas of the Park that showed significant species decline as a result
of the bushfires. These included species such as Microbats, Agile Antechinus, and Yellow-Bellied Gliders.
The on-ground delivery of the project was made possible by a substantial and generous donation from the Polish Volunteer
Firefighter community that ensured the swift implementation of a number of natural recovery projects.
The habitat box project is now heading into its second year and although we’re yet to detect any animals in the
boxes, the process of habituation is often slow – we remain optimistic! In 2021, NPWS once again received a
generous donation from the Nordic Ski Club volunteers of an additional 180 boxes for installation across the park.
The additional boxes will go a long way to boosting habitat availability for species severely affected by bushfire
across Kosciuszko. Volunteers have worked hard to get the new batch of ‘holiday homes’ ready for installation
before winter and have once again exceeded all expectations. With the help of the NPWS Hawkweed and Field
Teams, boxes are in their final stage of installation and is due to be completed pre-winter 2021.
We’re excited to see the results of the project and NPWS will continue to monitor and survey species recovery
across affected areas to determine the effectiveness of the boxes in post-fire species recovery across the sub-
alpine/alpine environment.
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