The Wivenhoe Land Restoration Pilot is funded by the Queensland Government. The project is a collaboration of CO2 Australia, together with the Queensland Department of Environment and Science (DES), Seqwater and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The restoration project will involve the planting of more than 150,000 trees across seven planting sites adjacent to Lake Wivenhoe in South East Queensland; land owned by Seqwater and historically used for grazing purposes. The planting sites, which were initially identified by WWF, are within an important koala habitat corridor in South East Queensland. At least 90% of the trees planted will be species that provide habitat for the koala. This will increase the amount and quality of habitat for the koala in the corridor and provide connectivity between existing areas of habitat. The restoration project will also reduce the amount of sediment runoff entering Lake Wivenhoe, thereby improving water quality in South East Queensland’s largest water storage.

The goal is to monitor and track improvement in biodiversity co-benefits associated with the restoration through the calculation of Native Vegetation Econd®. Ongoing monitoring of the project will be undertaken to help inform management decisions, including Econd® surveys by CO2 Australia ecologists in accordance with the accredited CO2 Australia Native Vegetation Condition Monitoring Method, monitoring and control of weeds, and the assessment of fire breaks and fuel loads to reduced likelihood of wildfire events impacting on the success of the planting sites and surrounding intact remnant vegetation. DES will also from time to time undertake additional co-benefit activities and monitoring, including fauna surveying, radio-tracking and satellite tracking of koalas, flora surveys, soil assessments and water quality sampling. Further opportunities to improve biodiversity co-benefits of the project will continue to be explored.