Disaster recovery enters new phase with trees planted for wildlife

Published on 12 August 2024

More than 750 trees have been planted in Coombabah this weekend as a part of recovery efforts following the severe weather events at Christmas and New Year.

The trees were planted on Coombabah Parklands, which was highly impacted by the Christmas disaster event, by City of Gold Coast officers and a team of more than 60 volunteers.

Over 700 hectares of vegetation within City parks and natural areas are estimated to have been destroyed.

“The wild weather destroyed so much of our vegetation and homes for our wildlife and these trees are one of the steps to recover the environment,” Acting Mayor Donna Gates said.

“Recovery is about more than the initial clean up – it’s also about ensuring the environment, economy, infrastructure, and community’s health are built back to a better position than prior to the event, and can take months and years.

“The City is committed to seeing the recovery through and building an even stronger and more resilient Gold Coast. The community can get involved through workshops and community sessions like the tree planting.”

“We have already made some huge strides with our recovery plans including restoring all damaged parks and community infrastructure, removing 77,153 truckloads of waste, and injecting cash into the impacted community through grants and vouchers.”

The City provided the Currumbin Wildlife Hospital funding, through the Disaster Recovery Grant Program, to provide treatment to wildlife injured during the disaster event which resulted in a surge of admissions. The hospital saw 120 new admissions in one day alone during the event.

The City has events planned as part of the continued recovery, including:

• Wildcare workshops
• Bushfire community sessions
• NaturallyGC Landcare tree plantings, kids holiday programs and citizen science wildlife monitoring
• Free health workshops including psychological first aid
• Free wellbeing workshops for volunteers
• Working with small businesses on disaster insurance issues and future preparedness
• Community informed community disaster and emergency plans

Get involved in the recovery by volunteering with environmental groups such as NaturallyGC, Landcare, or Wildcare Australia. Find out more about the disaster recovery by visiting www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/disasterrecovery

Recovery stats:

• 23,610 trees have been planted across the City since December 2023 in partnership with community members and environmental groups to support vegetation regeneration and native wildlife
• Over 50 kilometres of fire management trails have been restored
• 63 natural areas damaged in the event undergoing restoration or regular maintenance
• Removal of 77,153 truckloads of waste from 1,673 streets
• Injected $493,100 of new revenue into impacted businesses through the $300,000 Neighbourhood Recharge voucher project
• Provided $600,000 in financial relief to 23 community organisations and six wellbeing programs through the Disaster Recovery Grant Program
• Held two emergency services community events with partners to educate the community about preparing for disasters and recovery
• Held three Our Kinda Gold Coast events with community partners to support impacted residents
• Restored all damaged parks, sporting, recreation and community infrastructure:
  • More than 100 parks
  • 34 roads
  • 10 school and education facilities
  • 5 landslips
  • 4 culverts