Greater Blue Mountains and World Heritage Area
The Greater Blue Mountains and World Heritage Area region covers 7,656,342 hectares, encompassing the Central Tablelands, Greater Sydney and Hunter Natural Resource Management regions. It includes 96 per cent of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area and 11 per cent of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area.
Within the Greater Blue Mountains region, Traditional Owners include Darug, Gundungurra, Wanaruah, Wiradjuri, Darkinjung, Tharawal, Awabakal, Worimi and Biripai.
Impacts of the 2019–20 bushfires
More than 1,000,000 hectares in the Greater Blue Mountains region burnt during the 2019–20 bushfires.
This map shows the extent and severity of the 2019–20 bushfires in the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area.
This map shows the extent and severity of the 2019–20 bushfires in the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area.
More than 60 per cent of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area was fire-affected and more than half of this burnt with high or very high severity. Of the Gondwana Rainforests World Heritage Area within the region, more than five per cent was burnt.
Environmental values that were impacted by the bushfires and that have been recommended for urgent management intervention in the region include:
- three natural assets: Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area and Myall Lakes Ramsar wetland.
- 10 Threatened Ecological Communities including Upland Basalt Eucalypt Forests of the Sydney Basin Bioregion, Temperate Highland Peat Swamps on Sandstone and Lowland Rainforests of Subtropical Australia.
- 99 animals including the Blue Mountains Water Skink, Broad-headed Snake, Rockwarbler, Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby, Koala, Spotted-tail Quoll, Gang-gang Cockatoo and the Stuttering Frog.
- 101 plant species including the Wollemi Pine, Benson’s Stringybark, Kowmung Hakea, Fletcher’s Drumsticks, Paddy’s River Box Eucalyptus, and Evans Grevillea.
 Photo: dnatheist, licensed with CC BY 2.0 |
 Photo: Doug Beckers, licensed with CC BY-SA 2.0 |
 Photo: dracophylla, licensed with CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 |
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The Broad-headed Snake’s habitat is shrinking through urbanisation and illegal rock removal. A total of 65 per cent of this vulnerable species’ range is within the region, 46 per cent of which was burnt. |
Stuttering Frogs burrow into the soil beneath logs and leaf litter when it’s hot and dry, and when it’s cold. The bushfires burnt 18 per cent of their known habitat in the region. Sightings in other bushfire-affected regions indicate that their burrowing strategy may have helped them seek refuge during the fires. |
The Wollemi Pine was known only through fossils until it was discovered growing deep in Wollemi National Park in NSW in 1994. These critically endangered trees, dating back to the time of the dinosaurs, would have been lost if not for the firefighting efforts of the NSW Rural Fire Service. |
Australian Government bushfire recovery funding in the region
As part of the Australian Government’s initial $50 million investment in bushfire recovery for wildlife and habitats, $3 million has been directly invested in the Greater Blue Mountains region. This includes:
- $1,550,000 to Natural Resource Management organisations for recovery actions within the region including the control of pest animals and weeds, and erosion management:
- $550,000 to the Greater Sydney Local Land Services
- $550,000 to the Hunter Local Land Services
- $450,000 to the Central Tablelands Local Land Services
- $552,000 to the NSW Government for species specific recovery and monitoring activities including for the Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby, Wollemi Pine, Dwarf Heath Casuarina, Megalong Valley Bottlebrush, and fencing Lower Hunter Spotted Gum Ironbark Forests.
- $941,000 for four grant projects that will support the Purple Copper Butterfly, threatened ecological communities and the Giant Dragonfly.
Additional funding includes:
- a further $5 million for grant projects where some activities are being undertaken in, or are relevant to, the Greater Blue Mountains region. This includes assessing fire impacts on Golden-tipped Bats and other microbats, and urgent actions to conserve the Euastacus freshwater crayfish.
- a significant proportion of the $2 million to the NSW Government for pest control across all NSW bushfire affected regions.
Next steps
Through the bushfire Regional Fund the Australian Government is investing $110 million to provide strategic on-ground support for the most impacted native species, ecological communities and natural assets across seven bushfire affected regions.
$13 million will be directly invested into this region, guided by a co-design workshop which was held with stakeholders from the Greater Blue Mountains and World Heritage Area on 9 September 2020. The aim of the workshop was to engage and collaborate with stakeholders to identify regional investment priorities for post-fire recovery of species and natural assets. The workshop report is available below.
Greater Blue Mountains and World Heritage Area - Regional Bushfire Recovery Workshop Report (PDF - 2.63 MB)
Greater Blue Mountains and World Heritage Area - Regional Bushfire Recovery Workshop Report (DOCX - 23.71 MB)
Investment decisions will be guided by the workshop outcomes and will include careful consideration of community capacity, existing recovery efforts and value for money. Funding will primarily be provided through existing arrangements, for example with NRM regions and/or state governments. This will include formal and informal partnerships with other organisations and community groups where this will enhance recovery outcomes.