In 2007, when Candy Lawrence and her partner Bob moved to their remote, forested property in the Bungawalbin wetlands, they knew they had found the peace and privacy they had been looking for.
They spent the first few years at Firebird Bend battling weeds and pests and looking after areas of old growth timber that had not been logged.
Their conservation efforts were just starting to show good results when the 2019 Myall Creek bushfires swept through their property. In total the fire impacted 120,000 hectares of land and burned for six weeks on its path through the Bora Ridge area, south of Casino.
When Candy and Bob were finally able to take stock of their property and the surrounding community, they were devastated to see the impacts.
"The worst thing in conservation terms was the loss of both wildlife and the necessary habitat for populations to recover,” Candy said.
“For months afterwards, we’d be woken at night by the smash of yet another old growth tree toppling over and shattering any nesting hollows to smithereens,” she said.
“We lost so many huge trees, and we’re still losing them. Even as recently as last year we saw another two massive trees fall that had been hollowed out at the base by the fires.”
After years of fires, floods, clearing weeds, restoring two natural lagoons choked with salvinia and battling feral pests on their own, Candy and Bob decided to apply for a conservation agreement on 35 hectares to clear access tracks impassable due to lantana growth and get help with feral pest and weed control .
When a NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust ecologist visited to assess the suitability of the site, a small grove of critically endangered scrub turpentine (Rhodamnia rubescens) seedlings that had survived both myrtle rust and the bushfires was identified.
The discovery spurred Candy into action. She signed up to get her Bush Regeneration certificate through TAFE and agreed to participate in the local Nature Conservation Council of NSW Large Forest Owls project. The BCT agreement was signed in 2021.
"It just felt like we had reached a point where it was urgent to have help restoring, supporting and preserving the forest and wetland,” Candy said.
“We wouldn’t have been able to do most of our conservation work without the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust conservation agreement. We wouldn’t have been able to afford it,” she said.
“It’s not only made the property safe for the future in environmental terms – it’s also made it so much more user-friendly for us as a beautiful home.
“Since the fires we've spotted a couple of koalas quite near the house, so we're always looking upwards in hope. Waking at night to the sound of a barking owl attracting a mate is absolute gold. It took five years from the bushfires, but at last they’re back."
As a bonus, Candy said the conservation agreement had been great for her future outlook.
“We know this is something positive we have done to help save the wildlife we can,” she said.
“Seeing and hearing the wildlife returning to this land has been a real antidote to doom-scrolling on social media and feeling helpless as the world tries to nosedive into oblivion around us.”