ZNET Uralla has just completed another project – The Elephant in the Woodland, a three year project on sustainable firewood funded by NSW Environmental Trust. Its been a great three years working right across the firewood supply chain – from biodiversity assessments with land holders to look at the importance of leaving benchmark levels of dead wood in the environment, to training workshops with firewood collectors, to home energy reviews and curtain making to improve thermal comfort in our homes and reduce the amount of wood needed for heating.
We did 18 biodiversity assessment, helped over 12 firewood collectors demonstrate the sustainability of their wood, conducted over 60 Home Energy Reviews, held 9 curtain making workshops and delivered educational activities with 4 schools. In total the ZNET volunteer community put in nearly 1700 hours of their time to contribute their skills, support project activities and learn about wood and sustainability.
We estimate nearly 700 tonnes of the firewood used in Uralla was sustainably harvested over the three years. The elephant is still in our woodlands, but at least we are now talking about it and taking steps to reduce the impact winter heating has on our precious woodland ecosystems!
Click here to see some great moments captured by Trish – our amazing Project Officer…Photo Gallery for Elephant in the Woodland Project
Elephant in the Woodland was funded through the NSW Environmental Trust
