Efforts to reinvigorate Kyneton’s Black Hill Reserve are continuing more than two years after bushfire devastated about 80 per cent of the reserve.
Projects to regenerate and protect the natural environment are being co-ordinated by Friends of Black Hill and Macedon Ranges council.
More than 200 nest boxes have been built by local schools, men’s sheds and the Malmsbury Youth Justice Centre since the fire, caused by a lighting strike on January 7, 2015.
Mayor Jennifer Anderson said a monitoring program showed activity in the nest boxes had increased by 60 per cent since 2015.
She said footage of sugar gliders, the threatened brush-tailed phascogale, a sparrowhawk, brush-tailed possums and a rarely seen Australian Owlet-nightjar had been recorded.
Picnic tables constructed and installed by young men from Malmsbury Youth Justice Centre have recently replaced those lost in the fire. Young men from the centre have also been clearing the reserve’s paths.
To commemorate the resilience of the community and the reserve, Friends of Blackhill plan to install a memorial bird birth. The large granite bird bath will be designed to attract bird life in a northern part of the reserve.
Feedback on the memorial can be submitted before Wednesday, August 9, by contacting darmarl@bigpond.com or 5422 0247.
