The Great Southern Rail Trail (GSRT) traverses over 100km of South Gippsland from Nyora in the NW to Port Welshpool in the SE. It has enormous potential to provide long-term habitat for local flora and fauna, plus engage the wider community in environmental education, surveys and restoration efforts. Six landcare groups also have an interest in the future management of the trail.
To help facilitate and prioritise future environmental restoration efforts along the trail SGLN received funding in 2025 from the Wettenhall Environment Trust to:
1) identify and map biodiversity hotspots along the GSRT using data obtained through the Biodiversity Protection Plan e.g. species records and veg mapping
2) identify and map work areas on the trail most suitable for biodiversity conservation and Landcare activities
3) develop a prioritised 3-5 year Biodiversity Action Plan for the GSRT that gives direction to all six landcare groups and council.
In May/ June 2025 we ran a series of workshops with Landcare groups and Sth Gippsland Shire Council to present flora & fauna information within and adjacent to the rail trail reserve and agree on priority areas for future work.
The output of these studies and workshops has been collated into a report soon to be available. The report is made up of an introduction/summary report, plus individual reports for each section of the rail trail:
Section 1: Nyora to Bena
Section 2: Bena to Leongatha
Section 3: Leongatha to Buffalo
Section 4: Buffalo to Foster
Section 5: Foster to Welshpool
Digital mapping files suitable for Google Earth (.kml) can also be provided upon request.
