Landscape Recovery Foundation

10/04/2026

🌱 Triabunna Native Nursery Workshop 🌱
Join Nipaluna Nursery and local experts for a hands-on afternoon at Triabunna Native Nursery. In this practical session you'll learn how to germinate, propagate and prick out plants for restoration projects on Tasmania's East Coast.
Wednesday 15 April 2026
1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Triabunna Village, Melbourne St, Triabunna

Send a message to learn more

11/03/2026

Congratulations to the finalists for the 2026 Melanie Jane Kelly Bursary Award!

Winner Leah Soo and runner-up Alexandria Bullen were announced at last week’s Women in Conservation event, co-hosted by Enviro-Dynamics and the Tasmanian Land Conservancy.

Leah’s project, From Clay to Conservation, expands work using clay reefs as spawning habitat for the spotted handfish, paired with targeted invasive seastar removal to improve survival of young wild populations.

Alexandria’s research focuses on rodenticide toxicity benchmarks for wildlife living “on the edge” in northwest Tasmania.

We were thrilled to see so many strong applications again this year — a great reminder of the incredible conservation work women are leading across our communities.

Get involved, support trailblazing women in Tasmania and read more about the bursary at:
https://landscaperecovery.com.au/2026-mjk-bursary

06/02/2026

🔬Research with conservation outcomes! Women in the lead 💖
Two things the LRF and Melanie Jane Kelly bursary champion.
MJK bursary closes 16th Feb! Get your skates on 🛹🛼
to apply see 👇
https://landscaperecovery.com.au/2026-mjk-bursary

Research to illuminate the impacts of artificial light pollution on our marine species and environments 💡

Artificial light can affect important behaviours of species, including feeding, migration and reproduction. I recently had the pleasure of participating in a video to raise awareness about how we can protect Australia’s marine wildlife from the stresses of light pollution.

Thank you to Mariana and the team at UNSW, along with partners at the Australasian Dark Sky Alliance, for their important work improving our understanding of this threat.

Everyone has a role to play in protecting our precious marine biodiversity. For more information about how you can help protect Australia’s wildlife, read the National Light Pollution Guidelines for Wildlife and check out additional resources: https://www.dcceew.gov.au/campaign/light-pollution.

Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rtd7_G2bjmg.

📷: Green turtle (image by Joni via iNaturalist, CC BY-NC 4.0)

05/02/2026

🌏✨ February 16 deadline is fast approaching! ✨🌏
Are you female? identify as female? work in lutruwita/Tasmania?
Have a conservation science project ready to get off the page 📖 and into boots on the ground? 🥾
If you’ve got the plan, financial support to make it happen is available.
check out the Melanie Jane Kelly Bursary page for links to how to apply. 👇
https://landscaperecovery.com.au/2026-mjk-bursary
Let’s turn strong ideas into real conservation action. 🌱🔬

13/01/2026

📣Calling Tasmanian Women in Conservation!

The inaugural 2026 Melanie Jane Kelly bursary application process is open.

👉🏾Visit the Landscape Recovery foundation website for more details and to apply: https://landscaperecovery.com.au

Successful applicants will be awarded at this year's Women in Conservation Conference held in conjunction with Enviro-Dynamics and the Tasmanian Land Conservancy.

Image: Last year's recipients with Enviro-Dynamic's managing director Josie Kelman.

23/12/2025

Great to be a highlight in threatened species conservation this year. Thanks to the Australian Government and the team for all the hard work.

19/12/2025

SOUND ON 🔊 The Swifties are baaaaack!

🦜 Swift Parrots have returned to Tasmania for their annual summer lovin’ and we've been lucky enough to capture it.

Over the past two years, our work monitoring Swift parrot nest outcomes has been supported by the Australian Government’s Saving Native Species Program, but we urgently need your support to continue the longitudinal Swift parrot population monitoring program into the future.

Each year, researchers work to understand seasonal patterns in Swift Parrot food resources and identify where the parrots are.

This long-term monitoring helps inform conservation planning and supports efforts to protect critical breeding habitat.

🎄 If you’re looking to avoid a consumer Christmas and want to make a difference, consider donating to continue this import work!

💰 Donations support conservation research and monitoring that underpin efforts to protect the critically endangered Swift Parrot.

Learn more about the and DONATE to support our ongoing work here: landscaperecovery.com.au/donations

19/12/2025

🐕MEET MIKI – THE LEEK ORCHID DETECTION DOG

NAME: MIKI
SPECIALITY: Finding the critically endangered leek orchids of the Tasmanian Midlands

With his incredible nose and boundless enthusiasm, Miki is sniffing the way forward for conservation.

Watch Miki locate the tiny, elusive native leek orchid, giving us a chance to protect the threatened leek orchid.

Miki was trained by Canines For Wildlife, specialists in professionally trained conservation detection dogs, working alongside orchid conservation researchers from the Landscape Recovery Foundation.

An outstanding effort from a very good dog.

Well done, Miki!

This project is delivered by the Landscape Recovery Foundation through funding from the Australian Government's Natural Heritage Trust, in partnership with NRM North, a member of the Commonwealth Regional Delivery Partners. Thanks also to our funders and partners Enviro-Dynamics, Midlands Conservation Partnership, Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, and The Australian Orchid Foundation.

Additional images: Fiona Walsh, Malcolm Wells.

Music: Homeward by Scott Buckley – released under CC-BY 4.0.

www.scottbuckley.com.au

18/12/2025

Melanie Jane Kelly was a positive force in landscape conservation — and her legacy lives on through the Melanie Jane Kelly Memorial Fund.

🐶 Her work with detection dogs and agricultural weeds opened the eyes for many; inspiring other PAWSOME research teams.

The Melanie Jane Kelly Bursary is awarded to trailblazing women to support meaningful conservation work and research.

The 2026 MJK bursary will be awarded in March at the Women in Science conference, Hobart.

🌍 Now, we’re looking for donors who — like Mel —share a burning passion to improve our world.

Looking to avoid a consumer Christmas? Gift a donation or like and share this post with others who may be able to help increase our impact in 2026.

👉 Donate here: https://landscaperecovery.com.au/donations

or use the QR code 💚

22/11/2025

Saving threatened orchids in Tasmania’s Midlands takes a whole community – and sometimes polenta is involved?!
The Landscape Recovery Foundation team has been trialing new germination media using some unexpected ingredients – including rice flakes, quinoa and polenta – to boost seedling growth in threatened leek orchids like Paraprasophyllum olidum and P. incorrectum.
By fine-tuning these mixes and growing conditions, we’re improving survival after deflasking (when seedlings move from lab jars to nursery pots), so more young orchids make it into the wild, stronger and more resilient.
Behind this work are:
• Local landholders fencing populations, providing access, and supporting on-ground management
• Partners like Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, NRM North, Tasmanian Land Conservancy, Bush Heritage Australia, Australian Seed Bank Partnership, the Australian Orchid Foundation
• And vital backing from the Australian Government’s Saving Native Species Program
But to keep innovating and expanding this work, we also rely on donations from people who care about Tasmania’s unique landscapes.
🌿 If you love knowing that science, farmers and a dash of creativity are helping save our orchids, please consider supporting the Landscape Recovery Foundation with a tax-deductible donation today.
https://landscaperecovery.com.au/donations-1
💚 Your donation helps fund the science behind saving threatened species. THANK YOU!

19/11/2025

What does orchid recovery look like behind the scenes?
Sometimes, it looks like tiny seeds and even tinier fungi.
After our discoveries of new Midlands greenhood (Pterostylis commutata) populations earlier this year, the Landscape Recovery Foundation team has been busy:
• Protecting flowering plants from browsing
• Hand-pollinating flowers
• Collecting and banking seed
After harvesting over 186,000 seeds and depositing them with the Tasmanian Seed Conservation Centre - we’ve also collected six isolates of the orchid’s symbiotic mycorrhizal fungi, the microscopic partners that orchids need to germinate and survive. With two successful germination protocols now established, we can reliably grow Midlands greenhood seedlings under controlled conditions for the first time.
This is a game-changer for future restoration and reintroduction efforts – but we can’t do it alone.
💚 https://landscaperecovery.com.au/donations-1
Your donation helps fund this science, from field surveys to lab trials, giving threatened orchids a real chance to return to the wild.

17/11/2025

Seeds of hope - little stories, big possibilities. Before February of this year, we thought there were only around 50 Midlands greenhood orchids left in the wild. 🌱
Thanks to the Landscape Recovery Foundation’s orchid conservation program and Midlands Conservation Partnership landholders, surveys have more than tripled the known population!
During the 2024–25 season, our team discovered three new sub-populations on MCP stewardship properties, bringing the total to 183 plants across all sites.
Each new plant represents new hope for species recovery.
But finding them is just the beginning. Protecting, propagating, and restoring these orchids takes time, science and support.
The progess made this year has been quite something
💚 follow us for the rest of the story...
👉 help secure the future of the Midlands greenhood and other threatened orchids, please consider donating to the Landscape Recovery Foundation today.
https://landscaperecovery.com.au/donations-1

Send a message to learn more