Hunter Valley
Partnerships
Organisations Involved in Partnership Activities: 40
Partnership Facilitator: Gabe Anderson OzGREEN
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it :: phone 0420 988 055
From social, economic, biodiversity and connectivity conservation perspectives the Hunter Valley is the most complex of the 5 Great Eastern Ranges Partnership areas. The area contains a diverse range of unique and rich ecosystems. However, this very special landscape is under significant risk. Since non-Indigenous settlement the area has become increasingly degraded and fragmented, and is at increasing risk due to rapidly expanding agricultural, industrial and urban development. The landscape may be placed under additional strain as a substantial proportion of the valley floor is earmarked for coal exploration and possible mining over the next 30–50 years.
Due to a natural gap in the Great Eastern Ranges at the head of the Hunter Valley it's 1 of only 3 areas on the eastern seaboard of Australia where inland ecosystems stretch down to the coast. The River Red Gum, usually a tree of inland watercourses, reaches its easternmost extent in the Upper Hunter Valley.
The Hunter Valley represents a significant east-west linkage of natural vegetation in the Great Eastern Ranges, with the potential for north-south 'stepping stones' of vegetation to allow species movement.
A diverse mix of industry (including coal, power, equine, agricultural, viticultural, tourism and conservation groups), community, government, local government and academic interests have come together for the first time, under the banner of the Great Eastern Ranges Initiative, to act to conserve the unique values of the region.
This group, of over 40 organisations, has come together to bolster the resilience of ecosystems and habitats in the face of impending climate change impacts.
Local Stories
Cressfied in the Hunter Valley as a picture of excellence in everything it does ... View video
Further Information
- See the Connectivity Conservation factsheet [PDF 951 K] for further information on species movement.
- Download the Hunter Valley Regional Partner Newsletter [PDF 310K]
