Mansfield Men's Shed and Up2Us Landcare Alliance Team Up for Fire-Affected Wildlife
When the December and January fires tore through north east Victoria, they didn't just take homes and livelihoods — they took homes from the bush itself. It's estimated that a staggering 98 per cent of tree hollows across the fire-affected areas of the Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority (GBCMA) region have been lost. For the possums, gliders, birds and bats that depend on these hollows for shelter and breeding, that's an almost total collapse of available habitat, and it takes decades, sometimes centuries, for a tree to naturally form a hollow big enough to call home.
That's where a terrific bit of community teamwork comes in. The Mansfield Men's Shed has partnered with Up2Us Landcare Alliance to build nest boxes destined for these fire-scarred landscapes, giving displaced wildlife somewhere safe to shelter and breed while the bush slowly regenerates.
How the Collaboration Works
It's a genuine paddock-to-plate operation, except the paddock is a workshop and the plate is a tree. Funding for materials has been generously provided by Zinfra and AusNet, which allows the Mansfield Men's Shed to source timber, cut out the box components, and flat-pack them ready for assembly. From there, Up2Us Landcare Alliance organises volunteer sessions with school groups where the boxes are put together and painted, adding a real community touch to each one before they're handed over. The finished boxes then go to the Biodiversity Recovery Alliance, who take care of distributing them across the fire-affected areas where they're needed most.
It's a lovely model, really — everyone plays to their strengths, from a shed full of blokes with saws and know-how, to volunteers keen to get their hands dirty (or paint-splattered) for a good cause, to the organisation with the on-ground knowledge of exactly where these boxes need to go.
A Milestone Worth Celebrating
Today marked a great moment for the project, with Up2Us picking up 107 completed nest boxes from the Mansfield Men's Shed, and another 50 already underway. That's well over 150 new homes heading out into the bush for creatures who've had precious few options since the fires.
There are four different nest box designs in the mix, each built to suit a different resident: rosellas, pardalotes, kookaburras and ducks all have their own tailored box, reflecting the different nesting habits and space requirements of each species.
But it's not just the feathered locals who benefit. A whole cast of arboreal mammals rely on tree hollows too, including Krefft's gliders, squirrel gliders, greater gliders, feathertail gliders, phascogales, and various species of bats. The list goes on, and the loss of hollows has left many of these animals with nowhere to turn, so every box that goes up genuinely counts.
A Region-Wide Effort
The Mansfield Men's Shed and Up2Us aren't the only ones pitching in. Other volunteer organisations and Men's Sheds across the catchment are also building nest boxes to support the recovery effort, which speaks volumes about the strength of community spirit across the region. When disaster strikes, it's often these grassroots partnerships between local groups, landcare networks and volunteers that make the real difference on the ground.
Get Involved or Lend a Hand
This project relys on ongoing support, and donations to the cause are always welcome. If you'd like to find out more, get involved, or contribute, you can contact Up2Us Landcare Alliance on 5779 1593 or via email at landcare@up2us.org.au. It really is a great example of what can happen when community groups, local businesses and volunteers pull together for a shared cause. A shed full of timber and know-how, a team of dedicated volunteers, and a distribution partner with the right connections — together, they're helping to rebuild a little piece of the bush, one nest box at a time.
