Some of the Treading Lightly committee members (plus some Treading Lightly juniors!) enjoyed a soul-restoring visit to the East Lynne Wildlife Refuge to see the amazing work being done by WIRES volunteers Kevin and Lorita Clapson. We wanted to share this story with the wider TL community so you can see where some of your important donations have been spent.

The East Lynne Wildlife Refuge takes in injured native wildlife, rehabilitates them and releases the healthy animals into the Murramarang National Park. They have raised wombats, kangaroos, wallabies, possums, sugar gliders and various birds over the years.

The area was devastated by the Currowan bushfires in 2019. During the fires, they were lucky to save their home but lost all the bush around them, the back of the kangaroo nursery and parts of the wombat enclosure.

Prior to these fires Kevin & Lorita had poured their own hard-earned money & time into building this refuge, but needless to say after the fires they couldn’t afford to rebuild this important recovery facility. However, thanks to the generosity of Treading Lightly Inc donors, we have been able to play a pivotal role in restoring this refuge back to its former glory and then some.

We helped to engage tradesmen and landscapers to get in and quickly rebuild fences, retaining walls, replant native grasses for feed, assist in rebuilding wombat and wallaby enclosures. We now hope to get in and help Kevin & Lorita in their quest to bring back Koalas to the South Coast, with the help of WIRES and a whole team of cohorts & stakeholders.