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Dr Megan Halcroft, from Hampton, is a leading educator on native bees. She's creating awareness around the critical role of our native bees in protecting biodiversity. She spoke with Planetary Health writer Tracie McMahon at Eskbank House earlier this year.

The Rotary Club of Blackheath has launched a Birds, Bees, Butterflies and Bats Pollinator Project. With 65% of the world’s flowering plants, including crops and trees, requiring some form of animal pollination, helping pollinators is critical to planetary health. Club President Sherlie McMillian explains how we can support pollinators in Blackheath, the Blue Mountains and beyond.

Margaret Gough ran a WIRES animal refuge for more than two decades, was District Commissioner for Scouts in the Blue Mountains, and coordinated the Lithgow Community Centre for a decade. Her home was burnt in Mount Victoria during the 2013 fires, but she’s rebuilt and is now more prepared. She continues to nurture the diverse life on ‘her patch’.  

Op shops and secondhand stores are booming in Katoomba, part of a growing interest in the circular economy. It's also helping locals save money while looking good in vintage and retro fashion.

The Long-nosed Bandicoot is back in the Lower and Mid Mountains, and many residents are rejoicing at having visits from these furry friends. Find out about the benefits they bring and how to create a bandicoot-friendly garden here.

The preparation and resilience shown by the Blue Mountains community in the 1994 bushfires helped create Fire and Rescue NSW’s Community Fire Unit (CFU) program. Meet the Blue Mountains-based head of the Statewide program and a dedicated CFU member in Winmalee.

As we rethink how to live in a warming world, building designers like Kirstie Wulf in Hazelbrook are exploring new fire-resistant building materials like hempcrete. In 2015 Kirstie received the National Building Designers Association Award for her first hempcrete home and she’s been designing them ever since.

Fighting bushfires in rugged, mountainous terrain inaccessible by fire tankers requires considerable skill and endurance. Winmalee’s Bruce Coomer has spent 20 years battling fires deep in the bush as a volunteer remote area firefighter. He shares his experiences with writer Julie Nance.

From cats to cars, barbed wire to fruit nets, native wildlife face daily dangers, many of them human-related. In a Wildlife Emergency Assistance Workshop presented by Tracy Burgess from the Blue Mountains Branch of WIRES participants learnt about measures we can take to prevent injuries to wildlife, and what to do if we encounter an injured or sick native animal.

Nesting hollows for native wildlife are in diminishing supply. Historical and ongoing loss of old trees due to clearing, arboriculture works and bushfires cause ongoing loss of habitat. Learn more & find out how you can help here.