Leon Ward and his wife moved from the city to the Granite Belt  just before the bushfires came thorough  in September 2019.  In this episode Leon chats about his experience of living in the bush and the impact of the bushfires on the natural and built environments. Leon's home survived the fire whilst much of the surrounding bushland was severely burned and some of his neighbours lost homes, sheds and other property. Leon has a special understanding and connection with nature which you’ll hear during our conversation.
He offers some practical and inspiring ideas about how we can observe and learn from nature’s recovery journey so that we can minimise losses from bushfires in the future whilst maintaining a close connection to nature.

In this conversation Leon explains:

• some of the environmental impacts and the human impacts that he has noticed as a result of the bushfire
• the stages of change that the natural world is going through as it recovers from the fires
• what people and communities might be able to learn from the environment about recovery from natural disasters
• some ways in which the natural world is important to the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities
• steps that people, communities and our whole society could take when rebuilding or planning future fire protection
• the best natural resources in the Southern Downs region
• some of the human strengths of the Southern Downs region
• how to take action by getting involved in looking after and planning for the future of our natural resources

RESOURCES and LINKS
Download a handout which includes a summary of the episode with the Top 3 Takeaways or Tips and a full list of the services and resources we referred to.

Queensland Rural Fire Service

Queensland National Parks and Forests

Girraween National Park

Main Range National Park
Includes Goomburra, Cunningham’s Gap and Queen Mary Falls Section; Spicers Gap; Mt Superbus

The Granite Belt Sustainable Action Network (GBSAN)

Emergency Services – Fire, Ambulance, Police
P: 000 (Triple Zero)

Find your closest hospital on the Darling Downs

Contact Kathryn Walton from Kathryn Walton Consulting and Outdoors is my Therapy

Darling Downs and West Moreton PHN
Use the clickable map to find mental health services in the region

Speak Out Loud has been supported through funding from the Darling Downs and West Moreton PHN

Music by Twisterium from Pixabay