The Slopes to Summit (S2S) partnership was established by the Great Eastern Ranges Initiative (GER) in 2007, and is governed by a Working Group of nine organisations including Nature Conservation Trust of NSW, Charles Sturt University, Holbrook Landcare Network, Murray Local Land Services, CSIRO, Australian National University, Parklands Albury Wodonga, Albury Conservation Company, and the NSW Government’s Office of Environment & Heritage. Drawing from the Working Group’s breadth of expertise and resources, S2S has a strong focus on linking biodiversity research to on-ground conservation action, and biodiversity awareness raising activities for landholders and the wider community to build support for ongoing investment in biodiversity.
The S2S project area encompasses the whole of the Alpine, South Eastern Highlands and South West Slopes bioregions within the Murray River and Billabong Creek catchments from Culcairn to Corowa in the west, to Tumbarumba and Tooma, to Kosciuszko National Park in the east. The area includes box-gum woodlands, riverine forests and floodplains, and dry foothill forests. Land and water resources support diverse agricultural enterprises, including cropping, grazing, forestry, and horticulture. The area contains a highly fragmented network of box-gum woodlands, a nationally endangered vegetation community. This habitat network supports over 100 threatened species, and also provides the basis for broader landscape restoration efforts, including revegetation. S2S has undertaken a Conservation Action Planning process identifying seven priority landscapes within the project area to focus effort, with the anticipation that biodiversity outcomes will be maximised.