The December fires were the basis for the Indigo Valley Landcare Group, stagnant for years, to resume.

President Craig Cross said planting 300 trees on fire-hit land on Indigo Creek Road would be its first project.

“Following the fires, there’s been a bit of a push from the community to try and reinvigorate our local Landcare,” he said.

“A bushfire cleans everything out and people say, maybe I can do things differently, since I have to replace it.

“Farmers have lost tree belts, so we’ll get those in at various farms.”

Fellow member Emmerick Teissl said the project would be the first for a Landcare group in the Indigo Valley in about six years.

“We had about 30 people at the first meeting to talk about whether or not there was a need for it,” he said.

“We’ll help with design and how to plan for fires – it’s also a resilience project.”

Similar bushfire recovery projects have recently ended in the North East.

Beechworth Health Service community engagement officer Anna Mackinlay said workshops with families in Beechworth and Yackandandah, which received $37,000 from the Victorian Bushfire Appeal Fund, had been a major success.

“This word resilience kept popping up across schools and it aligned well with the findings of the bushfire royal commission,” she said.

“The project had two goals – being able to constantly protect our mental health, so that when those sorts of events of happen, we’re ready to deal with it mentally.

“The other aspect was bushfire preparedness for the children.”

While bouncing back from December was a major motivation for the Landcare group, Mr Cross said there was plenty more on the cards.

“We have events planned for September and want to build that community spirit back up again,” he said.

For more information on the group, email indigovalleylandcare@hotmail.com.