Our community conservation teams have been out in force in Beeliar Regional Park this year, helping the City of Cockburn plant native species and remove invasive weeds around Bibra Lake.
Carnaby’s Cockatoos breed mainly in the inland agricultural areas of southern Western Australia, but they generally move closer to the coast from early summer to autumn. Their main remaining food source and roosting areas are on the Swan coastal plain in banksia and eucalypt woodlands, with Bibra Lake being an important nesting site for these cockatoos within the metropolitan region.
Invasive weeds are one of the largest threats to important habitat remnants, such as Bibra Lake, with introduced species being responsible for destroying native habitats by outcompeting the native vegetation.
One such invasive species is the Castor Oil, with large groves taking over the lakes banks, which are home to a variety of native mammals, reptiles and is an extremely important site for both native and migratory birds. Over two days in May, volunteers removed an incredible 6,075 square metres of dense Castor Oil, fighting off thorny Spear Thistle and collecting 18 kilograms of litter as they went.
The City’s Environmental Officers and bush crew were delighted with the volunteers’ efforts, commenting on what the large and passionate volunteer team were able complete in one day when it should have taken them a week. The Castor Oil Battle of May 2018 will forever be remembered by our volunteers, who, when asked if they would come back to help in the continuing war on weeds around Bibra Lake said, “Bring it on!”
Your very generous donations continue to allow us to engage the community in local conservation initiatives. We’d like to thank you, and all our supporters and volunteers who are passionate about making a difference for the local environment and our endangered native species. Further donations will allow us to continue this important work – please help us if you can.
Links:
It’s been a year of challenges and positives in threatened species recovery at Woodlands Historic Park. The biggest challenge we currently face is the reduction in grasslands habitat at Woodlands, which has come from various fronts. It has been a very dry year, especially in the last six months, where we’ve only had three decent rainfall events during that period. This type of grassland is classified as summer growing, so without that extra rain the plants have stagnated. On top of that, grazing pressure within the site has continued. Without the rain the kangaroos, possums and rabbits have severely reduced the height of the grasses, which is the preferred nesting area of the bandicoot.
Ultimately this impacts the available habitat for bandicoots and causes a reduction in their numbers. The Eastern Barred Bandicoot breeds to their conditions, only producing offspring when there is enough food and available nesting areas. Thankfully we have plenty of food for the bandicoot, but without suitable grasslands, we have seen a population reduction. This, however, is not seen as a negative as it shows they are naturally adapting to the environment. On the positive side, during our last monitoring session the animals were all in good health and were caught from all areas across the entire site. As soon as we see an improvement in the habitat the bandicoots will react swiftly and increase their population.
To further assist with the health of the grasslands, our volunteers have been tackling a major weed onsite, the serrated tussock. This is an invasive grass species of significance in Victoria. Our teams managed to spray over 100 hectares, which frees up space for the native grasses to grow. They have also mapped and destroyed small rabbit warrens over the same area. This mapping was then used to follow up with heavy machinery to destroy the larger warren systems, which has made a significant dent in the rabbit population. Volunteers have also been busy continuing with our regular fence patrols and maintenance, revegetation, monitoring surveys, bait ball making and track maintenance.
With the recent addition of Philip Island alongside our Woodlands and Hamilton locations, we are working for a common goal through the Eastern Barred Bandicoot Recovery Teams plans. The goal is to have 2,500 bandicoots in total across all sites to secure genetic diversity for the species. Currently we are half way towards our target with around 1,200 animals across all three sites. There are more sites being constructed and we hope to achieve our goal by around 2020. This will be a huge achievement as it will bring the bandicoot down from extinct in the wild to critically endangered. It doesn’t mean our job is done but achieves our first goal on this long road to recovery, and means we are heading in the right direction towards securing a future for the bandicoot.
Links:
Our volunteers have been busy assisting the team at Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary to care for their devils, through cleaning enclosures and habitat enrichment. It’s been as special time as all of the devils at Bonorong have their own unique personalities and our volunteers have really enjoyed getting to know them all!
Bonorong is a long-term partner of CVA and they do wonderful things for Tasmanian native wildlife. We are pleased that we can support them, as they provide a safe haven for devils who have been injured and are unable to return to the wild, as well as devils who have been retired from the captive devil breeding program. Keeping devil enclosures clean and providing them with interesting activities to keep their minds occupied, is key to their wellbeing in captivity.
Over the past 3 months, we’ve had people from all over the world volunteer with us at the Sanctuary - we’re really pleased that we’re spreading the devil conservation message across the globe! Our conservation efforts have been further supported through our very generous GlobalGiving donors, and we’d like to say a huge thank you for providing valuable support for our precious devils, and allowing us to continue to help with the protection of this iconic species.
