AUGUST 2022

Bookings now open! – NGT’s 10th Anniversary Tour of the Fleurieu Peninsula: Saturday 8th October 2022

• the Washpool at Sellicks Beach (see photo above), one of the only intact coastal lagoons remaining in the Adelaide region and where we have been developing restoration plans in collaboration with the Kaurna traditional custodians and local community members;
• Yundi Nature Conservancy, an example of a critically endangered Fleurieu Peninsula Swamp where we have been assisting a private landholder with restoration planning and works;
• a Ngarrindjeri midden site on Sir Richard Peninsula, Goolwa, where traditional custodian Kyla McHughes will speak and we will explain our Goolwa Cockle monitoring program;
• our breeding facility for the nationally vulnerable Southern Bell Frog at Clayton.

Mighty Murray Crayfish Community Day:
Sunday 11th September 2022

The Murray Crayfish, second largest Crayfish in the world, will be showcased in a community field day at Barham, NSW on Sunday 11th September.

All are welcome to attend and learn about the biology and ecology, past research, genetics and population status of this iconic freshwater animal and watch Aquatic Ecologists from NGT's Aquasave team undertake Murray Crayfish field surveys.

The event will be held at the Barham boat ramp from 10am until 2pm...

Your chance to join the NGT team!
Field Ecologist / Technician and Field Crew employment pool

Are you passionate about the natural environment and our native species, or know someone who is?

Are you keen to build or extend your experience by working with our committed team of ecologists, joining our not-for profit, purpose driven organisation?

If so, then we'd love to hear from you!...

Southern Grampians volunteering

update and upcoming opportunities

Repairing the past at private land conservation sites – Part III – burning and culture

It has been six months since we last wrote to you about the ‘Repairing the Past’ project, so we have lots to report! You can catch up on previous posts from November 2021 and January 2022.

Several actions have gone ahead in leaps and bounds, with walks on country, burn plans completed, dam decommissioning commenced and burns undertaken on two properties during autumn this year...

The Rowan Swamp Restoration Trial gets underway just in time for winter 2022 flows!

Rowan Swamp hasn't yet featured in our monthly email newsletter, but over the past 18 months Nature Glenelg Trust has been busy undertaking an independent eco-hydrological assessment of the Rowan Swamp Wildlife Reserve, in partnership with Parks Victoria.

Rowan Swamp is an approximately 150 hectare wetland feature, situated near the township of Lake Rowan, in the Goulburn Broken CMA region about 40km north of Benalla.

The process of getting to know this site has involved an investigation of the history of the wetland and the changes that have occurred to its hydrology (i.e. water regime) since European colonisation...

Early Insights into the
hydrology of the Apsley Marshes

Water level and salinity loggers installed at the Apsley Marshes Ramsar Site on Tasmania's east coast, have now been out in the field collecting data for four months.

Loggers were downloaded on 11-12th August and monitoring sites surveyed (measuring their precise location and elevation) to allow us to compare relative water levels across the site.

A quick look at the data has provided us with some early insights into how both water levels and salinity vary across the site and in response to local rainfall, riverine inflows and tides...

South West (Vic) Eastern Quoll Hub – first steps in an exciting new partnership

In addition to NGT’s recently constructed 34 hectare (85 acre) safe haven at Mt Vandyke, Rhynie Pastoral’s Shepherds Hut Sanctuary is a fully operational 55 hectare (137 acre) safe haven situated at Maroona, east of the Grampians, that was fenced in 2016. Since then, the conservation outcomes which have emerged at this site have been incredibly positive.

Celia Tucker from Rhynie Pastoral explains what they have observed as this project has evolved:

“We released the first Southern Brown Bandicoots (Isoodon obesulus) in 2016 and Brush-tailed Bettongs/Woylies (Bettongia penicillata) in 2020. Both species are thriving and we have been fortunate to have the opportunity to introduce new genetics from time to time for both species...."

The Varroa Mite ‘cloud’ with a possible ‘silver lining’: Thinking about the wicked problem of biosecurity trade-offs on our island home

Mark often thinks about the biological dilemmas we face on this island continent we call home.

So much of what we consider to be unique about Australia – in terms of its biodiversity – is a by-product of its isolation over such a long period of geological time. Since Gondwana broke apart and Australia eventually separated from Antarctica 85 million years ago, this continent has been slowly drifting along alone, quietly minding its own business in the vast Southern Ocean.

If you are keen to learn how this story takes us from deep time to the current Varroa Mite outbreak on the northern NSW coast then...

Boosting the visibility and protection
of threatened freshwater fish

This story by Maiko is your chance to take a closer look at the national assessment of the conservation status of Australian freshwater fish.

To learn about why this work has been such an important task in response to the impacts of the 2019-20 bushfires that burnt large areas of southern and eastern Australia...

Turning passion for the environment into a career

NGT's Aquasave team and Landscape Board staff were recently involved as mentors in a Sustainable Futures Wetland Ecology workshop at the Investigator college, Currency Creek campus.

Investigator college year 12 student and school captain, Kane Cody, organised the event to show students pathways for turning their passion into a career...