Nature at Home activities and articles in Park Watch magazine

While we continue to navigate these challenging times together, we hope you and your family are staying safe and well and finding ways to connect to nature.

We are very much looking forward to running special Wild Families activities again, when the time is right. 

For now, we thought you would enjoy building up your nature knowledge at home by reading some interesting articles.

Park Watch magazine is the quarterly magazine of the Victorian National Parks Association. It includes articles on conservation issues across Victoria and celebrates the wealth of nature we have in our state. 

Check out some of the content with the family in the latest edition. 

Nature at home

While many Victorians find themselves back on Stage 3 restrictions, now is a good time to revisit ideas for enjoying and learning about nature at home.

Try one of the Wild Families ‘Nature At Home’ activities, such as creating an adventure book, making leaf art or watching birds, on page 40.  

Special Species – Magpies

Did you know Magpies can remember individual human faces and are highly social animals? 

You can read all about one of Australia’s most well loved birds, on page 36. 

The march of the Spider Crabs

Every year, through March to July, our southern coastal waters are visited by bizarre, alien-like crabs, coming together in their thousands. 

Read all about this extraordinary annual event and see a letter from Sir David Attenborough calling for a halt on fishing for Spider Crabs on page 32. 

Park Watch also boasts a range of other informative articles on nature conservation in Victoria for after the kids head off to bed. This includes articles on our ongoing work advocating for the protection of forests across the state, new Victorian threatened species laws, an opportunity to explore Coopracambra National Park from home, and a chance to test your knowledge on Victorian bushfire management with our quiz.  Read the full edition of Park Watch

Happy reading!

The Platypus Project

The Platypus Project aimed to address the lack of contemporary knowledge about platypus and blackfish populations by investigating the current distribution of platypus and blackfish throughout the upper Campaspe region using environmental DNA (eDNA). Environmental DNA (eDNA) is a non-invasive sampling technique that detects genetic material from a target species secreted into the surrounding environment (e.g. water).

The Platypus Project was a partnership between Upper Campaspe Landcare Network and Melbourne-based scientific research and environmental company EnviroDNA with funding provided by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP). Staff from Coliban Water and the North Central Catchment Management Authority (NCCMA) assisted as key partners.

The Project had a strong community engagement focus and included school visits, community talks, local radio and newspaper articles, as well as training and participation of local students and residents in the fieldwork to collect water samples and undertake river health assessments.

Senior ecologist and platypus expert Dr Josh Griffiths from EnviroDNA led the project and provided the technical knowledge and advice to Citizen Scientists participating in this Project.

The community engagement activities aimed to encourage local residents to take an active interest in the health of their local waterways and conservation issues.

The data generated will identify declines against historical information, where available, and provide a comprehensive baseline for future monitoring and direct management actions to improve the long term viability of platypus and blackfish populations.

The results will create a key planning blueprint for future waterway management and platypus conservation efforts in the region.

This information is crucial for conservation strategies and planning. The UCLN will work with local and state government, Catchment Management Authorities and the broader community to develop actions to protect these amazing monotremes.

Dr Josh Griffiths from EnviroDNA has recently published the end of Project Report entitled Mapping the distribution of platypuses and blackfish in the upper Campaspe region using citizen scientists and environmental DNA.

Please contact UCLN Facilitator, Rebekah Ritchie at ucln@uppercampaspelandcare.org.au or on 0432 491 789 to receive a copy of the Final Report.

Go to platypusSPOT on Facebook for more information (platypusSPOT is a citizen-science and community engagement platform to help improve the conservation status of the iconic platypus).

NOTE – portions of this article are direct extracts taken from the BACKGROUND – Mapping the distribution of platypuses and blackfish in the upper Campaspe region using citizen scientists and environmental DNA.

A big thank you to Stephen Derrick Editor, FriendsNET for the following articles!

Koalas could be extinct in NSW by 2050

A recent report by the Planning & Environment Committee of the NSW Legislative Council found, among other matters, that Koalas could become extinct in NSW by 2050 without urgent government intervention to restore habitat. The Koala population in NSW was already under great stress before the 2019-20 bushfires when at least 5,000 were lost.

The report, Koala populations and habitat in New South Wales, June 2020, makes sobering reading.

Inquiry into the problem of feral and domestic cats in Australia

Sussan Ley, Federal Environment minister has requested that the Standing Committee on the Environment  & Energy conduct an inquiry into the problem of feral and domestic cats in Australia.

The Committee is accepting written submissions, addressing one or more of the terms of reference, to be received by Thursday, 30 July 2020.  You can access information on the Inquiry HERE .

Pet and feral and cats are estimated to kill 1.5 billion native animals a year in Australia. You can read more about this problem HERE .