Posts from June 2011
Alice Springs Show – Roll Up! Roll Up!
It’s that time of year again folks. The Land for Wildlife coordinators will again be down at the show all of Friday and Saturday, so please come down for a chat and let us know how your property is going. If you’ve got friends who’d like to find out about Garden for Wildlife or Land
Rock Wallaby Workshop
On Saturday the Land for Wildlife Rock Wallaby and Habitat Regeneration workshop was held at Olive Pink Botanic Gardens. The weather turned on a ripper of a morning for us, and the workshop was well attended with 22 folks showing up, including new and old members alike. After a slightly late kick-off, the workshop went
Nightstalk 2011 – time to get your team together and scout a location
Nightstalk 2011 is rapidly approaching. If you haven’t heard about Nightstalk then you really need to head to the website and find out all about this exciting initiative. In summary, it is a chance for interested people around the country to survey the nocturnal wildlife in their area and submit this to a national database.
Fat-tailed False Antechinus found on LfW property in Alice Springs
There was a bit of excitement in the Land for Wildlife offices this afternoon. Another interesting native animal has been found in a mouse trap on a Land for Wildlife property. The beautiful photograph above shows the Fat-tailed False Antechinus found on a property out in Ilparpa. This is one of the group of carnivorous marsupials know as
Working Bee at Pitchi Richi Sanctuary
We received this invitation today from Domenico Pecorari at the Pitchi Richi Sanctuary. This is a great opportunity for any Land for Wildlife and Garden for Wildlife members to get down to one of Alice Springs’ historical institutions and lend a helping hand. For those who have never been for a visit, I can guarantee
Junior Rangers get set for feral dove trapping
Saturday morning was beautiful, cool, and clear – perfect for a workshop. Jesse and Chris headed down to the Alice Springs Telegraph Station for a feral dove trapping workshop with the Alice Springs Junior Rangers. Undoubtedly a highlight for many of the budding ecologists was…. pancakes for morning tea. What a way to start the workshop! An
The Devil’s Advocate – back to tackle all the thorny issues!
This just in from Jimmy at Arid Lands Environment Centre… they’re resurrecting their quarterly journal of all things sustainable and ecologically sensible – The Devil’s Advocate. This will be an exciting publishing destination for any aspiring writers out there with ideas for suitable material – and astute advertisers. Read Jimmy’s blurb below and then get
Black Kites on a Fire Front
Further to the last posting, here is some great footage of Black Kites doing what they do best on a fire line up near Katherine…
Fuel Reduction Burns at Simpson’s Gap
The Land for Wildlife Coordinators and other staff from Low Ecological Services were busy last week helping rangers and Bushfires NT with some controlled burns out at Simpson’s Gap. This was the culmination of some training begun with the Basic Wildfire Awareness course. Getting the practical experience with the various techniques and equipment in the volunteer
Calculate Your Footprint
There’s a lot of talk at the moment of “footprints” and how to reduce them. This has nothing to do with shoe size of course, but your ecological or carbon footprint. There are many ways to visualise your footprint and all of them make it easier to see ways in which you can reduce yours.
Responsible cat ownership.
The cooler weather has arrived and this brings a lot of changes. Most of the reptile life that Alice Springs is famous for has gone underground to sleep out the cooler months. The small birds and mammals that are nocturnal or less active during the hot summer days, are now much more active through the
Animal Welfare Week
Animal Welfare Week is approaching at the end of the month to raise awareness of caring for and protecting the Territory’s animals – pets and wildlife. The good folks at Animal Welfare have just released a program of events for the week which includes plenty of fun and educational activities, down here in Alice, for
Territory NRM Infonet – a great land management tool
This week the Land for Wildlife coordinators were invited to an information session about the Territory NRM’s very useful Infonet website. This is a tool which has uses for many people, from managers of very large properties, down to interested folks keen to get species information and maps for their favourite camping or birdwatching spots.
Brodifacoum – an interesting case study of when poison programs go wrong
An interesting and topical article has appeared in Nature this year. The article details a disastrous rat eradication program on an Alaskan island which resulted in the deaths of 420 birds including 46 endangered Bald Eagles. Click here to read the article. We have already warned of the potential dangers of using poison to control
Food for thought – the effects of Buffel Grass in the Sonoran Desert
Perhaps a biased piece of journalism but an interesting look at another community facing it’s own problems with Buffel Grass.
The value of botanical gardens – are we preaching to the choir?
Chances are, if you’re a Land for Wildlife/Garden for Wildlife member, you are already well and truly aware of the value of botanical gardens. With that in mind, there is a free podcast available from ABC Radio of a fascinating chat between Richard Fidler and the curator of the Mt Coot-Tha Botanic Gardens in Brisbane,
Black-footed Rock Wallaby Workshop – 25/6/2011, all welcome!
Environmental scientists and volunteers in the forests of Gippsland in eastern Victoria are currently experiencing the first glimmers of success in their battle to bring the Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby back from the brink of extinction. You can read about this by clicking this link. Here in Alice we have our own rock wallabies, not quite