Trainee update from Carnarvon

The 2021/22 La Nina has brought significant rainfall to the eastern seaboard of Australia, while the west has seen below average conditions. Here are some weather highlights from the first few months.

Join Chris and Alison Wilson in this webinar to discuss harvesting native Bluegrass seed at Carnarvon Station Reserve and rehabilitating degraded grasslands.

Rare native Australian grasslands have been given a new lease on life thanks to an innovative seed harvesting project at our Carnarvon Station Reserve.

When people think about bushfires, the temperature of the oceans don't always spring to mind. But these sea surface temperatures are one of the biggest culprits in driving the large landscape-scale fires that have been occurring across much of Australia in recent years, like the Black Summer bushfires of 2019-20.

Vital species live in Carnarvon Station Reserve’s endangered bluegrass grasslands. A new seed harvesting project is helping to ensure their survival in the face of climate change.

Ecologists at our Carnarvon Station Reserve in central Queensland have recently confirmed the existence of an endangered bluegrass species on the reserve.

Some thoughts on the Australian fire crisis and an update on Bush Heritage's fire control efforts by Richard Geddes, Bush Heritage Australia's National Fire Program Manager

Over the last few months Carnarvon has been a hive of activity and it’s hard to pick one or two highlights from what is a very long list. Certainly, a highpoint in recent times was meeting nine Bidjara Women, including Traditional Owner Keelan Mailman as well as a cousin of mine Aleysha who came to spend time on Carnarvon.

I first arrived at Carnarvon Station Reserve in mid-July, only a few weeks after accepting a PhD project, which is a collaboration between The University of Queensland, and Bush Heritage Australia.

Autumn marks the unofficial start to the volunteer season for our remote area reserves. Michael Uhrig, volunteer team leader from Currumbin Reserve, issues a timely reminder about the importance of being well prepared for remote area travel, following his experiences during summer caretaking at Carnarvon.

In 2008, the Northern Quoll was detected by camera trap on Carnarvon Station Reserve for the first time. Since then, some effort was made to find more quolls on the reserve, but with no luck. A recent sighting in the neighbouring national park and the purchase of 20 quality camera traps for the reserve has prompted a renewed effort to find this nationally endangered marsupial.

Bush Heritage, together with our charity partner, Flight Centre Foundation, is supporting Tash in undertaking a Certificate III in Conservation and Land Management as part of a full-time, work-based traineeship based on Carnarvon Station Reserve. Under the guidance of the Carnarvon Team, and with the support of the broader Bush Heritage Family, Natasha is undertaking work-based learning, practical skills training and formal accreditation in field work practices.

The University of Queensland's environmental volunteer group, the iROOS, enjoyed an amazing week at Carnarvon Station Reserve helping the resident ecologist, Bek Diete, with fauna surveys. It was well worth the long journey and has left us all glowing with gratitude for everyone who made it possible.

Students from The University of Queensland joined forces with our Central Queensland Ecologist to monitor large vertebrates on Carnarvon using soil plots and spotlighting.

Living on a remote reserve comes with many challenges and, believe it or not, leaving the reserve can often become one of the major ones – especially during wildfire season or leaving behind a menagerie of orphaned wildlife.

High up on the rocky sandstone range of Carnarvon Station Reserve, a dozen cameras wait like silent sentinels. Activated by movement, they snap away at the furred, scaled and feathered creatures that happen by: busy little pebble mound mice, an inquisitive rock rat, slow-moving freckled monitors, dingoes and flighty bronze‑wing pigeons.

A minor interruption to the Bush Blitz with 33ml of rain over the past two days but that hasn't stopped our scientists from heading out on foot surveying for new species of plants and animals.