“They can build their own little nests underneath the pallets and we’ve got two pallets next to each other so that they have multiple exits and entry points. That way they’re not stuck if a predator wants to come in.”
Creating the refuges with recycled material has allowed Tenaya to save a lot of money on her project. The fence posts and corrugated iron were salvaged from Eurardy and Hamelin, Tenaya’s PhD supervisor provided the shade cloth, and the pallets were sourced via Facebook.
“I just did a call out for materials and one of my friends was like, ‘Yeah, I've got 50 pallets.’ I was like, ‘Oh, beauty. Mine.’ And I didn’t have to pay for it and they’re brand spanking new, which was great.”
The money Tenaya has saved by using recycled materials can now be spent on fieldwork, monitoring and equipment for the remainder of her PhD.
But saving money by recycling was just one benefit. Recycling and repurposing common materials was also key to the aims of Tenaya’s project: to make the science accessible.
“I tried to keep it as simple as possible because I really want to make it easily replicable for anyone, not just conservation scientists or ecologists,” says Tenaya. “If you’ve got a property and want to support native wildlife then this is the kind of thing you can do easily.”
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If you'd like to follow Tenaya's research you can find her on Twitter at @Talk2tt182