Caring for our Country funding announced
Business plan 2009-10 competitive process successful projects
The table below lists projects funded through the Business plan 2009-10 competitive process within each state. Each state and territory also received base level funding for regional NRM organisations.
| National | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Funding recipients | Project title | Project description | Funding approved |
Birds Australia |
Woodland Birds for Biodiversity |
The project will use flagship threatened bird species to engage community and landholders in habitat protection. It will prioritise permanent protection of woodland habitat based on comprehensive data, instigate covenants and deliver an incentives scheme to improve woodland habitat management, prepare management plans for protected areas on private land, and undertake targeted threatened species recovery actions, threat abatement and landscape scale restoration trials, leading to increased landscape scale connectivity and conservation outcomes in the eastern temperate woodlands. | $1,500,000 |
Department of Primary Industries - Victoria |
Community implementation of biological control of weeds across south-eastern Australia |
Community participation in biological control programs has proven to be an effective method of speeding up the delivery of biocontrol. Building on the success of the national bridal creeper and Paterson's curse programs where farmers, community groups, schools and government agencies joined forces to release agents at thousands of sites across Australia, this project will focus on some newer agents which are not yet widespread across the range of weeds. Weeds targeted include Weeds of National Significance (blackberry, gorse, salvinia, boneseed, bridal creeper, bitou bush) and other invasive weeds such as English and Cape Broom that have a significant impact on key environmental assets in World Heritage areas. This four-state, multi-jurisdictional project addresses multiple Caring for out Country Targets by using a proven community-based model to implement biocontrol programs against nationally significant weeds the threaten biodiversity and natural icons, coastal and aquatic environments. | $2,176,448 |
Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre |
RHD Boost: Import and evaluate new RHD virus strains to strengthen rabbit biocontrol |
RHD Boost aims to identify new Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus (RHDV) strains with high lethality to rabbits immune to endemic Australian Rabbit Calicivirus (RCV-A1) and rabbits resistant to infection with Czech 351 derived RHDV strains. The project is a strategic response to the apparent rising genetic resistance to the RHDV CZ 351 strain released, and its limited effectiveness in temperate regions due to the endemic RCV-A1, which protects many rabbits from the RHDV strain. In Europe, new RHDVa strains are out-competing the original RHDV strains in the field and strongly suppressing wild rabbit populations in cooler, wetter regions. The project will evaluate new candidate RHDV strains. This includes screening to determine which candidate RHDV strains overcome rabbits with immunity to CZ351 derived RHDV and RCV-A1, and research to confirm the competitive advantage of the new candidate RHDV strains. A decision framework to optimise the impacts from releasing candidate RHDV strains will also be developed. | $1,515,000 |
Ninti One Ltd (Financial management company for The Desert Knowledge CRC) |
Feral camel management to increase biodiversity and cultural values in remote Australia. |
The target addressed by this proposal is to decrease the density of feral camels to <0.1 animals per km2 over their range. This proposal brings together for the first time all the relevant state and territory governments (SA, WA, Qld, NT), Aboriginal organisations across the four jurisdictions (land trusts, corporations and land councils), NRM boards, conservation groups, the pastoral industry, commercial interests and research organisations to protect identified refuges for biodiversity in northern and remote Australia that are under threat from feral camels. | $19,000,000 |
North East Catchment Management Authority |
Improving Landscape Scale Conservation of Threatened Grassy Woodland Ecosystems in the Greater Murray-Goulburn Catchment |
This project will manage threatened woodlands across three NRM regions in Victoria and NSW. It will:
It comprises an interstate partnership involving landholders, Landcare groups, Greening Australia, Trust for Nature (VIC), Nature Conservation Trust (NSW), state agencies (DECC, DSE, DPI), the Aust National University, and the Goulburn Broken, North East & Mallee CMAs, together with the Australian Government through Caring for our Country. |
$3,000,000 |
Northern Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance |
Indigenous partnerships for better management of Australia's remote northern coastal and aquatic environments - The Saltwater People Network |
The proposal brings indigenous communities and ranger organisations together with non-Indigenous experts to better manage remote coastal and aquatic environments in northern Australia. | $2,400,000 |
Northern Gulf Resource Management Group Limited |
Local Indigenous Solutions for a Global Problem in Northern Australia |
This proposal builds on the strong foundations and momentum of the multi-award winning Carpentaria Ghost Nets Programme (CGNP). This established network of Indigenous communities in northern Australia have reduced the EPBC-recognised threats to ecologically, culturally and economically significant wildlife from derelict fishing gear (ghost nets). The on-ground activities undertaken by Indigenous rangers have, to date, achieved great strides in removing the latent threats caused by ghost nets and establishing robust data regarding the abundance, distribution and impacts of this menace.
This project will:
|
$2,800,000 |
SA Arid Lands Natural Resource Management Board |
Understanding and managing critical refugia in the arid lands of central northern Australia |
Water bodies that are relatively permanent in the arid lands of central Australia are scarce, but critically important. They are habitats for aquatic biodiversity, and the only refuge during drought periods.
This project proposes to:
|
$713,834 |
Stop the Toad Foundation Inc. |
Reclaiming our country and protecting our biodiversity from the cane toad- using people power. |
This project proposes a package of actions to:
|
$204,000 |
University of Sydney |
Reducing the impact of cane toads on northern quolls and using pheromones to control cane toad tadpoles |
Although cane toads are highly toxic to predators that eat them, we have shown that quolls can readily learn to avoid toads; and are far more likely to survive in the wild as a result. We will build on these exciting results to develop methods that enable quolls to survive even in areas where cane toads are abundant. We will build new approaches for field-based delivery of aversion-inducing baits, and will evaluate the long term survival rates of quolls following such training. Research at the University of Sydney has discovered two pheromonal communication systems among cane toad tadpoles (one alarm pheromone, and one attractant pheromone) which can be used to selectively kill or capture the tadpoles. This project will investigate the compounds involved, develop methods to most effectively use them and develop ways to deploy synthetically-derived pheromones for toad control. The methods developed will be applicable on a landscape scale, and ideally-suited to community-group involvement. |
$621,000 |
World Wide Fund for Nature Australia |
A strategic regional plan in Australia's global biodiversity hotspot - Phase Two: on-ground implementation |
This project identifies new priority areas of national significance for conservation action in Australia's only international biodiversity hotspot. It utilises a data-rich, rigorous and defensible conservation planning process and a scientific framework strongly informed by experts.
The project:
|
$1,500,000 |