Archive for the ‘WIldlife Conservation’ Category

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Can wildlife tourism make money and also help conserve wildlife?

July 29th, 2010 by Ronda

One of the reasons I personally went into ecotourism was to provide governments, developers etc. with an economic reason for preserving wildlife and its habitats (my other main reason was to share my enthusiasm with others for the wonderful diversity of wild creatures and wild places on this planet, and hopefully in so doing  to deepen their understanding of the same, and appreciation of their intrinsic non-monetary values).

One of the positive benefits of wildlife tourism towards tourism conservation has long been identified as the potential for donations towards conservation, from  tourism operators, their guests and perhaps local businesses and governments that directly or indirectly benefit from the tourism dollar.

But to give we need to also receive -  at least   enough to keep giving without going broke.    And tourism operations that make non-financial contributions (e.g. habitat restoration, quality interpretation, conservation-breeding) have to make enough to survive.  It also helps if the local community benefits, and  continues to support their efforts.

Can all this happen, either at an individual operator level or a regional level?

regent bowerbirdOne of Australia’s best-published economics researchers (amongst the top three in the country according to Wikipedia) – Clem Tisdell -  has conducted many studies on the economics of wildlife tourism in Australia and elsewhere, including amongst many other topics rainforests and glow worm caves in Southeast Queensland,  Antarctic voyages and an elephant orphanage in Sri Lanka. Apart from individual studies he has provided a number of very useful and wide-ranging review papers.

We will have a chance to hear Professor Tisdell’s latest information and advice at the Wild Benefits conference to be held at the Gold Coast 1st to 3rd September 2010, and it will be a great opportunity to ask him questions (and listen to his answers to the questions of others, both immediately after his presentation and at other times during the conference).

This is the third national wildlife tourism conference to be held in Australia. There are day registrations and student registrations available, ad the earlybird discount registration is open until the end of July.

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Posted in Tourism and wildlife conservation, WIldlife Conservation, Wildlife Events - meetings, conferences, displays etc, Wildlife tourism | No Comments »


Scenic Rim Wildlife group

April 20th, 2010 by Ronda

We now have our pages on the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland website: http://branches.wildlife.org.au/scenicrim

Briefly, recent events have included wildlife displays at a Rare Plants Fair at Bromelton House at Gleneagle (near Beaudesert) and at the Rathdowney Heritage Festival, and talks to students of Woodhill Primary School.

Coming events include a wildlife display and children’s activities at the school fete at Woodhill (Saturday 22nd May), a  public get-together at Beaudesert on that evening (wildlife of Africa, discussion of daily and seasonal movement needs of Scenic Rim Wildlife, discussion on becoming a formal branch, and general socializing with free drinks and nibbles), the on-going Great Wildlife Discovery Challenge, and the Wildlife Expo in Beaudesert in July

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Posted by Ronda Posted in WIldlife Conservation, Wildlife Events - meetings, conferences, displays etc, Wildlife of the Scenic Rim and Border Ranges | No Comments »


Wildlife Queensland branch to be started in Scenic Rim

September 25th, 2009 by Ronda

Ronda and Darren from Araucaria Ecotours have been active in starting a new group in the Scenic Rim with the hope of forming a Scenic Rim branch of the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland (often abbreviated to Wildlife Queensland).

The Scenic Rim, southeast Queensland, is a very diverse area with a rich variety of fauna and flora species. We will be holding talks, discussions and outings over the next few months (and hopefyully years)

Our major theme over the coming months will be that animals have to move – whether daily, seasonally or as the need arises. Some find this easy, others have many problems, such as lack of approriate corridors, disappearing habitats, new roads, feral predators and other barriers to safe movement.

Anyone interested in joining this group should contact Ronda

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Posted by Ronda Posted in WIldlife Conservation, Wildlife of the Scenic Rim and Border Ranges | No Comments »


Grant for protecting rainforest restoration on the Araucaria property

December 20th, 2008 by Ronda

Last year we received a grant from the former Beaudesert Shire Council (now part of the Scenic Rim Regional Council) to erect a long electric fence on our property to separate the rainforest regeneration area from the horse-grazing area. Hoofed animals and habitat restoration don’t generally go well together in Australia, and horses (like cows and sheep) eat some plants, trample others, cause erosion on steep slopes and bring in the seeds of weeds.
Our regeneration project will help to protect the edge of the rainfrest of Mt Chinghee National Park and improve the corridor for animals from there to our forest remnant by the creek, as there are only a few parts of the national park which extend down to the water’s edge.

We have isolated 20 plots which we have cleared of weeds alternating with 20 from which we haven’t, and will be noting how soon each starts harbouring new rainforest plant species. We did some baseline bird and butterfly surveys and mammal trapping in early 2008, and this will continue over the next few years or decades to monitor changes in biodiversity and density of populations as the regeneration proceeds. If the movement of pollinators and seed dispersers is enhanced, this should also help to speed the return of our slopes to something approaching their original diversity. Additional habitat for the black-breasted button-quail and other relatively uncommon or threatened species on the property should benefit also.

The grant money helped us to buy the materials and to employ Jason Taylor of Beaudesert to help clear weeds from the experimental plots and from the line through which the fence was to run, and assist with the erection of the fence itself. The electricity is supplied by a photovoltaic cell, so the whole setup is environmentally sustainable, and our only maintenance is the checking of the battery box and clearing any vegetation that threatens to short-circuit the system.

working on the fence to protect our rainforest regeneration

Jason and Darren working on the fence to protect our rainforest regeneration

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Posted by Ronda Posted in Habitat Restoration and wildlife corridors | No Comments »


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