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CVA Brookfield Nov 2013 - What We Accomplished

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Parent Category: South Australia
Category: Adelaide
Created: Tuesday, 19 November 2013 23:08

Conservation is a long term project that involves a variety of tasks which, when taken in isolation, may seem tedious, but when looked at over a period of time become an excellent accomplishment.

This CVA project represents a rare opportunity in that the research side requires only a couple of hours a day in the morning and evening leaving the rest of the day free for other activities including park maintenance.

On Tuesday, we sat down with Meryn to discuss what we all wanted to accomplish in our time at the park. We knew from our experience on Sunday and Monday that there were a few locations in the park that needed attention to so we decide to create a workplan.

There a few major concerns with regard to running a publicly accessed conservation park:

  1. Roads – Are they maintained to the point where the public can use them without driving off road?

  2. Vegetation – are invasive species spreading? Are there any vegetation hazards such as fallen branches?

  3. Fence – Is the perimeter fence intact and in good condition?

  4. Litter & waste

With this in mind, we made a chart (below) and drove the public tracks with a GPS to take stock of any current or potential issues

Site#

Easting

Northing

Distance

Road Condition

Vegetation

Fence

Notes

Work Completed

Site# was a general reference for prioritising tasks, Easting and Northing are GPS coordinates in UTM format (CVA's chosen format), Distance was from the start of the track. For road condition, vegetation and fence, we used a key to the specify the work required. The notes column contained any extra information about the work needed.

We ended up with 49 sites to attend to over the 30 kilometres of public roads, some with a one issue and others with a few issues, each requiring differing levels of work.

We prioritised the jobs by areas where there was potential for environmental harm due to road conditions, and where an invasive plant had been spotted in isolation or small numbers.

3 1 RoadworkTo attend to the road, we used gravel, local rocks and dirt to fill any potholes, wheel ruts or erosion points. We attended to 25 areas of the road. We also repaired one of the gate posts that had become loose.

Weeds are another story. There are 3 main species that we were monitoring for: Onion Weed (Asphodelus fistulosus), Horehound (Marrubium vulgare), Wild Sage (Salvia verbenaca). These are pastural weeds left over when this was an operating station. The weeds out compete the local indigenous plants removing food from the indigenous fauna.

3 2 weedingWe focused on areas where the weeds were in small patches or isolation in order to limit their expansion. There is an adage “One year of seed equals seven years of weed” and we take it to heart. In removing the weed we did our best to limit the spread of seed, sometimes removing the flowers prior to the roots. We also had to be mindful not to disturb the ground too much so as to limit erosion. By limiting the spread of these weeds, it enables conservationists to tackle the larger problem systematically, gradually reducing the areas that require monitoring. It's a long term problem that requires constant vigilance, and if attended to in a systematic way, provides greater results than just focusing on large infested areas. Over the course of our 8 days, we removed in excess of a dozen bags of weeds including a section of onion weeds 2 metres by 20 metres and Horehound along 200 metres of the roadside.

CVA takes part in Road Watch, a community based approach to keeping country roads clean. We attended to a section along the border of the property roughly 10 metres by 100 metres and removed 4 bags and a box of tin cans, broken glass, a sleeping bag, two LCD panels, strips of metal, various plastics from appliances, and dozens of strips of tire rubber.

When you start to look it becomes hard to believe people are so careless with how they dispose of rubbish.

On the last day, we took a drive around the park to practice landscape photography. As we drove, it became clear to us the extent of the work that we had accomplished. It reminded us that conservation is a long process, and while we couldn't solve every issue we highlighted, we attended to quite a few and were able to hand over a management plan that future groups would be able to utilise. Conservation is a combination of small small activities, seemingly in isolation, that amount to remarkable progress over years and it feels wonderful to have contributed.

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CVA Brookfield Nov 2013 - Pygmy Possum Monitoring Project

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Parent Category: South Australia
Category: Adelaide
Created: Tuesday, 19 November 2013 23:17

Lindell, the ecologist for the Pygmy Possum project arrived mid Monday morning and gave us our project briefing. Lindell has an extensive history working with animals. She tells a great story of her travels and of her work with company EcoKnowledge.

The Pygmy Possum (Cercartetus concinnus) Monitoring Project

Pygmy Possum Monitoring ProjectFirst, we would open up pre-established pit-fall trap sites. There are 3 sites in Brookfield that have been established for this and we will be using 2 of them. At each site there are 3 trap areas each containing 5 capped pits arranged in a cross. Each of these sites needs to be uncapped and a mesh wall erected with the aim to herd pygmy possums and other small animals to our pits when they encounter it.

We started by clearing rock markers and dirt from our capped pits, then using a mattock, dug a trench leading from the central pit to each of the exterior ones. We sunk metal rods next to each of the outlying pits and four around the central one. We then ran a length of mesh between the metal rods and buried the bottom part under dirt in our trench. We used some pegs to reinforce the wall at various distances along to prevent sagging.

The first two took us a bit of time as we learned what to do with the midday sun beating down on us, but the last four we whipped through having become confident with the design requirements and the skills required to set them up and a nice breeze to keep us cool. After we had completed all 6 pit traps, we headed back to our first traps to ensure that no reptiles had been caught while we were working.

Each morning, from Tuesday through Friday we left the homestead at 730am to check and close our pit traps. This consisted of looking in each of the traps, using a stick to disturb the leaf litter in the bottom to check for any life that isn't immediately obvious.

Measuring a DunnartEstablishing the species of a lizard

Over the four days of checking, we found the following:

1 x juvenile female Common Dunnart (Sminthopsis murina)

1 x adult male Common Dunnart (Sminthopsis murina)

2 x Butler’s Legless Lizard (Delma butleri)

2 x Nobbi Dragon (Diporiphora nobbi)

1 x Eastern Stone Gecko (Diplodactylus vittatus)

2 x Boulenger's skink (Morenthia boulengeri)

1 x common mouse (Mus musculus)

Lizard 2 4 Wolfspider

We also came across several spiders including a few variant Wolf Spiders.

For each of the dunnarts and lizards, we took measurements for Lindell's report. These consisted of the length of the head, head and body, and the tail, as well as their weight. We also checked each for gender, and if it were possible to discern, marked it appropriately. For each of these we also took photographs for further details. Once measured, we released them back into the environment nearby.

The spiders we set free.

After checking each pit trap we sealed it up for the day to prevent any of the daytime fauna from falling in.

Each day at 4.30pm we would return to our traps and uncover them for the next night’s trapping. This consisted of uncapping and checking each pit and making any repairs to the mesh wall.

After the last inspection on Friday we had to dismantle and close all the traps until the next study. This consisted of rolling up the mesh netting and collecting the metal rods and any pegs, then removing any leaf litter and dirt from the trap before conducting a final inspection of each pit to ensure it was empty prior to sealing it with a lid and burying it. Finally we marked each of the pits with rocks to enable ease of location at the next survey.

“Despite a noticeable increase in the number of western pygmy possums (Cercartetus concinnus) trapped last year, no individuals were trapped this year. This may be due to the time of year – nocturnal mammals were trapped in September/October of previous years, when there was significantly more blossom available. Western pygmy possums can travel up to 4.7km in a night in search of resources (Morrant & Petit 2012). Morrant et al. (2010) and Pestell and Petit (2007) also found capture rates of C. concinnus to decrease significantly when flowers were not available. Alternatively, animals may have entered into torpor during the cooler nights experienced during trapping period (~4.9-9.5oC), with temperatures considerably cooler than during the trapping period of 2012 (9.5-17oC).” Lindell Andrews

The Pygmy Possum Monitoring Project provided us with an excellent experience and taught us quite a bit about the principles and practicalities of animal monitoring. For volunteers a project like this teaches you about the patience required (while the data collected each time generates a report, that report cannot be taken in isolation) as environmental monitoring is a long term pursuit.

 

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CVA Brookfield Nov 2013 - A Volunteering Experience

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Parent Category: South Australia
Category: Adelaide
Created: Tuesday, 19 November 2013 23:27

In November, we attended an eight day project with Conservation Volunteers Australia. This is our second time at Brookfield with CVA and you can read about our first trip and a bit of history of Brookfield here.

This project was for Pygmy Possum monitoring and was also hosting a group from Carpe Diem, an association that provides gap year opportunities for young people in America.

Mallee ScrubCVA runs two locations for accommodation at the park, the Homestead and the Science Camp. We are staying at the Homestead, a cottage from when the park was an operating farm. There are 3 bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom, toilet, large lounge and sun room. The bedrooms have 3 beds each and swags are available for larger groups. Volunteers need to bring their own sleeping bag and pillow for any overnight stays. The Homestead is very comfortable.

The science camp is a permanent facility in the park to house the various project officers. Currently an American group is there studying the Blue Wren (Malurus splendens). The camp has a couple of permanent structures and while sparse, meets the needs of the researchers who stay there for a few months at a time. The science camp also has a number of areas available for camping when school or university groups visit.

CVA has begun making some permanent structures for tent accommodation and water capture with a priority for ensuring a low environmental impact.

When staying at Brookfield, everyone needs to chip in with food preparation and cleaning. There are no chefs or cleaning staff here (unless they're volunteers) but CVA supply ample food in good variety that should please most people. As we are in the bush, we need to be careful with our waste so as not to promote any pests. The homestead operates on rainwater and electricity is provided by a generator, meaning we need to use both resources sparingly.

Breakfast had a range of cereals, breads and spreads available, lunch had a great range of produce to make sandwiches, wraps or salads. The evening meal was always something hot and each night was different. We had burgers, pasta, curry, pizza, salads, stir fry, and BBQ. It was excellently catered for and included a range of gluten free, lactose, and vegetarian dietary requirements. If a volunteer has any dietary requirements, they just need to inform CVA when they are booking and their needs will be met.

There are plenty of options for drinking, including tea, coffee, juice, cordial and of course... rainwater.

CVA also take extra care to ensure the safety of their volunteers by providing an important safety briefing prior to commencing work each day, as well as the appropriate tools and instruction in their use.

Painted DragonJuvenileDunnart

The Volunteer Group

Terry (CVA, our team leader for Sunday & Monday) is a character. He has spent the last 30 odd years working for various conservation groups in Victoria and South Australia, including CVA SA State Manager. He is a wealth of information on the history, action and politics of the conservation movement in Australia and has a great way of inspiring a person to achieve.

Meryn (CVA, our team leader from Tuesday onwards) is a former Park Ranger with a great deal of experience in parks and conservation as well as an avid outdoors person and hiker.

Robbie (Cape Diem Education) is a team leader/educator, supervising his charges as they engage with a variety of activities on their gap trip. He is a traveller at heart and seems captured by the wonders of the world.

Anna (Cape Diem Education) is taking the gap year with Carpe Diem. Having just graduated from High School, she is exploring the world before deciding what to study.

The Volunteer Experience

Building Pygmy Possum TrapsOur days began with everyone rising early for a 7:30am departure to conduct the Pygmy Possum monitoring project.

When a mammal or reptile is found in one of the pit-fall traps, it was photographed, measured, identified, and recorded. We had trapped some Common Dunnarts and a few species of lizards.

We would usually return to the Homestead between 9 and 10am for an extended morning tea (breakfast for some).

Then came the day's conservation activities. For our group this involved collecting gravel and driving around the public tracks to fill potholes that drivers would avoid by going off track, subsequently increasing local erosion. As we moved through the park we would also pull up isolated weeds to limit their spread.

We would then return to the homestead around 1pm for lunch, although it is not uncommon for groups to take their lunch with them and eat in the field.

After lunch, we would return to the field for more road work, ensuring that we were back at the homestead by 4:30 to collect Lindell, our ecologist, to open the pit traps for operation. Once the traps were open we would return to the Homestead around 5.30-6pm to relax and prepare for dinner.

The evenings were free to relax and do as we please. Some nights, when the conditions are right, the group may head out in the van to go spotlighting and see what nocturnal wildlife can found.

Sunrise1 6 Landscape

When we left at the end of our 8 days, we felt very satisfied with what we accomplished. Conservation is not instantaneous, but the volunteer experience shows how over time each small contribution adds to the greater effect of making the world a better place. And that is a reward that is hard to buy. 

For more information about:

the Pygmy Possum Monitoring project click here

what the team accomplished click here 

1 7 Landscape1 8 Landscape

1 9 Landscape

 

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