More than $1.25 million in funding for threatened species research

Published Tuesday, 11 July, 2023 at 04:15 PM

Minister for the Environment and the Great Barrier Reef, Minister for Science and Minister for Multicultural Affairs
The Honourable Leanne Linard

  • The Palaszczuk Government will invest more than $1.25 million in 11 projects to help improve the conservation and recovery of Queensland’s threatened species
  • The projects include the protection and conservation terrestrial and marine threatened species

Queensland’s threatened species will benefit from eleven research projects to improve their conservation and recovery.

The Palaszczuk Government will provide more than $1.25 million for the projects under its Queensland Threatened Species Research Grants program.

Grants of up to $150,000 will support research projects that will improve our understanding of Queensland’s threatened flora and fauna species and assist with their recovery in the wild.

This includes new methods on the distribution and abundance of threatened species, and ways of improving monitoring of threatened species and mitigating threats.

Projects include research on bilbies, whale sharks, grey nurse sharks, freshwater sawfish, spectacled flying fox and threatened plant species and communities.

These projects will help safeguard the future of Queensland’s threatened species, and the funding is an investment towards protecting the state’s biodiversity.

Quotes attributable to the Minister for Environment and Science Leanne Linard:

“The Palaszczuk Government is committed to protecting and conserving our threatened species of animals and plants.

“This funding of more than $1.25 million will be directed at some of our most iconic and vulnerable animals such as the bilby and grey nurse sharks.

“The recipients are either universities or environmental organisations with vast experience in conducting critical research into our threatened species.

“I’d like to congratulate the recipients of the eleven projects, and I look forward to seeing the outcomes and how they will assist our threatened species.

“The Palaszczuk Government is investing significantly to enhance and protect our environment across the state, and we will improve our biodiversity and protect our ecosystems for future generations.

“We have an ambitious environmental agenda, and providing funding through our Community Sustainability Action grants and our Queensland Threatened Species Research Grants is a game-changer.”

Quotes attributable to Sharks And Rays Australia Director and Principal Scientist, Dr Barbara Wueringer

“The funding will allow us to continue and expand our collaborative research with Indigenous Land and Sea rangers.

“We have completed a three-year project into freshwater sawfish, and we can now track juvenile sawfish to determine how they’re using the rivers in the Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park (CYPAL).

“This is not just a tracking study however, it is a community project of discovery, because we believe they leave their freshwater habitat when they mature.

“The freshwater sawfish can grow up to seven metres long, and used to be common along Queensland’s east coast, from the tip of Cape York to Brisbane.

“The Brisbane River once was a pupping ground for the freshwater sawfish, and unfortunately on the east coast their range is now limited to rivers within the Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park (CYPAL).”

Further information:

Full list of grant recipients:

Organisation

Location

Project Description

 Funding

Artemis Nature Fund Inc

Chidna Station, near Gunpowder, north of Mount Isa.

This project aims to develop effective habitat management models for Carpentarian Grasswrens, Gouldian Finches and Purple-necked Rock-wallabies on Chidna Station, North-Western Highlands.

$149,821

Australian Wildlife Conservancy

Coorabulka Station, near Boulia

This project aims to implement a monitoring program to conserve priority threatened species the Plains-wanderer, Greater Bilby and Kowari on Coorabulka Station.

$145,045

Biopixel Oceans Foundation Limited

Great Barrier Reef off Port Douglas

This project aims to determine the significance of the whale shark aggregation in Wreck Bay and the far northern Great Barrier Reef.

$90,000

Bush Heritage Australia

Central Queensland - Edgbaston Reserve Nature Refuge, near Aramac

This project aims to develop standardised methods for Great Artesian Basin spring-dependent threatened species and communities to determine and implement standard monitoring frameworks for a minimum of 25 species endemic to the area.

$149,294

James Cook University

Townsville, Charters Towers, Hinchinbrook, Tully, Atherton Tablelands, Cairns and Daintree regions.

This project aims to collect and assess data on 48 vulnerable to critically endangered plant species and develop state-of-condition reports or population summaries for use as baseline information for ongoing ecological research on each species. 

$82,500

Save the Bilby Fund Ltd

South West Queensland pastoral stations and Currawinya National Park

This project aims to collect data on the density of wild Bilbies and their key threats (cats, red foxes and canids) in three study areas in South-West Queensland.

$149,660

Sharks and Rays Australia Research Ltd.

Cape York - Normanby River, Rinyirru National Park and Lakefield

This project aims to identify distribution, occupancy and demography for the East Coast Freshwater Sawfish population in Normanby River catchment area.

$149,240

South Endeavour Pty Limited as trustee for South Endeavour Trust

West of Cooktown and Cape York Peninsula

This project aims to collate new information from eight key Ghost Bat locations, to assess the population viability and to assist in future management of a cluster of colonies in Far North Queensland.

$104,826

University of Queensland, School of Veterinary Sciences

St Lucia

This project aims to develop a mitigation strategy for the leading threat to the health and survival of the endangered Spectacled Flying Fox.

$78,297

University of Southern Queensland

Crows Nest,  Ipswich and Lockyer Valley

This project aims to contribute new knowledge on the New Holland Mouse within South-East Queensland and develop mitigation strategies for key threatening processes.

$40,257

University of the Sunshine Coast

Wolf Rock (near Double Island Point), Great Sandy Straight, Agnes Waters and Moreton Bay

This project aims to collate and catalogue existing data and re-survey Grey Nurse Shark populations at aggregation sites of Wolf Rock and Flat Rock to assess population trends and dynamics, including estimations of population growth and mortality.

$116,670

More information about threatened species and the Queensland Threatened Species Research Grants program is available at: https://www.qld.gov.au/environment/plants-animals/conservation/threatened-wildlife/threatened-species

ENDS

Media contact: Scott Chandler – (07) 3719 7339