Collaborative action

Given its commitment to landscape-scale ecological protection and the development of community biolinks, it follows that Biodiversity Legacy (BDL) would also consider the plants and animals that depend on these landscapes and what more can be done to protect flagship and icon species.

And so this year, with the Rendere Environmental Trust, BDL agreed to host the start-up of a Threatened Species Action Hub, which will bring conservation organisations, local communities, government and non-government entities together to develop cross-sector, cross-discipline and cross-border initiatives to drive real improvements in threatened species recovery.

To this end, the BDL team is expanding to include a threatened species coordinator and a grants and partnership team who will leverage existing relationships with groups connected to the Ecolands Collective and a broad network of on-ground conservation organisations.

This work will align with and support Victorian Government programs such as the Icon Species Initiative and the Nature Fund, which supports high-impact projects aligned to the government’s Biodiversity 2037 goals.

In September 2024 the new team secured their first Nature Fund grant to establish a major initiative focused on reversing the decline of Spot-tailed Quoll (STQ) in Gippsland, Victoria.

The STQ is a culturally significant carnivorous marsupial with a historically wide distribution across Victoria. However, the population has declined dramatically over the past 30 years and monitoring suggests numbers continue to decline.

The 10-year project, which aims to identify pathways for STQ recovery in East Gippsland, will be delivered in partnership with Wildlife Unlimited and Odonata as a demonstration of BDL’s cross-sector, multi-agency and First Nations partnership approach.

Visit the Gippsland Spot-tailed Quoll Recovery program website to learn more.

It is anticipated that at least four icon species will be included in the action hub by the first half of 2025, with BDL teams working furiously behind the scenes to secure baseline funding.

BDL is also collaborating with organisations such as the Gippsland Threatened Species Action Group (GTSAG), which has a strong track record and decades of experience delivering on-ground conservation.

In 2024, the Rendere Environmental Trust supported the creation of GTSAGā€™s new website, which profiles local species, key threats and what actions landholders can take to protect them. GTSAG is also focused on building stronger biolinks by working directly with landholders and farmers.

Expect to hear more about the Hub in 2025!


Banner: Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby with thanks to Brett Mills.