Page 2568 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 9 August 2016
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All 134 ACT schools have registered with the Actsmart schools program. It provides the following assistance to schools: resources such as best practice guides and curriculum units on the sustainable management of energy, water, waste and recycling, school grounds and biodiversity, and the integration of sustainability into the curriculum.
Staff give advice, conduct energy assessments, address school meetings and help establish student teams. There are also visits by qualified horticulturalists. Also schools receive advice in irrigation, plant selection, garden design to reduce water and energy consumption, keeping chickens, composting, and establishing food gardens.
Continuing to enhance the natural environment will be a focus for this government. The budget includes $350,000 for the construction of engineered log jams in the Murrumbidgee River system near Tharwa. These structures will improve the habitat of native fish species by deepening the river, in some cases by over a metre.
Our highly successful work in managing threatened species will continue throughout 2016-17. This year saw the reintroduction of the eastern quoll into Mulligans Flat Woodland Sanctuary in Gungahlin. Eastern quolls are carnivorous marsupials slightly smaller than domestic cats. The species was lost from the local region almost a century ago and from mainland Australia in 1922. It is a threatened species nationally. To date nine eastern quolls from Tasmania and a captive source in Victoria have made their home in the fox and cat-free sanctuary. Recent surveys by our research partners from the Australian National University confirm that female quolls have bred and are likely to have some young in spring. So over the next two years up to 64 eastern quolls are to be released into the sanctuary, with the aim of establishing a sustainable population.
Funding has also been provided to continue with the kangaroo monitoring program. We are expecting the results of the first trial of the hand-injected fertility drug GonaCon to be available at the end of 2016. Observations are showing that this program is already having success in managing the kangaroo population.
The successful ACT environment grants program, which has been funded annually since 1997 to provide financial assistance for community-based environmental projects, will continue in 2016-17. In 2015-16, $185,000 was allocated to community groups to deliver seven projects focused on restoring landscape, removing weeds, citizen science, improving riparian habitat, and engaging with youth and Aboriginal people.
It has now been over 12 months since the commencement of the revised Nature Conservation Act. During this time the government has implemented a number of actions which have improved the management of a natural environment in the territory. This included the appointment of a scientific committee which consists of experts in biodiversity, ecology, conservation science and conservation management to provide advice on the listing of threatened species and advice to the Conservator of Flora and Fauna during the development of draft action plans.
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