Welcome

With Autumn now in full swing, it’s the perfect time to get outdoors, enjoy the sunshine and volunteer on one of our many projects available across Australia and New Zealand.

The picture above shows a team of dedicated staff from Sovereign volunteering at the Shakespear Open Sanctuary – New Zealand’s most visited wildlife sanctuary, located on the picturesque Whangaporoa Peninsula. The sanctuary hopes to release the second-rarest kiwi species, the little spotted kiwi, within the next 18 months.

Are you looking for your next holiday destination? We’ve listed the top five Naturewise Holidays to inspire your next break. You can monitor bandicoots and owls in Victoria, help the wombats in South Australia or escape to Montague Island and assist with penguin surveys. There’s something for everyone!

Also inside we look at our 2013 year in review and celebrate the achievements of our volunteers, without whom the amazing results would not be possible. We thank you and so does the environment!

For information on projects near you, please visit www.conservationvolunteers.org or freecall 1800 032 501 (within Australia) or 0800 567 686 (within New Zealand).

In this issue:• ShakespearOpenSanctuary-NZ

• GenGreenProgram• VolunteerOpportunitiesinNSWandACT

• 2013-YearinReview• CVAinSouthernQueensland

• NaturewiseHolidays• FriendsofConservationVolunteers

March 2014

www.conservationvolunteers.org Freecall 1800 032 501 (Australia) info@conservationvolunteers.org Freecall 0800 567 686 (New Zealand)

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Shakespear Open Sanctuary, New ZealandShakespear Open Sanctuary is New Zealand’s most accessible and visited wildlife sanctuary with over 500,000 visitors per year. The 500 hectare sanctuary is located at the far end of the Whangaporoa Peninsula and is isolated from the adjoining mainland by a 1.75km long pest proof fence, creating a ‘virtual island’ free of pests. The sanctuary is now provisionally free of 9 out of 10 target pest species, with only mice remaining.

Achieving and maintaining the pest-free status is the priority task for the sanctuary. Supporting this is an active programme of plant pest control and habitat enhancement through revegetation. The Park’s nursery produces 13,000 plants every year from seed collected and grown by volunteers.

Teams of volunteers from Sovereign have made a very valuable and significant contribution to the Sanctuary over the past year. Conservation tasks have included pest monitoring, using tracking tunnels, removal of invasive weeds that threaten the habitat integrity of the open sanctuary, potting and weeding of native plant seedlings, and planting natives to help the revegetation of the park. All of these tasks play a vital part in achieving the ultimate goal - providing a safe home for NZ’s iconic bird, the much loved kiwi.

With the area safe from predators, the wildlife in the sanctuary, such as skinks and geckos, bellbirds, kakariki, and the endangered NZ dotterel, will have a chance to recover healthy populations. In addition, the park is proposing to reintroduce wildlife like the kiwi, pateke, robin and whitehead that can’t make it to Shakespear of their own accord. The first of these introductions will be NZ’s smallest and second-rarest kiwi species, the little spotted kiwi, which is planned to be released within the next 18 months.

For further information on how to join projects like this one, contact the Auckland office on freecall 0800 567 686 (within New Zealand) or email auckland@conservationvolunteers.co.nz

GenGreen Program Conservation Volunteers Australia’s Hobart office has recently undertaken a 10 week pilot program in partnership with Guildford Young College (GYC). GYC have a ‘Learning for Life’ module as part of their curriculum, designed to provide students with practical life skills.

Students completed a number of tasks at various locations within their suburban municipality during the program. They addressed the issue of invasive weeds by removing Boneseed from one of their community parks, and learnt seed propagation techniques in a local native community nursery. Students also planted native species along a wetland to increase native habitat for migratory and local shore birds, as well as undertaking marine debris collection and surveying along the banks of the Derwent River.

These tasks not only enabled students to learn practical skills, they also gained a broad knowledge about ecological problems in their local community. They realised how simple it can be to contribute to reducing impacts and also how detrimental some actions can be towards our environment. Students also learnt leadership, team work, occupational health and safety and communication skills. One of the students said “I feel like I have done something good for our future, our native plants and our wildlife”.

The GenGreen program was a success and as a result will be offered to students again in 2014. “Engaging students with their local environment and community has been something we feel quite passionate about” said Amy Bailey, CVA’s Regional Coordinator in Hobart. CVA is looking forward to continuing this great youth and community program in 2014.

Volunteers at NZ Shakespear Regional Park

Volunteer Opportunities in NSW and ACTA busy time indeed for NSW and ACT moving into 2014, with a myriad of volunteering opportunities!

On the South Coast of NSW, CVA, in partnership with Southern Rivers CMA and with funding from the Australian Government’s Clean Energy Future Biodiversity Fund, re-launched the highly successful South Coast Wetland Carers Network. The Network will provide education and support and capacity building to private landholders and community groups involved in managing coastal wetlands.

The network, run by CVA’s Adam Woods in partnership with Southern Rivers CMA and Wetland Care, will involve teams of volunteers to assist with on ground works to improve health and function across 32 identified priority wetlands.

CVA volunteers in Sydney will continue to help the threatened Red-crowned Toadlet at Bradleys Head, Sydney Harbour National Park. This diminutive frog is only found within the Sydney area and is threatened by human activities such as habitat destruction and pollution. CVA’s community and corporate volunteers have been tackling exotic weeds which have invaded the native woodland and are recognised as a key threat to the species at this site. This project has been welcomed with enthusiasm by partners from the National Park and the adjacent Taronga Zoo.

Our teams in Canberra are about to start on a mammoth mulching task for the Lindsay Prior National Arboretum, an outstanding national site on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin. Teams will be mulching around 50 tree species to prevent weed infiltration, enhance water retention, and maintain the biodiversity of the area.

For further information on these projects, please contact our Sydney office on (02) 9331 1610 or email sydney@conservationvolunteers.com.au

2013 - Year in ReviewAs we move into 2014, it’s great to look back and see just what volunteers can achieve. The highlights for 2013 are:

• Planted700,000stems

• Weeded1,400hectares

• Collected4.3tonnesofseed

• Collected70tonnesofrubbish

• Propagated85,000plants

• Maintained183kilometresofboardwalksandwalkingtracks

All of this was achieved by our dedicated volunteers, with a total of 60,000 volunteer days across Australia and New Zealand. What a year it was!

For more information on volunteering or how to get involved, please visit www.conservationvolunteers.com.au or freecall 1800 032 501.

The threatened Red-crowned Toadlet

The Capertee Valley volunteer team

Volunteers with tree seedlings

Printed on ecoStar 100% recycled paper

Naturewise HolidaysHere are our top five programs where you can give a little back to our local wildlife and experience some amazing natural areas.

Bring Back the Bandicoots is a new one day hands-on wildlife adventure on the outskirts of Melbourne city. You’ll help our environmental experts to set up traps, collect critical data on captured animals, and assist in their release back into the wild. While in Victoria, you can also travel to the foothills of the Victorian Alps for an owl monitoring project in an area of international significance.

In South Australia, we have a wombat conservation weekend, helping to protect the Southern Hairy-nosed Wombats at Brookfield Conservation Park. Heading north to South East Queensland, our Fraser Island program provides invaluable support for the island’s dingo population. Finally, one of our all-time favourites is the opportunity to work alongside NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service Rangers and assist with penguin surveys on the stunning Montague Island Nature Reserve. For more information on these and our Australia-wide programs, visit www.naturewise.com.au or freecall 1800 032 501.

Friends of Conservation VolunteersLooking for other ways to get involved? Join your local Conservation Volunteers Friends group!

Becoming a Friend provides you with the opportunity to support Conservation Volunteers in a range of other ways, including fundraising for projects or being part of special exclusive activities or ‘behind the scenes’ exclusive events on our Wild Futures projects.

To join your local Friends group, visit www.conservationvolunteers.com.au/friends for a list of offices near you.

To support Conservation Volunteers with membership, visit www.conservationvolunteers.com.au/membership

Releasing a Bandicoot into the wild.

CVA in Southern QueenslandTeams of volunteers from Southern Queensland have been carrying out some ‘heavy duty weeding’ on the outskirts of the beautiful city of Toowoomba on the Darling Downs.

They have been volunteering on two sites, one in Redwood Park near the bottom of the range with the Friends of the Escarpment group, clearing a major infestation of climbing asparagus and lantana, both of which are designated WONS – Weeds of National Significance. The rainforest here is a known habitat for the vulnerable Black Breasted Button Quail (Turnix melanogaster). The team were also very excited when they found an endangered orchid (Sarcochilus weinthalii) when removing the weeds.

The second site where the volunteers have made a huge impact with their action on weeds has been at Highfields at both the Wirraglen Scout Den and the Pioneer Village, in partnership with the Condamine Alliance. The effort here has been to remove privet, tree of heaven and celtis - hard work but a great result!

If you would like to join our teams in Southern Queensland, please contact the Brisbane office by email brisbane@conservationvolunteers.com.au or phone (07) 3399 5761.

Volunteers behind a huge pile of weeds