The Australian Government’s Wild Otways Initiative was a three-year, $6M commitment of on-ground actions from 2020-2023 to improve the protection and management of threatened small mammals in the Otways, Victoria. In partnership with key land managers, Corangamite CMA delivered cross-tenure, threatened species management research and on ground works including habitat restoration works and pest animal control.
The Initiative took an ambitious approach to improving biodiversity values in the Otways by tackling land management issues that have significant detrimental impacts to the region’s natural values.
Five subprojects and 33 community projects supported the objectives of the Initiative: to protect and enhance habitat values and management of threats to support the recovery of EPBC listed fauna in the Otways.
Project activity occurred on the lands of, and in consultation with, the Wadawurrung people of the Kulin Nation and the people of the Maar Nation.
The Initiative was a cross-tenure, landscape-scale threatened species research and management project with partner agencies and researchers. Cross-agency partnerships between Corangamite CMA, Parks Victoria and the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) ensured that project research fed into land management agencies’ planning and operating procedures.
Knowledge was shared and training developed for feral animal control and monitoring; and hygiene protocols and treatment methods against dieback disease were delivered to community members, private landholders, agency and local government staff, Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation’s Gobata Dja team and the Eastern Maar Aboriginal Corporation staff.
A web portal to provide access to information on outcomes from each of the sub-projects is maintained as a legacy of the Initiative. Linkages between the sub-projects ensure landscape scale outcomes are achieved for conservation. This approach also ensures Great Otway National Park and Otway Forest Park land managers can maintain the Initiative’s legacy into the future.
Research and delivery partners included the Conservation Ecology Centre, Barbara Wilson Pty Ltd, Zoos Victoria, the University of Melbourne and Deakin University, Parks Victoria, DEECA, including Forest Fire Management Victoria, private landholders, wild game harvesters, Landcare networks, community members and groups.
In addition to the five core projects, the Initiative funded a $1M Community Environment Grants Program, supporting community driven investment to protect and restore native plants, wildlife and coastal environments in the Otways. Revegetation, weeding, pest animal control and stock exclusion fencing were some of the activities supported through this program. Learn more.
Duncan and Ian Sadler, along with the other 16 members of the Binnawee Cooperative, are reclaiming a degraded creek. Funded by a Wild Otways Initiative Community Environment Grant, the cooperative revegetated a 1.1km section of Wild Dog Creek in the Otways with 4,500 plants – trees, understory and ferns – after a careful process to select suitable cool temperate rainforest species, prepare the site and ensure ongoing maintenance.
The Australian Government’s Wild Otway initiative was a three-year $6m commitment to threatened species management and pest animal control in the greater Otways region that ran from 2020-2023. The Initiative delivered a Community Environment Grants Program and five commissioned sub-projects - pig and deer eradication, fox and cat management, Phytophthora dieback disease management, small mammal conservation and a rewilding project exploring the feasibility of translocations and reintroductions as conservation measures for threatened mammals in the region.
Findings from the sub-projects can be found on the Wild Otways Initiative web-portal. All data, findings and recommendations have been shared with relevant local land management agencies. for further information.
Or, please contact us.
The project area for the initiative covered the area from Jan Juc/Bells Beach to Peterborough, and the Great Otway National Park and hinterlands (Otways Region) in South West Victoria.
The initiative was delivered in the Greater Otways region of Victoria from 2020-2023.
View the Wild Otways Initiative e-newsletter archive below:
This project was funded by the Australian Government.
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PO Box 159, Colac, VIC 3250
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E: info@ccma.vic.gov.au
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T: 1800 002 262
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