Join us for our new series of live webinars, coming directly to you from our team in the field. Each week we’ll explore one project in-depth and discuss what effective conservation looks like on the ground.
Previous episodes available to stream online...
Australia’s Amazing Bats with Oli Aylen| 25/10/2023
Oli Aylen is an ecologist and bat researcher whose work has taken him around the world, from the cloud-forests of Costa Rica to the jungles of Borneo. Now he’s embarking on a PhD looking at bats in the Australian arid zone, and whether the presence of large-scale conservation reserves is having an effect. Oli was the 2022 recipient of an Ecological Society of Australia grant awarded in support of this project.
Working with Wombats with Andy Howe| 31/05/2023
The Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat is the world’s largest burrowing marsupial and one of Australia’s rarest mammals. Over the past two years, Australian Wildlife Conservancy has joined the Queensland Government and partners to help study the species and grow the population. Senior field ecologist Andy Howe shares the latest from his experience working with these remarkable animals.
Australia’s home-grown Easter icon is the Bilby, a long-eared burrowing marsupial found across a broad sweep of Australia’s arid regions. In nearly 20 years of reintroductions, Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) has re-established six populations of Bilbies within our network of safe havens and at partnership sites. AWC Wildlife Ecologist Dr Aly Ross talks about her PhD on Bilby-predator interactions and AWC’s 2023 Bilby Census results.
Ecologist Emily Rush is on the hunt for one of Australia’s least-known frogs. For over 20 years, the Magnificent Brood Frog was known only from a small number of sites in upland forest of the Atherton Tablelands, North Queensland. Further to the south, AWC’s Mount Zero-Taravale Wildlife Sanctuary has now been identified as a southern stronghold for this elusive threatened species.
Science in the remote Kimberley with Dr Skye Cameron | 01/02/2023
Australian Wildlife Conservancy conducts a large-scale field ecology and conservation program in the Kimberley, one of Australia’s great wild landscapes. Dr Skye Cameron runs the science program, with a busy year ahead despite the impact of recent floods.
Research & Rewilding at North Head
AWC Ecologist Aiden Wright & PhD Candidate Angela Raña | 25/08/2022
Situated just 8km from the CBD of Australia’s largest city, North Head protects significant areas of intact coastal banksia scrub, home to honeyeaters, frogs and echidnas. AWC ecologist Aiden Wright studied the genetics of the burgeoning population of native Bush Rats at North Head and is passionate about the reintroduction of ‘common’ species to help restore urban ecosystems. PhD candidate Angela Raña made headlines in 2021 with her innovative research project – deploying specially designed habitat pods to assist wildlife in the aftermath of bushfires.
Bilbies and Bettongs Bounce Back
Regional Ecologist Helen Crisp | 24/06/2022
A busy period of translocations over May and June saw marsupials airlifted from sites around the country, as progress continues on one of Australia’s most significant rewilding projects. After the latest releases, the tracks of Bilbies and Burrowing Bettongs have reappeared on the sand dunes at Newhaven Wildlife Sanctuary, marking a major milestone in the restoration of Central Australia’s biodiversity. The burrowers are back!
A Giant Leap Forward for Conservation
CEO Tim Allard & NAPCo CEO Allan Cooney | 29/04/2022
Throughout our thirtieth year, Australian Wildlife Conservancy has been celebrating scaling up effective conservation. Working across more than 6.5 million hectares, AWC’s science-based model is already providing hope for wildlife across the continent. This month, we’re excited to launch a new initiative which represents a giant leap forward for conservation in Australia. To announce the project, Joey Clarke was joined by AWC Chief Executive Tim Allard, and CEO of North Australia Pastoral Company (NAPCo) Allan Cooney.
The secret lives of Purple-crowned Fairy-wrens
Dr Anne Peters & Dr Niki Teunissen | 11/03/2022
For more than 15 years, a team of scientists led by Professor Anne Peters of Monash University has been studying a population of the Purple-crowned Fairy-wren, one of northern Australia’s most exquisite birds. Their wide-ranging project has uncovered fascinating details about the fairy-wrens’ complex lives. Post-graduate Research Fellow Dr Niki Teunissen has studied and lived among the fairy-wrens, and will share some of the latest findings.
Around the traps in the Kimberley
Larissa Potter & Joe Porter | 24/06/2021
Across the vast savanna woodlands and rugged gorges of the Kimberley, a bumper La Niña wet season has spurred an explosion of plant and animal life. Fresh from the latest round of wildlife surveys at Charnley River-Artesian Range Wildlife Sanctuary, field ecologists Joe Porter and Larissa Potter will dial in to tell us about some of highlights from around the traps this year, including a new record of one of Australia’s rarest reptiles.
Scaling up conservation
CEO Tim Allard | 17/06/2021
Despite the incredible challenges of the past year and a half, AWC has maintained a steadfast commitment to our conservation work. Chief Executive Tim Allard will discuss how we’ve delivered big wins across our key programs – fire management, feral animal control, wildlife reintroductions, and science – and how we’re scaling up in all of these areas. Recognising that this is a time to pull together to conserve the natural world, we’re strengthening our partnerships and collaborations and forging new relationships that have the potential to transform conservation in Australia.
Genetics for conservation
Dr Jenny Pierson | 10/06/2021
AWC manages populations of some of Australia’s rarest species; both in wild, unfenced landscapes and in our network of fenced safe havens. Dr Jennifer Pierson conducts the genetic analysis that underpins AWC’s rewilding programs around the country. In this conversation, she will explain how understanding population genetics is a critical part of the science behind rebuilding healthy and resilient wildlife populations of species like Bilbies, Woylies, and Red-tailed Phascogales.
Reintroductions beyond the fence
Raquel Parker | 27/05/2021
For three decades, AWC has been working to rebuild populations of threatened and locally extinct mammal species within a national network of large-scale, feral predator-free fenced areas. Outside of these safe havens, pioneering research into cat and fox ecology has given us new tools for monitoring and managing these species. The next step is a bold reintroduction of two species outside of the fence at Mt Gibson, an operation which has kicked off this month.
Monitoring Northern Bettongs
Dr Manuela Fischer & Johnny Murison | 20/05/2021
AWC ecologists are working with Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service and Traditional Owners to monitor the last remaining populations of Northern Bettongs in the wild, gathering data which will be critical for the success of a planned translocation and the ongoing conservation of one of Australia’s most endangered mammals.
Kimberley burning program
Strath Barton | 13/05/2021
Strath Barton is coordinating AWC’s massive prescribed burning program across more than 6 million hectares in the Kimberley. After a bumper wet season, burning is well underway. Strath will give us a live update from Charnley River-Artesian Range Wildlife Sanctuary.
Kimberley Wildlife Discoveries
Dr Karen Young | 05/11/2020
In the remote Kimberley of north-western Australia, AWC works across an area as big as Denmark, including AWC sanctuaries and partnership projects. Our team of ecologists has carried out wide-ranging wildlife surveys and made some exciting discoveries in 2020. Wildlife Ecologist Karen Young shares some of this year’s highlights.
Chief Operations Officer
James Hewitt | 29/10/2020
As AWC’s Chief Operations Officer, James Hewitt oversees our hard-working operations and land management teams right across Australia. We’ll discuss how new partnerships mean the AWC model is now being applied across 6.5 million hectares. It’s conservation on a grand scale!
Scotia Wildlife Sanctuary
Tali Moyle & Hamish Longbottom | 22/10/2020
After several years of drought in western NSW, Scotia Wildlife Sanctuary has finally received some rain in recent months, which has triggered a flurry of wildflowers and birdlife. Wildlife Ecologist Tali Moyle and Sanctuary Manager Hamish Longbottom gave an update from the sanctuary, which is the site of one of AWC’s longest running mammal reintroduction projects.
Monitoring plants and vegetation
Jeanette Kemp | 15/10/2020
AWC Wildlife Ecologist Jeanette Kemp is a botanist leading our national effort to catalogue and monitor the huge diversity of plants and vegetation communities that are protected at AWC sanctuaries and partnership projects.
Northern Bettong Reintroduction Project
Felicity L’Hotellier | 17/09/2020
AWC has committed to return the endangered Northern Bettong to the tall eucalypt forests of Mt Zero-Taravale Wildlife Sanctuary in North Queensland. Felicity L’Hotellier is AWC’s Senior Field Ecologist on-site, where this important project is taking shape.
A global perspective on biodiversity
Professor Thomas Lovejoy | 10/09/2020
Professor Thomas Lovejoy is one of the world’s most distinguished conservation biologists and a founding member of AWC’s Science Advisory Network. He has worked in the Amazon for over five decades, and popularised the term ‘biological diversity’. Lovejoy is a long-standing part of the AWC family and has visited sanctuaries in the Kimberley, the Top End, Cape York, Central Australia and the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Conservation in Australia
Professor John Woinarski | 03/09/2020
Professor John Woinarski is one of Australia’s pre-eminent conservation biologists, with a career spanning four decades in biodiversity research, policy and management. He co-authored the Action Plan for Australian Mammals which guides much of AWC’s work with threatened mammal species. John joined AWC’s Board of Directors in 2020.
The Pilliga Project
Wayne Sparrow & Dr Greg Holland | 27/08/2020
Representing a landmark collaboration between AWC and the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (as part of the NSW Government’s Saving Our Species program), AWC’s work in the Pilliga helps protect a vital piece of habitat for Australia’s threatened species. Already a refuge for a suite of wildlife, the Pilliga project area is now the site of an ambitious reintroduction program of at least six locally extinct mammals. Operations Manager Wayne Sparrow and Acting Regional Ecologist Dr Greg Holland provide an update on the Pilliga Project.
A visit to Scotia Wildlife Sanctuary
Wendy Harmer | 13/08/2020
Wendy Harmer is a journalist, comedian, author, producer, and co-host of ABC Radio Sydney’s breakfast program. She joins us to talk about her recent road-trip through outback New South Wales, including a visit to AWC’s Scotia Wildlife Sanctuary.
Bullo River Station
Julian Burt & Dr Eridani Mulder | 06/08/2020
AWC’s ground-breaking partnership at Bullo River Station is delivering conservation benefits alongside a commercial cattle operation. We hear from owner, Julian Burt, and get an update from AWC Wildlife Ecologist Dr Eridani Mulder who is on the ground conducting surveys there.
North Head Mammal Reintroductions
Dr Viyanna Leo, Wildlife Ecologist | 30/07/2020
AWC has been working at North Head Sanctuary in Sydney since 2009. Viyanna discusses the important Banksia scrub ecosystem protected on the headland, and the three species of small mammals that AWC has reintroduced to the site.
Inspiring the next generation of conservationists
Helen Crisp, Senior Field Ecologist | 23/07/2020
Senior Field Ecologist Helen Crisp is based at Yookamurra Wildlife Sanctuary in South Australia’s Murraylands region. Helen leads the science program at Yookamurra, including looking after important reintroduced populations of Numbats, Bettongs, and Bilbies. She also runs a dedicated wildlife education program which is inspiring the next generation of young conservationists. Helen also shares how during COVID isolation she’s using satellite imagery to monitor the local population of Southern Hairy-nosed Wombats.
Reintroducing missing mammals to Mallee Cliffs National Park
Dr Laurence Berry, Wildlife Ecologist | 25/06/2020
Under our partnership with NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, AWC is returning a suite of locally extinct mammals to the mallee country in far south-western NSW. Wildlife Ecologist Dr Laurence Berry provides an update on the Bilbies released there in 2019 and plans for further reintroductions.
A new model for conservation
Tim Allard, Chief Executive | 18/06/2020
Tim Allard is AWC’s Chief Executive and joins us to discuss AWC’s approach to conservation, celebrate some of our recent success stories, and outline our strategy for the future.
AWC’s Feral Predator Ecology Research Project
Dr Andrew Carter, Wildlife Ecologist | 11/06/2020
AWC leads Australia’s most extensive research into the ecology of feral cats and foxes. Wildlife Ecologist Dr Andrew Carter has led the most recent phase of this research, which has produced a new tool for reliably measuring the population density of cats and foxes in open landscapes.
AWC’s Science Program and the new Threatened Species Index
Dr John Kanowski and Dr Liana Joseph | 04/06/2020
AWC Chief Scientist John Kanowski joins us to discuss the central role of science in AWC’s conservation model, including Australia’s largest field ecology program which employs over 60 full-time ecologists. We also hear from AWC National Science Manager Dr Liana Joseph about AWC’s contribution to the new National Threatened Species Index for Mammals.
Tracking down the Red Goshawk
Dr Richard Seaton, Senior Ecologist | 28/05/2020
Richard Seaton is a Senior Ecologist who led AWC’s science program in the north-east region for over three years. He has a lifelong passion for birds of prey, and recently authored a book on their identification. Richard joins us to discuss his work and an important research project into one of Australia’s rarest birds of prey, the Red Goshawk.
Wildlife Reintroductions
Chantelle Jackson, Wildlife Ecologist | 21/05/2020
AWC Wildlife Ecologist, Chantelle Jackson, has spent much of her career working with wildlife in inland Australia, and more recently on AWC sanctuaries in the southwest of Western Australia, including Mt Gibson, Karakamia, Paruna, and Faure Island. Chantelle is now organising an ambitious wildlife translocation, the next step in restoring Central Australia’s biodiversity at Newhaven.
Isolation on Cape York
Sally Gray & Graham Woods, Piccaninny Plains Wildlife Sanctuary | 14/05/2020
Sally Gray & Graham Woods have managed AWC’s Piccaninny Plains Wildlife Sanctuary on Cape York Peninsula for eight years. During the wet season, they are frequently cut off from the rest of the world for months at a time. They join us to discuss the recent wet season and to offer some wisdom for dealing with social isolation.
Kimberley Fire Program
Toby Barton, Regional Fire Coordinator | 07/05/2020
Toby Barton is coordinating AWC’s massive prescribed burning program in the Kimberley, working with a team from our remote base at Charnley River-Artesian Range Wildlife Sanctuary to implement thousands of kilometres of aerial burns, despite the challenges imposed by the current travel restrictions.
Saving Koalas in the Blue Mountains
Andrew Howe, Senior Field Ecologist | 30/04/2020
As fires encroached on the Blue Mountains in NSW, a local conservation group acted quickly to rescue an isolated population of Koalas. When the Koalas were ready to be released, AWC ecologist Andy Howe was on-site to help out.
Bushfire Recovery Projects
Dr Eridani Mulder, Senior Wildlife Ecologist | 23/04/2020
Dr Eridani Mulder coordinated the involvement of AWC ecologists in several bushfire recovery projects, including the deployment of strike teams to conduct rapid ecological assessments in northern NSW and on Kangaroo Island.
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