Connection Corridors Forum

The Connecting Corridors Forum will bring together local landholders, community representatives, local government, natural resource management groups, research institutions, and conservation organisations to celebrate nearly 10 years of the Little Liverpool Range Initiative.

Join us in the picturesque Little Liverpool Range for a morning of talks and discussions on how we can continue to collaborate and coordinate land management efforts at a regional scale, ensuring the natural beauty, wildlife and landscapes of the Little Liverpool Range are maintained for future generations.

HIGHLIGHTS

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Professor David M. Watson - The good earth: farming landscapes are crucial for safeguarding wildlife populations

David is an ecologist committed to evidence-based strategies to boost biodiversity and is based at Charles Sturt University where he leads the Environmental Programme at the Gulbali Institute. His current research programme encompasses historic biogeography, landscape ecology and wildlife monitoring across arid, temperate and tropical systems. David completed his PhD in the USA, studying birds in Central American cloud forests, returning to Australia to teach ornithology and set up his research programme in regional NSW.

Mistletoe has long been a focus, revealing those ecological interactions and landscape features essential for maintaining diverse and functional ecosystems. Research highlights include establishing the Australian Acoustic Observatory, demonstrating the role of mistletoe as an ecological keystone, and discovering plenty of undescribed species on isolated tropical mountains. As a board member of the Great Eastern Ranges and a founding member of the Slopes-to-Summit regional, he works with landholders, Indigenous partners and philanthropists to connect people to country.

SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY

Natalya Maitz - The impacts of wildfire on Brush-tailed Rock Wallabies in South-east Queensland

Natalya has a special interest in threatened species recovery, particularly in the identification and management of threatening processes, strategic conservation planning and environmental policy in relation to conservation outcomes. Natalya’s work focuses on maximising conservation benefits at the landscape scale, using the brush-tailed rock wallaby as a model species.

Dr Kate Dutton-Regester - Building a baseline: echidna conservation through community engagement in the Lockyer Valley region

Kate is a Lecturer at the University of Queensland's School of Veterinary Science with a strong interest in wildlife conservation. Specialising in Reproductive Biology, Physiology, Animal Behaviour, and Epidemiology, she has worked with diverse species, from livestock to Asian elephants and the short-beaked echidna.

Associate Professor Shane Campbell - Ecology and management of native pasture

Associate Professor Shane Campbell works in the School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, The University of Queensland. Shane has a strong background in weed management in pasture and rangeland environments and is currently involved in several projects in this area.

STEWARDSHIP

Little Liverpool Range Landholders

Mick Drews

Mick and his wife Kate have worked to conserve and restore a patch of local vegetation including some remnant Dry Vine Scrub with a melaleuca bracteata fringed creek line over the previous 20 years. Mick has a special interest in woodland birds and mistletoe. They are committed to maximising the biodiversity values of the property and are seeking to restore the property to a state as close as possible to the condition before it was cleared for agriculture.

Marina Whitchurch

Marina’s property consists of dry vine scrub including endangered Rhodamnia dumicola and has spent the last 23 years achieving a vision for conservation. Through challenges and triumph Marina is one of the Range’s most engaged and eager to learn landholders who enjoys sharing knowledge, learnings and experience in achieving private land stewardship.

LITTLE LIVERPOOL RANGE INITIATIVE

The Little Liverpool Range extends approximately 62km to the north of the Great Dividing Range and is estimated to be around 46,000 hectares. The Range provides essential habitat connectivity between Main Range National Park and the D’Aguilar Ranges, linking key habitats within the Great Eastern Range.

In recognition of the importance the Little Liverpool Range Initiative was formed in July 2016 and has been built on a collaborative partnership between Ipswich City Council, Queensland Trust for Nature and the Turner Family Foundation.

IPSWICH ENVIROPLAN

For more than 29 years the Ipswich Enviroplan initiative has invested in 12 conservation estates and reserves totaling more than 6,700 hectares. This vital conservation work is made possible through a levy paid by Ipswich ratepayers.