I represented Mt Gravatt Environment Group at the recent Threatened Species Week event at Griffith University EcoCentre.
Click to read Southside Community News report
My presentation Blurring the Boundaries addressed our community effort to restore wildlife corridors on the southern face of Mt Gravatt. Two key corridors, Fox Gully and Firefly Gully, are almost totally made up of household blocks. To date we have owners of nineteen properties committed to restoration of these corridors.
Blurring the Boundaries refers to the fact that wildlife does not recognize human created boundaries, effective habitat consolidation and linking requires cooperation of a diverse range of property owners. Our Mimosa Creek Precinct Landscape Plan is a community initiative to blur the property boundaries by creating a vision for sustainable restoration based on initiatives that create community and business benefits, as well as, environmental benefits. Download my presentation: Blurring the Boundaries
Cathryn Dexter’s earlier presentation focused on creating a permeable landscape that will allow animals to move around without having to interact with roadways. A member of Griffith’s Environmental Futures Centre, Cathryn is the Project Manager for a major koala road kill mitigation project funded by the Qld Government. The first study of its kind in Australia, the project’s ultimate goal is to have wildlife mitigation become standard government policy for all linear infrastructure (roads) design.
In a powerful presentation Cathryn shared horrifying road kill statistics balanced with a hopeful view of a future where roads are not barriers to connected habitat and risks to wildlife are dramatically reduced. particularly interesting were the creative solutions being used in Europe and the US where wildlife movement solutions have been actively pursued for decades.
Mount Gravatt Environment Group 
September 19, 2011 at 3:14 am
I admire your enthusiasm and dedication and hope you are successful in your endeavours.
One word of caution. I live in the rural area of ANSTEAD on a 1Ha block and try to live with nature. Presently we have about 7 ScrubTurkeys it is chaotic when it gets to the breeding season. As you will be aware, they need to make a compost mound to lay eggs in. My wife is a keen gardener and we live in fear of the turkeys breeding habits. We have large areas of the garden netted off to keep them out.They destroy large areas of vegetation raking compost to their nest. They dig up plants that are not protected by a wire cage and destroy your made garden with their breeding habits. Don’t let Scrub Turkeys into your regeneration areas they will destroy your efforts and they are a protected bird. They largely inhabit rain forest but in scrubby areas they can survive and in suburban they are surviving and causing havoc.
September 19, 2011 at 7:57 pm
Thank you John. Encouragement from people like yourself is particularly inspiring.
Yes, we have plenty of Turkeys and they have their usual repuation for garden destruction. However, we have had no problems with any of the restoration work at our Fox Gully Bushcare site. They spread the compost piles around at times but leave the plants alone. I have not figured out what the difference is yet.
Michael Fox
September 27, 2011 at 11:27 pm
Really like what you’re doing around creating “wildlife corridors” to mitigate the devastating effects which roads can have on wildlife. Trying to create some “wildlife corridors” of our own, in a very built up area of inner city manchester, uk – mainly through planting, native trees, shrubs and wildflowers along our streets. Good Luck to you!!
October 16, 2011 at 9:32 am
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