Restoring Roosting Refuges – a new four-year project!

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Restoring Roosting Refuges – a new four-year project!

  1. Home
  2. Latest News
  3. Restoring Roosting Refuges – a new four-year project!

Parklands Albury Wodonga is excited to announce a new four-year ‘Restoring Roosting Refuges’ project that will focus on the restoration of two Murray River islands with the goal of increasing roosting habitat for the vulnerable grey-headed flying-fox (Pteropus poliocephalus). Grey-headed flying-foxes play a vital role in the ecosystem, moving between fragmented habitats and dispersing both pollen and seeds of over 100 species of trees, including our ancient river red gums (Eucalyptus camaldulensis), thereby helping to sustain the diversity of habitats locally and along the east coast of Australia.

Land clearing is the primary threat to Australia’s largest bat and has resulted in a reduced number of roosting sites leading these animals to seek shelter in urban areas where they can be seen as a nuisance due to noise, odour, and droppings. A reduction in their natural food source has also caused an increase in flying-foxes invading commercial crops with populations migrating in search of food sources.

The ‘Restoring Roosting Refuges’ project will protect 11 km of river frontage on Browns Island, which is bordered by the Murray River and Wodonga Creek, and Turtle Island to the north. These frontages occur within the Project 66 landscape – 66 km of trail along the Murray River from Wodonga to Lake Hume. Around 80% of the riparian areas along the Project 66 route have been fenced and successfully revegetated over the past decade. However, the sites in this project will require more resources as extensive patches of woody weeds such as tree of heaven, box elder, fig, and ash have gained a foothold during the wetter-than-average years recently. In areas where these species have been removed previously, there has been a significant improvement in the diversity of native plant species with the return of remnant understorey and groundcover that were struggling to compete.

Woody weeds on Turtle Island.

Planting of preferred flying-fox native food species will focus on plants that flower in winter and spring as habitat with such plants is considered critical for the survival of the bats. This will provide a low-conflict habitat away from suburban parks and gardens. Actions to improve roosting and foraging habitat for grey-headed flying-foxes will also benefit other nectar- and fruit-feeding bats, birds, mammals, and other fauna.

If you’d like to be a part of this project, please visit our Events page for our River Stewardship Mornings on Turtle Island for information and to register.

Stay tuned also for citizen science activities that will take place within the scope of this project!

This project is funded by the Australian Government’s Natural Heritage Trust under the Urban Rivers and Catchments Program.

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