News
6 September, 2023
Productive and informative session for Care4esK
Locals and visitors flocked to the Anglican hall in Esk for the community wildlife information event on Saturday August 26, organised by local conservation group Care4esK.
There were Somerset residents as well as visitors from Blackbutt, Gatton, Toowoomba and Ipswich, with Care4esK president Darren Bate saying the organisers were very happy with the success of the event while attendees were impressed with the guest presenters.
There were suggestions that Care4esK make it a regular event, as those in attendance described the event as brilliant, well organised, informative, fascinating, heartbreaking, fantastic, exciting, entertaining and uplifting.
“All guest presenters stressed the importance of protecting, preserving and restoring the natural habitats for our precious native wildlife, and that data collection is extremely important,” Darren said.
Dungibara Elder Aunty Jannine Smith opened the event with a warm Welcome to Country, and she shared some of her ancestral history from the 1800s.
Martin Fingland from Geckoes Wildlife was a crowd favourite as he was accompanied by a range of live wildlife that can be found across the Somerset region.
Attendees described Martin’s presentation as fun and educational while they were delighted by Bumpy – a rotund female wombat which was a special guest.
“Whilst Wombats are not from the Somerset region, they are closely related to koalas which were the featured species of the event,” Darren said.
Care4esK provided the background and current updates for the KHaRES Project, which Care4esK is delivering in collaboration with Australian Earth Laws Alliance and the University of the Sunshine Coast (USC) Detection Dogs for Conservation team, and in partnership with the Somerset Regional Council.
This project received grant funding from the Australian Government.
Dr Romane Cristescu’s presentation was very informative, insightful and inspiring with a finely balanced combination of passion and science, evident from years of committed research and dedicated fieldwork.
Her colleague Nicola Petersen enthusiastically shared koala survey results from Mount Glen Rock and surrounding areas, with clear visual mapping and the first of DNA results from the local koala population.
Attendees learnt from Dr Rebecca Larkin about general koala health and habits, and the gathering of people also learnt from Bec Appleton about the importance of flying foxes and microbats in our ecosystems.
Sheena Gillman completed the afternoon with an eye-catching presentation about local birds, and she highlighted the benefits that avi-tourism can bring to locations like Esk and the overall Somerset region.
Free giveaways and raffles filled in the minimal time between the full program of high calibre speakers and presentations, with this activity providing the opportunity to promote the local businesses and individuals who gave generously.
“Community engagement and citizen science was also encouraged,” Darren said.
“Much of the research and data shared clearly demonstrated that whatever we have been doing, and continue to do for our natural environment and native species, is simply not working.
“It was evident that if we do want to see real positive change, we need to seriously change what we are doing now, so that our native fauna and flora can survive and thrive, well into the future.
“Care4esK would like to thank everyone who attended and who volunteered their time to make the event such a great success.”
