Bulletin

Issue: May 2004

News

ABC goes 'wild' at La Trobe

Two ABC radio and television personalities - Lynne Haultain, 774 ABC Melbourne radio presenter, and Richard Morecroft, ABC television Wildwatch host - broadcast live to air from La Trobe University's Melbourne Wildlife Sanctuary recently as part of a radio program launching the ABC's 'Wildwatch' conservation campaign.

Wildwatch, an interactive survey project, uses the ABC's Australia-wide radio, television and new media coverage to assess the status and promote the importance of wildlife in gardens around Australia. Wildwatch says with more than eight out of every ten people in Australia living in urban areas, these backyard landscapes need to be managed for wildlife just as natural areas are.

The 774 ABC Melbourne broadcast featured interviews with the organisers of the national survey as well as La Trobe staff and scientists who have been involved in urban wildlife research and restoration projects.

La Trobe University's 120 hectares of wildlife reserves are leading examples of such restoration. During the past 30 years they have helped train many people working in this field throughout Australia.

The reserves comprise woodlands, wetlands and the Melbourne Wildlife Sanctuary, a conservation research and education facility managed by La Trobe University with support from the Gould League, Melbourne Water and public donations.

The Sanctuary also provides its expertise to the community. It runs an indigenous plant nursery and designs and sells bird nesting boxes and 'lizard lounges' suitable for attracting and keeping backyard wildlife.

The ABC says Wildwatch includes tips about how to make gardens wildlife friendly and improve urban habitats. It is also gathering information for a national data base that can be used by conservation bodies, universities, planners and research organisations as a 'snapshot' of wildlife in gardens, mapping trends and attitudes as well as using the data for conservation planning.

La Trobe University's Chancellor, Emeritus Professor Nancy Millis - one of Australia's most distinguished biological scientists - is Patron of the Melbourne Wildlife Sanctuary. She welcomed the 'Wildwatch' campaign and took part in the radio program.

Former Chairperson of the national Genetic Manipulation Advisory Committee, Professor Millis now chairs the Research Advisory Committee of the Murray-Darling Freshwater Research Centre and holds other top posts in the fields of conservation, ecology and environmental sciences.

back to top

back contents next