Jack Pascoe The Conservation Ecology Centre, Otway Ranges, Victoria

In general terms the conservation community is striving for the same beneficial outcomes to biodiversity, however, we tend to segregate ourselves by specialisation a little too efficiently. Ecologists tend to present their findings to other ecologists, and land managers are exposed most frequently to the views and experiences of other land managers. This has its benefits as peers share common experiences and solutions to shared problems, however it can also lead to a disconnect between science and practice.

As a non-profit environment and conservation organisation based in Victoria’s Otway ranges, the Conservation Ecology Centre realised we could play a role in bridging this gap.

In 2016, with the support of The Ian Potter Foundation, the Conservation Ecology Centre established the Otways Threatened Species Research Network—a network of researchers, conservationists and land managers who were all actively engaged in the conservation of threatened species in the Otways. As part of this network we established the Otways Threatened Species Research Forum, a platform that allows researchers working in the region to communicate their studies of threated species and threatening process to not only their peers but also land managers and the wider conservation community.

In 2018, 100 delegates attended the 3rd annual forum. The feedback from land managers has been overwhelmingly positive—they appreciate the opportunity to communicate directly with researchers in order to help set priorities or to share their invaluable on-ground observations.

As well as improved lines of communication, the forum has also led to a range of benefits for research and conservation in the region. It has allowed land managers to provide direct feedback to researchers regarding what they see as priority knowledge gaps. This has led to a focused research program from several research institutions focusing on the outcomes of two major land management programs, the Otway Ark and the Otways Planned Burns Program.

Another wonderful result has been the high level of data sharing between researchers. This has made it considerably easier for researchers to identify study sites for their research, reducing the need for rigorous pilot studies. A further benefit of this is that research collaboration has been initiated and complementary research is now occurring in the same locations allowing us to build a more complete picture of the area’s ecology.

One key example of a forum outcome is the research program in the Otways investigating the impact of the Otway Ark, a landscape scale fox control program involving the Conservation Ecology Centre, The University of Melbourne, La Trobe University, Parks Victoria, the Department of Environment Land Water and Planning and CESAR (an environmental consultancy).

The research program includes a range of projects employing live trapping and camera grids to determine how critical weight range mammals respond to fox control, and another study is utilising the individual pelt markings of feral cats to measure cat density and possible mesopredator release effect

As a part of this program, the Conservation Ecology Centre is undertaking innovative research utilising genetic techniques to measure the abundance of foxes from their scats. We are also running associated pilot studies to assess the most effective genetic techniques, and whether detection dogs are more efficient than human observers at finding scat samples.

We are excited by the fact that the comprehensive research program that has been developed as a result of the network, the database, and the forum is beginning to produce results relevant to land managers and would recommend this type of collaboration between researcher and land managers wherever possible.

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