View Case studies
Wildlife habitat management and strategic planning experience have been gained through diverse projects. View examples in the fields of:
Fauna and environmental survey
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Wildlife habitat management.
Over the last 15 years Wayne has provided many recommendations on wildlife habitat management. Three examples are briefly outlined:
Water regime of an inland lake:
Recommendations were made for the management of floodwaters in an overflow lake on the Great Anabranch of the Darling River, inland NSW, for a catchment management committee and the local NP&WS district office. The issue was complicated by the needs of breeding waterbirds, littoral trees (which could be drowned if too much water was held), downstream water users including crop irrigators and graziers, and limitations in the structures used to regulate the flows.
This is a fairly typical example of the way wildlife needs for environmental flows interact with the physical environment and other water users on an inland river. A public meeting was called to establish all stakeholders' points of view, research was undertaken, including fauna survey and hydrological modelling, and the recommendations were developed and refined through a process of consultation.
Protection of nature strips around a bayside canal development:
Recommendations able to be integrated into a development's design were provided to the environmental consulting firm contracted to prepare the overall impact assessment. They were based on a fauna survey and consultation with the developer, government authorities and local resident interest groups.
Fears of a gross loss of biodiversity and visual amenity in the area were addressed by the recommendations, which included a buffer strip of standing timber between the development and existing housing, retention of isolated mature trees, a seaward buffer protecting estuarine wetland (also a fish habitat reserve) with accompanying hydrological management recommendations, and the minor modification of a planned artificial lake to incorporate existing freshwater wetland and waterbird habitat.
Feasibility study into construction of a migratory shorebird high tide roost to replace habitat lost:
A controversial bayside development in Moreton Bay caused widespread community concern when an internationally important shorebird roosting site was destroyed. Wayne's task was to investigate the feasibility of constructing a replacement roost, and involved designing alternative coastal engineering works, determining a range of strategies, identifying costs and benefits of each, and making recommendations for action, in the face of widely differing public opinions from different interest groups.
The outcome, brought to fruition by many dedicated citizens and supportive professional specialists, was a successfully completed roosting site in an area of low environmental impact (which is now a community asset), and a document setting out general guidelines which can be used if similar situations develop elsewhere.
Contact Wayne for a confidential discussion of your needs. Phone messagebank 0429 800 498 anytime. Wayne will return your call. Or email: ecopix at auzy dot net.