’11ASM’ Conference showcases NGT’s work on threatened species

The 11th Australian Stream Management was held in Victor Harbor SA over the 11th – 14th August, showcasing both the local region and some of NGT’s sites. NGT senior ecologists Sylvia Zukowski and Ben Taylor were selected to present at the conference and develop a research paper, and Nick Whiterod was selected to do the Preliminary Speech. The conference speakers presented on many fantastic freshwater ecosystem projects around Australia, highlighting their importance and a further need for intervention to halt ongoing decline of threatened freshwater species.

Sylvia and Steve Wright (Beyond developer) gave a tour of the Beyond Development, which provides world class threatened native fish surrogate wetlands. These wetlands are used for breeding threatened native fish for later wild releases, such as for our recent release of Southern Purple-spotted Gudgeons into the River Torrens/Karrawirra pari after 100 years of absence.

Ben gave a tour of a Fleurieu Peninsula swamp, a critically endangered ecosystem unique to the Fleurieu Peninsula region. His tour focused on conservation of the endangered Mount Lofty Ranges subspecies of Southern Emu-wren/Stipiturus malachurus, that inhabits these swamps.

It was an inspirational couple of days, and conference guests enjoyed visiting these two important sites and learning about our work.