Welcome to the Friends of the Western Ground Parrot Newsletter No. 72 Get up-to-date information about the latest efforts to save this critically endangered parrot unique to Western Australia
Good news
We are very pleased to announce that we have just signed the contract with the State Natural Resource Management Program for a $149,000 + GST grant to complete the documentary Secrets at Sunrise. As you will recall, filmmaker Jennene Riggs first started to work on the documentary in spring 2014. The process of getting the funds needed for a one-hour high quality documentary about the Western Ground Parrot and the efforts to save it was lengthy and started with a crowdfunding campaign using the Pozible platform. Many of you have generously contributed to this campaign or made donations. BirdLife WA kindly donated $5,000 and both the Department of Parks and Wildlife and Perth Zoo have supported the project financially and with in-kind contributions. Events last year, such as the devastating fires in Cape Arid National Park and the capture of additional birds for Perth Zoo, required the filming of additional footage. Jennene worked tirelessly on the documentary even though it was still not clear how the costs of the additional footage, postproduction and marketing would be funded. When it became obvious that we would not be able to raise the money needed through donations or sponsorship, we approached the State Natural Resource Management Program team and applied for a Community Capability Grant at the beginning of the year. A couple of months ago we learned that our application had been successful and we had been awarded the full amount of the grant we applied for. We are, of course, immensely grateful to State Natural Resource Management for supporting us and the Western Ground Parrot. A fair amount of work, capably handled by our Vice-chair Paul Wettin, was required before we were able to sign the contract. We are now registered for the GST and also carry public-liability insurance. Filming of some additional footage will be carried out within the next few months. Jennene is still hopeful to capture a wild bird on film. The docmentary is expected to be completed by early autumn next year.
Membership fees are due We would like to remind our members who have not yet paid their annual membership fee of $10 that payment is due. Please pay the outstanding amount into our account with Westpac. Bank details are as follows Account name: Friends of the Western Ground Parrot BSB: 036168
Account no.: 298423
Please use your name as a reference and notify us by e-mail once you have made the transfer as some banks do not provide us with the depositor details. Alternatively, you can send us a cheque made out to Friends of the Western Ground Parrot and mail it to PO Box 5613, Albany, WA 6332. We hope for your continued support and would like to encourage those of you who are not yet members to join us. The committee would be keen to hear from members how they feel about a small increase of the membership fee in future. Since our inauguration the annual fee has remained steady at $10 per annum. After we became registered for the GST this month (a legal requirement as our annual turnover exceeds $150,000 this financial year) a portion of the membership fee now includes tax which, of course, benefits the tax office rather than our organisation. Would you still support us if we raised the fee from $10 to $15 or $20? Any decision to raise membership fees will have to be ratified by members at general meeting.
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Annual General Meeting Yes, it's this time of the year again. Our next AGM will be held on Tuesday, 25 October at 2:30pm at the conference room of South Coast Natural Resource Management (South Coast NRM) at 39 Mercer Road, Albany. We look forward to meeting you there. As in previous years, South Coast NRM has kindly made available the facilities to us without charging a fee.
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Creating a Future for the Western Ground Parrot workshop report You will recall that on 30 March 2016, 39 delegates from 19 organisations gathered in Western Australia to help create a future for this rare Australian bird and for other species that share its habitat. Discussion and development of recommendations focussed around protection of extant populations, establishing additional populations, securing long-term support for recovery efforts, and optimising the value of the captive program. The report from the workshop has now been completed and below are the strategies that were recommended:
GOAL 1: Recover and protect wild populations of WGP · Protect habitat critical for the survival of WGP. · Significantly shift fire management planning, to account for new knowledge and changing climate. · Allocate dedicated resources to fire planning and response for South Coast threatened species and ecological communities. · Effectively integrate predator control with enhanced predator control response postbushfire. · Continue to develop and refine methods for detecting and monitoring WGP, and continue to undertake survey for and monitoring of the species. · Appoint/retain multiple suitably skilled staff to develop the knowledge base on WGP biology/ecology and continue to actively mitigate threats in remaining habitat. · Analyse existing data to expose key information gaps. GOAL 2: Establish additional populations of WGP · Identify and evaluate potential new sites. · Develop and implement a WGP translocation strategy. GOAL 3: Secure awareness, support and long-term resourcing for conservation and recovery efforts of WGP and species that share their habitat · Develop and implement a communication and engagement strategy, and a robust, diverse funding model. · Increase the community and NGO support base. · Elevate the prospects of the WGP project by housing it within a larger initiative that recognises and promotes this area as a National Biodiversity Hotspot. GOAL 4: Optimise the value of the captive program to WGP recovery and conservation · Agree on and pursue a future direction for the WGP captive population. · Establish a captive population of Eastern Ground Parrots. We will support these goals to the best of our abilities in the hope that they indeed generate a brighter future for the Western Ground Parrot.
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A big thank-you to the folks at Caversham Wildlife Park who set up a Western Ground Parrot display and raised $470 for our organisation during the months of July and August.
Scarce and Sacred If you are based in the Albany area we would like to draw your attention to an art exhibition featuring some of the south coast's unique flora and fauna which is on display at the South Coast Natural Resource Management's premises at 39 Mercer Road in Albany. The display is part of the 2016 Bendigo Bank Southern Art and Craft Trail and is open daily to the public until 14 October. Local artists Karen Quain and Toni Hough have created a large number of artworks featuring threatened species of the south coast region. We were invited to the opening of the exhibition at which South Coast NRM also launched its South Coast Environment Fund. This public fund was established to benefit vulnerable species and habitats in the south coast region of Western Australia. South Coast NRM over the years has provided a lot of support for Western Ground Parrot conservation actions, so we have no hesitation in mentioning this worthwhile cause to you. Part of the proceeds from the sale of the artwork will be donated to this fund.
Western Ground Parrot artwork created by artist Karen Quain. If you are interested in acquiring this piece, it is available for sale at $265. The design is also available on cups cottonetching rags and canvas bags. Please get in touch with us for further information. Š Karen Quain
Wildlife artist Toni Hough at the opening of the Scarce and Sacred art exhibition. Toni spontaneously donated her Western Ground Parrot artwork (watercolour, pen and ink) to our organisation. We will use it to raise funds for the Western Ground Parrot recovery effort.
Photo: Liz Tanner
Chirpings from the Chair Dave Taylor
By the time this issue is released, winter will finally be over and hopefully spring has sprung bringing with it some warmer weather and mating frolics of our captive birds at the Perth Zoo. Since our last issue in June during the colder months, actions at the forefront have been relatively quiet but behind the scenes your committee has been work diligently and very hard to raise funds to further enhance the survival of the specie and further the awareness raising capabilities for the plight of the Western Ground Parrot. More information on these projects will be released as they come to fruition. The final report from the Creating a Future for the Western Ground Parrot workshop has been completed and will be adding to the tools to aid the recovery of the Western Ground Parrot. This will be a very strong and informative document to those who hold the survival of the bird and other species in their hands. Updates from the Department of Parks and Wildlife (DPaW) were somewhat bleak as we learned that insufficient funding is available to carry out spring surveys in Cape Arid National Park. These surveys would have been greatly beneficial in establishing further understanding of the birds situation post last year's October and November fires. It is also understood that there are insufficient monies to fund the full compliment of the Integrated Fauna Recovery team which has done a fantastic job in the study of the Western Ground Parrot and aiding its survival. The team's professionalism and dedication to their work has been outstanding. However, all is not lost as funding is available for further predator baiting which in the long run should have some impact on the survival of the birds. On a more personal note, I find it somewhat strange that the Department of Parks and Wildlife can find and allocate millions of dollars to upgrade visitor and camping facilities in our national parks. What use is a park when many of our flora and fauna species have been lost due to lack of funding to protect them? This will be my last issue of Chair’s Chirpings as I do not intend to stand for the position of chair at the forthcoming annual general meeting. However, I do intend to make myself available as a committee member. It has been a rewarding and interesting time as Chair of the Friends of the Western Ground Parrot and I take this opportunity to sincerely thank the committee for their input and support. I am very pleased to announce that the committee has appointed Phil Bailey as its new Treasurer after Wayne Monks' retirement from the committee. Phil who lives in Albany has spent many decades working in the financial sector and will be a valuable addition to the committee. I look forward to meeting many of our members at the annual general meeting. Dates of the event will be advised in other areas of the newsletter.
Contacts: Chairperson: David Taylor Phone: 0458 502836 Secretary: Anne Bondin Phone: (08) 9844 1793 Email: wgparrot@gmail.com Mailing address: PO Box 5613, Albany, WA 6332 A printable copy of the newsletter can be downloaded from our website Previous issues of our newsletter are available online at http://wgpnewsletters.blogspot.com/ Western Ground Parrot history blog: http://westerngroundparrothistory.blogspot.com.au/
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Donate online: https://www.givenow.com.au/groundparrot Donate by direct deposit: Friends of the Western Ground Parrot Westpac/ Albany BSB: 036-168 A/C: 317989 Donate by cheque: Please mail a cheque in the name of our organisation copyright Friends of the Western Ground Parrot
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