USQ to host Brigalow conservation meeting
Representatives from partner organisations including the Environment Protection Agency (EPA), Condamine Alliance, Queensland Murray Darling Committee (QMDC) and Queensland Main Roads (QMR) will attend the meeting along with landscape ecologists from the University of Queensland (UQ). 'This project is looking at how we can restore the highly fragmented Brigalow landscapes of the Brigalow Belt South Bioregion, which is a National Biodiversity Hotspot,' said co-chief investigator and USQ Landscape Ecology Lecturer, Dr Martine Maron. 'The Brigalow is habitat for many threatened fauna species, so our partner organisations are keen to work with us in pooling knowledge to develop an action plan for restoration in the region.' Lead investigator and Senior Research Fellow at UQ, Dr Clive McAlpine, says the research will consider multiple taxa and threats, including the impact of climate change and the opportunities to use regrowth in large-scale restoration. The project, has also already received support on a national level after it received an Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage grant. 'Our team of investigators from UQ, USQ, the EPA and the Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Water were awarded an ARC grant worth $355,000, which will help us establish the best possible way to manage these endangered communities,' Dr Maron said. 'This will be used to help us with our research that will provide regional, state and national natural resource management organisations with the ability to conserve threatened and unique Brigalow fauna in the long-term.' Dr Maron is also keen for the assistance of the region’s farmers whose land would be used to conduct the research. 'The fieldwork will be mostly conducted on private land and so we will be looking to work closely with local farmers,' she said. Research will be undertaken over the next three years, with the project scheduled to commence in 2007. Media Contact: Josh Ada, USQ Media, +61 7 4631 1628 or 0403 643 192 
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