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Dear Readers

I’m sure that you are all shocked about the bushfire season so far that has affected much of this country’s population, farmland, and natural habitat, and there is still two and half months left of the 2020 bushfire season.

For our fantastic national parks and all of the plants and animals they are set aside to conserve, the fires have been absolutely catastrophic. What survived the direct flames and heat of the fires now face an uncertain future just to survive.

Friends of Parks SA is a community organisation that is over 30 years old, and is dedicated solely to assist the Department of Environment and Water’s (DEW) staff in managing the State’s national parks and reserves. There’s currently 128 Friends of Parks groups state-wide are involved directly with on-park activities, such as weed eradication, feral animal control, habitat restoration, wildlife survey and monitoring – to name just a few.

DEW is currently assessing the ecological and infrastructure impacts to each of the affected parks, and will be working closely with the relevant Friends groups and other community organisations to plan the recovery activities, many of which will need to be carefully timed and sequenced.

Friends of Parks groups may be requested to provide assistance with tasks such as seed collection, growing seedlings, weed control and planting events and the Friends of Parks Board will be working closely with DEW and keep communicating with groups about how they can be involved into the bushfire recovery.

The Friends of Parks Board has unanimously agreed that this catastrophic situation affecting so many of our parks and their biodiversity, needs responding to with strong and immediate action.

As a result the Board has agreed that it will dedicate the Board’s tax deductible ‘Gift Fund’ for a period of two years to help fund post fire recovery activities undertaken by our member groups

Any Friends of Parks Member Group can apply to the Gift Fund Committee for funding, if the parks they are involved in, or wish to become involved in, has been impacted by the fires.

Tax deductible donations to help the Friends of Parks groups to continue their post fire recovery work can be made by completing a simple form and forwarding with a to:

With a cheque to: Treasurer, Gift Fund

Friends of Parks Inc.

c/- the Secretariat, Volunteer Programs Unit,

GPO Box 1047, AdelaideSA 5001.

Or by bank deposit (please also fill in the form and email to pamela.smith@sa.gov.au so that we know where to send your receipt):

Name of Account: Friends of Parks Inc. Gift Fund

BSB: 805 050

Account Number: 2339333

Bank: People’s Choice Credit Union

The form can be found on the Friends of Parks SA website; click on the ‘Donate Now’ button.

Thank you for your consideration and support. The recovery in those parks affected will be a slow process for plants and animals re-populating these areas, and the community support that will be required will be vital.

Regards

Duncan MacKenzie
PRESIDENT
FRIENDS OF PARKS INC.

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Wildlife Recovery Fund

The National Parks and Wildlife Service South Australia and Nature Foundation SA have set up this Fund to re-establish habitat, particularly for threatened and vulnerable species. Your donations will go to local landholders, Landcare, and community groups in fire affected regions to urgently undertake native plantings, feral animal and weed control, and fencing – this will give both threatened animal and plant life the best chance of recovery. Funds will also be directed to restore habitat in fire-devastated national parks – particularly on Kangaroo Island.

https://www.naturefoundation.org.au/support-us/wildlife-recovery-fund?fbclid=IwAR1LQtzUh0tiX1gkYi9TRbdHqGNzmsh-qq-NRH8_q7wPPRssS3BngVNPtE8

Glossy Black Cockatoo Recovery Program:

The Nature Foundation SA runs the program for this critically endangered bird together with the KI Natural Resources Management Board. The recovery program started in 1995 with less than 160 Glossy Black-cockatoos in existence and has nursed the population back from the brink of extinction, doubling the population of glossies on Kangaroo Island to over 360 birds and helping them to spread eastwards across the Island. However the fires have now destroyed most of their habitat in the west of the Island creating an urgent need for nesting and habitat support.

https://www.naturefoundation.org.au/support-us/kangaroo-island-conservation-programs?fbclid=IwAR0EhIa4tTvIaPQzrQfVu8FgCkrquqNEppA_i4XmtVUrAL3fRNPM4sTohhc

Saving the KI Dunnart from Extinction

The Endangered Kangaroo Island dunnart is found only in remnant bushland of the west end of Kangaroo Island. However it now appears that its entire habitat has been burnt, all known monitoring sites have been burnt and the species may now be on the very brink of extinction. Your financial support will help Kangaroo Island Land for Wildlife and landholders to locate remnant patches of unburnt vegetation and survey for the species through camera trapping. We have lost valuable survey equipment in the fires, your financial support will help to replace much needed survey equipment (cameras, fencing materials) and allow the team to start surveying immediately, find the last few individuals and protect them from feral predators and further wildfire events.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/saving-the-kangaroo-island-dunnart-from-extinction?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=p_cp%20share-sheet&fbclid=IwAR2g1hFToceTWMvXbWvn8WTcoIPcKol-J58XYdxrDHkK7CC5536Aw05sE5w

KI Wildlife Network

This volunteer group works with SAVEM (SA Veterinary Emergency Management) to rescue injured wildlife from the fire ground. For donations details, see this link

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1437099153279635/

Businesses supporting Wildlife:

Hanson Bay Koala and Wildlife Sanctuary

This 5,000 acre wildlife sanctuary was home to thousands of native wildlife animals including a large population of koalas.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/1uykisdumo?satcMcId=75301009331541542490632899743446457005

Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park 

We are working around the clock with a highly experienced, qualified and dedicated team of volunteers including qualified vets, vet nurses and wildlife carers to rescue, rehabilitate and care for all of the animals coming in from the bushfires

For those of you who would like to contribute we are asking for funds to help with veterinary costs, koala milk and supplements, extra holding/rehabilitation enclosures, as well as setting up a building to hold supplies to treat these animals.

https://au.gofundme.com/f/help-save-kangaroo-islands-koalas-and-wildlife?satcMcId=75301009331541542490632899743446457005

Raptor Domain

Raptor Domain is an environmental education centre based near Seal Bay on Kangaroo Island. In the last week, here at Raptor Domain, we have had to evacuate all of our animals twice due to extreme fire risk. We are lucky that the property has been spared this time round, but it still remains at advice level. It has become evident that we will need to construct portable enclosures for our raptors, as ideally, we need to keep our animals in one of the ‘safer places’ on Kangaroo Island until the fire threat is gone. This will hugely reduce the stress of moving our animals and holding them in pet packs for an extended period of time. We need to fund the construction of some mobile aviaries for our birds in the likely event of another fire threat. This would allow our animals to remain in a safer place for a week or even longer if needed.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-raptor-domain-build-evacuation-aviaries?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&fbclid=IwAR1VinEDxF3sVXLn2bGCG2aBVfADCbZjcPI0r1612bw9S04HdtxF3FSkseU

Island Beehive’s Save the Ligurian Bees appeal

Island Beehive states “We have started a go fund me to save the Ligurian bees. This money will go directly to buying feeders and bee feed to start with, then we will look at a queen breeding program to get the numbers up again.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/save-the-ligurian-bee