The range of projects being run by the Conservancy includes:

• Gouldian Finch Reintroduction: This is an ongoing project, commenced in 1999 and is aimed at restoring globally threatened Gouldian Finches as breeding birds to the Reserve and the surrounding area. Tasks include daily feeding and maintenance of the captive population, monitoring of released birds and habitat restoration under a WWF funded initiative. Click here for information about our Gouldian Finch Reintroduction Program.
• Fire Management: Fire is an essential conservation management tool on the Reserve. At certain times of the year, the Conservancy welcomes and trains volunteers to assist with annual controlled savanna burns. This project is accessible in June/July and September to November.
• Wildlife Monitoring and Mapping: Volunteers can participate in the ongoing monitoring and mapping of the biodiversity of the Reserve. Survey work is carried out daily, following wildlife identification training. Locations of species sightings are logged with a handheld GPS and entered into the Conservancy’s databases. One species about which little is known is an undescribed Monitor species.
• Vine Thicket Project: Prior to human settlement of and the advent of anthropogenic burning regimes, much of the tropical savanna area of the continent of Australia was covered by a vegetation type known as ‘vine thicket’ (now restricted to a few small areas inaccessible to fires). The Conservancy has a project to restore part of the Reserve to this vegetation type by excluding fires and establishing tree and shrub species formally found there. Volunteer work on this project includes general maintenance and tree establishment irrigation, plus propagation of key species. This project is accessible throughout the year.
• Buff-breasted Buttonquail Project: This project is aimed at establishing the range and numbers of one of the world’s rarest birds, which is known to breed on the Reserve. The Buff-breasted Buttonquail is down to approximately 200 pairs in the wild, of which the Reserve is thought to provide breeding habitat for up to 20. Volunteers are needed to survey the Reserve for this and other species as part of the Conservancy’s ongoing conservation monitoring programme. This project is accessible throughout the year.
• Freshwater Crocodile Reintroduction: This project is still going through its approvals process but we anticipate being in a position to restore Freshwater Crocodiles as a breeding species to the Reserve over a two year project commencing in September 2004. This joint project with the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service will involve catching up to 30 animals from within the Mitchell River system, relocating them to the Reserve, creating suitable breeding habitat, radio tracking and visitor habituation. We anticipate that this project will be accessible from November 2005 to mid 2006.

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