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We need to raise funds to support our programs. Given the impact of the 2009 bushfires it is now critical that we save all areas of remaining habitat to give them any chance of long term survival in the wild. To this end Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum is focusing on three areas of action: Conservation, Education & Research.
Conservation:
- Habitat enhancement activities: custom nest box manufacturing, installation and monitoring, tree planting
- Ecological Surveys of forest areas to save them from logging
- Advocacy campaigns to raise awareness of impacts to try and stop them
- Development of a Reference Group for the Central Highlands Biodiversity Flagship Area
Education:
- Community outreach (information stalls, promotional materials)
- Broader outreach to all Victorian’s at key environment festivals
- Development and delivery of educational tools
- Website management and promotion
Research:
- Development of a research database as an online resource
- Development of a research priorities strategy and networking opportunity
- Grants to support new research projects in the forest to increase the amount of expertise available to contribute knowledge on population status, conservation needs and impacts.
How will the funds be used?
Funds raised will be used to support a range of our on-going programs, and also allow us to develop new ones for targeted needs under of three focus areas; Conservation, Education, Research.Funds will be used to provide more on-ground conservation actions including habitat enhancement through tree planting or nest box installation. They will also support our advocacy efforts that may require external expertise in the form of aerial mapping or expert advice.
We will also use funds to support our community outreach efforts, including upcoming events at the Melbourne Museum and larger environment and sustainability festivals.
Funds will also be used to help train our volunteers for field activities, provide them with essential safety gear where required and increase the skills of our volunteers in program management promotion.
Funds raised will also allow us to engage qualified ecological consultants to conduct independent forest surveys to check for Leadbeater’s habitat in areas available for logging, to provide us with the technical details required to try and stop the logging. These surveys are critical to saving habitat and are expensive for our group due to the technical expertise and legal indemnity involved.
All of our programs require overarching elements of program administration and promotion (website management, community events and new database development). While this is largely done by volunteers we would like to provide some opportunities to employ people to implement the more extensive projects (i.e. development of a research database). Many other grants will not cover wages but much of the work we do is very demanding and at personal cost to our volunteers and we feel it is fair to provide compensation for work done above and beyond the regular volunteer input level, and we believe this more formal approach will enable us to advance our programs in a more effective way.
** We are also interested in in-kind support for our program needs and would be happy to talk to people with professional skills in financial management, legal representation, website and database development etc. **