Birchip Cropping Group, VIC

$38,000 to Frogs on Farms

Jonathon Starks, Coordinator www.bcg.org.au

Frogs are an important natural measurement as to the impact of land management practices on properties. With that in mind, Birchip Cropping Group has developed Frogs on Farms, a two year project which examines opportunities for conserving and protecting frog populations in the Wimmera Mallee region once the channel system is de-commissioned. The project will also provide strategies for individual farmers to maintain the biodiversity values of their farm in ways that are efficient in terms of farming resources, cost and water usage.

A George Alexander Foundation grant of $38,000 will help test an innovative approach to maintaining frog populations within the regional landscape. The project will help determine frog use of wildlife ponds and their ability to disperse from current water sources into wildlife ponds. This research will help the group examine opportunities for re-establishing frogs within their former regions and numbers.

This project builds upon the already successful Diversity in a Piped System project that examined the benefi ts of a wildlife water point in a farm woodland. While the original project assisted in monitoring and building a resurgence of bird populations, different sites needed to be considered in order to re-establish frog populations.

Given the last decade of below average rainfalls and the devastating effects of the drought in 2006, the Frogs on Farms project provides local farming communities with a water conservation and biodiversity project that can be easily implemented and will assist in providing a more enjoyable environment in which to live. This project helps to build on the Foundation’s commitment to providing opportunities for communities to engage in practical conservation and land management projects.