F
auna Furniture may not be a term we hear on a regular basis, but this type of infrastructure is a life saver for local wildlife and maintains a safe environment for road users — keeping everyone in the community happy. Located in the new residential estate of
Springfield Lakes in Queensland, a distinctive series of built structures provide platforms and climbable formations that allow animals to safely traverse the newly constructed area without interacting with human inhabitants. Designed and installed by Evolve Environmental Services, these infrastructure poles form landing points for possums, gliders and the like to navigate their normal foraging routes, which have been interrupted by construction. Placed close enough together to encourage movement, the poles also make it possible for animals to remain connected with the wider species groups in the area. Studies done by ecologists and conservationists have documented the opposing conditions created for wildlife due to road construction and the encroachment of suburban life. The four main concerns experts arrived at are: a decrease in the amount and quality of wildlife habitat; increase in wildlife mortality due to vehicle collision; wildlife cut
FAUNA-FRIENDLY
FURNITURE Unique infrastructure provides safe passage to Australian wildlife in the newly constructed community of Springfield Lakes 34 | ODS Exemplary Showcase
off from resources on the opposite side of the road; and, a divide between wildlife populations, creating smaller more vulnerable groups that can impact species numbers over time. Erecting fauna infrastructure that creates safe passage for wildlife is one way to combat the threat to natural habitats created by urban sprawl. As experts in the preservation and rehabilitation of natural landscapes, Evolve was contracted to erect seven 18-metre-high poles to service a new section of the developing estate. Initial site inspections conducted by Evolve established where construction had most impacted the site, allowing them to determine
