Wild Otways Initiative

The Australian Government’s ‘Wild Otways Initiative’ is a three-year $6M commitment to achieving on-ground outcomes that will improve the protection and management of threatened species in the Otways, Victoria.

As part of this Initiative, the Conservation Ecology Centre is:

• Critically assessing populations of pigs and deer across the Otways and identifying regions where management can be most effective for preserving EPBC-listed threatened species and protecting vital assets such as water catchments and cultural heritage.

• Working to better reduce the impact of foxes and cats on threatened species in post-fire landscapes by testing whether controlling foxes and cats, or changing the way some planned burns are conducted, can help threatened species survive in a post-fire landscape.

Much of this work is done in tandem or partnership with our other research projects including:

• Otways Ecological Research Forum – funded by The Ian Potter Foundation. Results from the Wild Otways Initiative projects will be presented at this forum each year.

• Potoroo Collaring Project – funded by the Hermon Slade Foundation since 2020, this Wild Otways project is being undertaken by Mark le Pla as a part of his PhD with the University of Melbourne.

• Potoroo Spatial Distribution Model – funded by The Ian Potter Foundation

• Carlisle Fuel Hazard Model – funded by The Ian Potter Foundation