A LAND-based ark near Little River is helping threatened native flora and fauna to survive and thrive.
The Mt Rothwell Biodiversity Centre is a predator-free 453 hectare property preserving and conserving threatened species.
The centre has just celebrated the birth of a batch of quoll joeys in the last two weeks, still furless and in the pouch.
And the centre provided eight of the 16 Eastern Barred Bandicoots released last weekend to roam free on Churchill Island, near Phillip Island.
Centre officer Jacqui Young said it was the first “truly wild release” of the bandicoots into an unfenced environment.
“We hope that Churchill Island may become an island ark for threatened species,” Ms Young said.
She said threatened fauna such as the Eastern Barred Bandicoot, Eastern Quoll and Brush-tailed Wallaby were doing well in the supportive habitat.
Recent surveys recently revealed 1150 bandicoots, three times as many as expected, demonstrating that work to enhance old growth forests and woodlands was working, she said.
The number of critically endangered quolls roaming free at Mt Rothwell has grown to more than 100, the largest self-sustaining population outside Tasmania.
The centre’s breeding program also supplies other projects with threatened species to expand populations.
She said the results were achieved despite the centre still experiencing some issues with rabbits.
“Even though bandicoots are omnivorous, rabbits overgraze and destroy the grasslands the bandicoots need for nesting,” Ms Young said.
“In addition to exclusion fencing, we are trialling different methods of rabbit control, including the release of some larger spot-tailed quoll males.
“We can tell from the scat that one particular male is very efficient and almost exclusively targets rabbits.”
The centre recently received a $16,280 grant from the Port Phillip and Westernport Catchment Management Authority under the National Landcare Program.
Ecologist Mark Trengove has been providing advice on the vegetation needs and correct density for future plantings.
And Karingal’s Geelong Community Nursery has collected seed from old growth trees on the property and is growing tube stock for revegetation.
