2004 Community Conservation Award Winner

The Wildlife Preservation Society is pleased to announce that its Community Wildlife Conservation Award for 2004 has been awarded to Waterfall Springs Conservation Association Incorporated of Kulnurra near Gosford, NSW.

The Award is given annually to a community organisation which makes a significant contribution to the preservation of Australian wildlife. The President of the Society, Mr Patrick Medway, said that the Society was particularly pleased to be able to offer the Award to Waterfall Springs as that organisation operated on private land and almost entirely with volunteer labour. It had been instrumental in repatriating from Kawau Island in New Zealand a large number of endangered Brush-tailed Rock Wallabies. These animals had been taken to New Zealand in the nineteenth century and had multiplied and become feral pests on Kawau Island, while in Australia through predation and habitat loss, their numbers had depleted to the extent that the species was critically endangered.

Waterfall Springs' mission statement is to co-ordinate and unite with the community
and organisations to conduct recovery projects for endangered native species at Waterfall Springs. Their objective is to provide responsible community education relevant to the plight of endangered species. They focus on the need for wild habitat preservation as the primary means of ensuring the long-term survival of Australia's vitally important native species, as well as managed breeding programmes and habitat regeneration initiatives for currently endangered species. With contributions in money and materials from business and industry, Waterfall Springs has created a habitat suitable for a successful captive breeding program which will allow these wallabies to be released into the wild in the near future. Some have already been returned to former habitat in Victoria. Waterfall Springs works closely with National Parks and Zoos in other states and maintains small populations of other endangered species of wallaby to assist programs undertaken in Queensland and South Australia.

Mr Medway said that Waterfall Springs' achievement, without any Government financial assistance, was a great example of a community effort from which important Australian wildlife will substantially benefit. It is a worthy recipient of the 2004 Wildlife Preservation Society's Community Wildlife Conservation Award.

The Society's Community Wildlife Conservation Award, which comprises a large crystal trophy and a cheque for $2,500 is awarded annually to a community conservation group that is making a major contribution to wildlife preservation in Australia.