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Measuring our effort in tackling invasive species

In August last year the Invasive Species Council released the results of our national survey of organisations tackling invasive species. Following detailed analysis, we can now reveal some startling results about the effort dedicated to managing environmental invaders.

The online survey, carried out over eight weeks, was directed at a wide range of conservation, government and Landcare groups. It was sent to 1400 organisations and networked widely, and resulted in 794 responses.

We were astounded to learn how many people the survey respondents represented – 109,000 volunteers and 107,000 paid staff.

These large numbers only reveal the size of the respondent organisations. To establish how much work was being done on invasive species management, we asked for the average total effort per organisation directed to invasive species management.

This revealed that the 794 survey respondents utilised the equivalent of 1500 full time volunteers and 1850 full time staff every year to manage invasive species impacting on the environment.

Volunteer and paid full time equivalent.
Volunteer and paid full time equivalent.

Converted to a dollar value (using a conservative full-time equivalent cost of $50,000) the effort by volunteers is worth $76 million and $92 million from paid staff. Our surveyed organisations spend the equivalent of $168 million in staff and volunteer effort annually just managing environmental invaders.

Total yearly value of volunteer work - $76 million.
Total yearly value of volunteer work – $76 million.

 

Average yearly value of volunteer work per organisation - $100k.
Average yearly value of volunteer work per organisation – $100k.

The yearly effort of survey respondents from the community sector alone is worth $62 million, an average $125,000 per community organisation.

Total yearly value of effort - community $61 million.
Total yearly value of effort – community $61 million.

 

Average yearly value of effort per organisation - community $125k.
Average yearly value of effort per organisation – community $125k.

 

Because of the large sample size, we were able to extrapolate to roughly estimate the total value of the effort across Australia.

We conservatively estimate that the value of the effort by the community sector to tackle invasive species is at least $600 million. For all sectors, the total yearly value of the volunteer effort on invasive species exceeds $740 million and the value of the paid effort is $880 million.

This amounts to an impressive contribution worth at least $1.6 billion each year.

This is likely to be a substantial under-estimate of the true effort since we have used conservative assumptions in our extrapolations.

We believe that this is the first time anybody has attempted to measure the Australia-wide effort on invasive species impacting on the natural environment.

We know that invasive species are having an enormous impact on the natural environment but it is extremely difficult to put a dollar value on this damage and loss. The human effort expended in reducing invasive species impacts is just one facet of the cost. It is also a clear demonstration of the value people place on the environment and the magnitude of the economic and social burden of invasive species.

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Join thousands of Australians who are standing up for Kosciuszko National Park!

The NSW government is one step away from allowing aerial control of feral horses in Kosciuszko National Park. This is huge news and a crucial step for our threatened native wildlife and the fragile alpine ecosystems they call home.

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The Invasive Species Council was formed in 2002 to seek stronger laws, policies and programs to protect nature from harmful pests, weeds and diseases.

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Dear Project Team,

[YOUR PERSONALISED MESSAGE WILL APPEAR HERE.] 

I support the amendment to the Kosciuszko National Park Wild Horse Heritage Management Plan to allow our incredible National Parks staff to use aerial shooting as one method to rapidly reduce feral horse numbers. I want to see feral horse numbers urgently reduced in order to save the national park and our native wildlife that live there.

The current approach is not solving the problem. Feral horse numbers have rapidly increased in Kosciuszko National Park to around 18,000, a 30% jump in just the past 2 years. With the population so high, thousands of feral horses need to be removed annually to reduce numbers and stop our National Park becoming a horse paddock. Aerial shooting, undertaken humanely and safely by professionals using standard protocols, is the only way this can happen.

The government’s own management plan for feral horses states that ‘if undertaken in accordance with best practice, aerial shooting can have the lowest negative animal welfare impacts of all lethal control methods’.

This humane and effective practice is already used across Australia to manage hundreds of thousands of feral animals like horses, deer, pigs, and goats.

Trapping and rehoming of feral horses has been used in Kosciuszko National Park for well over a decade but has consistently failed to reduce the population, has delayed meaningful action and is expensive. There are too many feral horses in the Alps and not enough demand for rehoming for it to be relied upon for the reduction of the population.

Fertility control as a management tool is only effective for a small, geographically isolated, and accessible population of feral horses where the management outcome sought is to maintain the population at its current size. It is not a viable option to reduce the large and growing feral horse population in the vast and rugged terrain of Kosciuszko National Park.

Feral horses are trashing and trampling our sensitive alpine ecosystems and streams, causing the decline and extinction of native animals. The federal government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee has stated that feral horses ‘may be the crucial factor that causes final extinction’ for 12 alpine species.

I recognise the sad reality that urgent and humane measures are necessary to urgently remove the horses or they will destroy the Snowies and the native wildlife that call the mountains home. I support a healthy national park where native species like the Corroboree Frog and Mountain Pygmy Possum can thrive.

Kind regards,
[Your name]
[Your email address]
[Your postcode]


Dear Project Team,

[YOUR PERSONALISED MESSAGE WILL APPEAR HERE.] 

I support the amendment to the Kosciuszko National Park Wild Horse Heritage Management Plan to allow our incredible National Parks staff to use aerial shooting as one method to rapidly reduce feral horse numbers. I want to see feral horse numbers urgently reduced in order to save the national park and our native wildlife that live there.

The current approach is not solving the problem. Feral horse numbers have rapidly increased in Kosciuszko National Park to around 18,000, a 30% jump in just the past 2 years. With the population so high, thousands of feral horses need to be removed annually to reduce numbers and stop our National Park becoming a horse paddock. Aerial shooting, undertaken humanely and safely by professionals using standard protocols, is the only way this can happen.

The government’s own management plan for feral horses states that ‘if undertaken in accordance with best practice, aerial shooting can have the lowest negative animal welfare impacts of all lethal control methods’.

This humane and effective practice is already used across Australia to manage hundreds of thousands of feral animals like horses, deer, pigs, and goats.

Trapping and rehoming of feral horses has been used in Kosciuszko National Park for well over a decade but has consistently failed to reduce the population, has delayed meaningful action and is expensive. There are too many feral horses in the Alps and not enough demand for rehoming for it to be relied upon for the reduction of the population.

Fertility control as a management tool is only effective for a small, geographically isolated, and accessible population of feral horses where the management outcome sought is to maintain the population at its current size. It is not a viable option to reduce the large and growing feral horse population in the vast and rugged terrain of Kosciuszko National Park.

Feral horses are trashing and trampling our sensitive alpine ecosystems and streams, causing the decline and extinction of native animals. The federal government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee has stated that feral horses ‘may be the crucial factor that causes final extinction’ for 12 alpine species.

I recognise the sad reality that urgent and humane measures are necessary to urgently remove the horses or they will destroy the Snowies and the native wildlife that call the mountains home. I support a healthy national park where native species like the Corroboree Frog and Mountain Pygmy Possum can thrive.

Kind regards,
[Your name]
[Your email address]
[Your postcode]