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Invasive species have become one of the largest threats facing Australia’s natural environment, but their continued arrival and spread is all too often neglected as a conservation issue.
The Froggatt Awards are given to those who have made a major contribution to protecting Australia’s native plants and animals, ecosystems and people from dangerous new invasive species.
In 2018 our Froggatt Awards went to community group Save Kosci for organising a 560km protest walk against moves to protect feral horses in Kosciuszko National Park and the NSW Department of Primary Industries for their Biosecurity Warrior program. We also awarded a Froggatt to the Tarrangower Cactus Control Group for their incredible commitment to tackling invasive wheel cactus in central Victoria.
Awarded to Save Kosci Inc for organising a 560km, 36-day protest walk from Sydney to Mt Kosciuszko in November and December 2018.
Save Kosci Inc was formed when a group of bushwalkers became alarmed at legislation passed by the NSW Parliament in June 2018 that protected feral horses in Kosciuszko National Park. Already they were concerned about the rapid increase in horse damage in their beloved national park. The legislation would make a serious problem more intractable.
Save Kosci undertook the logistics for the long-distance walk including route planning, securing permission form land managers and police, walker registration and accommodation, vehicle support and walker safety.
More than 600 people participated in the event. Five walkers undertook the full 36 day walk to Mt Kosciuszko joined by other walkers completing shorter sections. The walk culminated in the ascent of the Mt Kosciuszko summit where 200 walkers converged from several directions.
Walkers along the way met with state politicians and local businesses and organisations. A protest was held outside the local office of the architect of the horse protection legislation, Deputy Premier John Barilaro.
The walk was a complex undertaking organised will little lead time. It succeeded in drawing public attention to the impacts of feral horses in Kosciuszko National Park and inspiring people to become more active in seeking action to solve the problem.
Awarded to NSW Department of Primary Industries, creator of the Biosecurity Warrior character ambassador and education program, for spreading the message that we all need to play a role in biosecurity.
The Biosecurity Warrior was first created as an interactive exhibition in the Food Farm of the 2017 Sydney Royal Easter Show. It featured a fun child-like action character that promoted messages about what people can do to prevent and avoid the spread of weeds, feral animals, ants, plant and animal diseases and other invasive species.
The Biosecurity Warrior campaign aims to turn everybody in Australia into a biosecurity warrior and has featured at the 2017 and 2018 Sydney Royal Easter Show. The interactive exhibition included a video, simple games, a weed quiz, children’s workbook and other handouts.
The campaign plans to expand with the creation of a ‘nemesis’ character, a website and reward the efforts of individuals. Other states including Tasmania and Queensland have expressed interest in adopting the character.
Awarded to the Tarrangower Cactus Control Group, formed when three landcare groups in 2005 set about to tackle the growing problem of wheel cactus (Opuntia robusta) in the Maldon, Baringhup and Nuggety districts of central Victoria.
Wheel cactus, originally from Mexico, was first planted as an ornamental garden plan and his since escaped into parts of Victoria from as early as the 1960s.
They held field days and training workshops and offered free herbicide and lending of equipment. They had a high-profile presence at the yearly Easter parade. Their aim was to seek the cooperation of every landholder that had wheel cactus on their properties. They have drawn on university students, local scouts and even Work for the Dole crews.
They have also contributed to state and national policy development, including the first-ever Victoria-wide map of wheel cactus and the Managing Opuntoid Cacti in Australia manual.
In 2017 they were awarded the 2017 Landcare Community Group Award and in 2016 the Parks Victoria Kookaburra Award. Vice President of the control group, Ian Granda was awarded Maldon Citizen of the Year in 2011.
In 2020 we saw some outstanding efforts from the winners of our annual Froggatt Awards.
In 2019 our Froggatt Awards went to Southern Downs Regional Council, Milo Yeigh and to the Hon David Littleproud.
In 2018 our Froggatt Awards went to community group Save Kosci, NSW Department of Primary Industries and Tarrangower Cactus Control Group.
In 2017 our Froggatt Awards went to the independent panel reviewing the national biosecurity system and Nic Gill, author of Animal Eco-Warriors: Humans and Animals Working Together to Protect Our Planet.
In 2016 our Froggatt Awards went to Gregory Andrews, Australia’s first Threatened Species Commissioner, SPRATS, the Sea Spurge Action Teams and Ecology Australia.
In 2015 our Froggatt Awards went to Australian Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources, Barnaby Joyce, NSW red imported fire ant response and Senate Environment and Communications References Committee.
The Invasive Species Council acknowledges the Traditional Custodians throughout Australia and their connections to land and sea. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today. The Invasive Species Council supports voting ‘YES’ for a Voice to Parliament.
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.
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.
