In 2021 our Froggatt Awards recognised some outstanding achievements in the fight to protect Australia’s native plants and animals from invasive species.
Awards were won by the Western Riverina Pest Project in NSW, Gamba Grass Roots in the NT and the Rodent Eradication Project conducted by the Lord Howe Island Board.
Also receiving official commendations are Budgewoi Beach Dunecare for its carefully planned weed eradication and sand dune restoration, Matt Korcz for determined efforts to eradicate feral pigs from Kangaroo Island, Maria Katsikas for tireless efforts as a volunteer weeder in the Nillumbik region and Michael Squires for on-going efforts to control European wasps in the Braidwood area.
The Western Riverina Pest Project has been awarded a national Froggatt Award for undertaking the largest feral pig control program in Australia.
The project began in 2016 with focus on feral pig control along the Murrumbidgee and Lachlan Rivers in NSW. It is being recognised for its innovative use of emerging technology across 1.4 million hectares of privately-owned and publicly-owned lands
The community campaign Gamba Grass Roots has been awarded a national Froggatt Award for their work tackling one of Australia’s most alarming invasive species.
Gamba Grass Roots is a community campaign in the Northern Territory’s Top End, established in 2018 by Pew Charitable Trusts and Environment Centre NT to raise awareness of the gamba grass threat, support landholders to control gamba and motivate the NT Government to control gamba on crown land. The largest infestations are on public lands, including an infestation covering more than 20% of Litchfield National Park.
Powered by passionate local volunteers, the campaign ran stalls at local markets and fairs, lobbied members of government, campaigned for gamba grass control commitments during local elections, published reports and educational materials and was an active and constant voice on traditional and social media.
The Invasive Species Council has awarded the Rodent Eradication Project managed by the Lord Howe Island Board with a national Froggatt Award for their efforts controlling rodents on one of Australia’s natural treasures.
The World Heritage listed Lord Howe Island Group is home to the world’s rarest insect, the Lord Howe Island Phasmid, alongside 1,600 other species of terrestrial insects, 241 species of native plants and 207 species of birds.
The Rodent Eradication Project began eradicating the ship rat and the house mouse in 2019, following 15 years of planning and research. After a period of about 18 months without detecting rodents, several breeding rats were found in early 2021 which led to a rapid eradication response by the Lord Howe Island Board.
Completion of the rodent eradication program and further work on an ambitious weed eradication program are set to establish Lord Howe Island as a worldwide exemplar of island restoration.
A 2019 Froggatt Award given to Southern Downs Regional Council was also revoked during the Froggatt Award 2021 process. It’s the first time we have ever retracted a Froggatt Award.
In 2019 our Froggatt Awards went to Southern Downs Regional Council, Milo Yeigh and to the Hon David Littleproud.
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.
