Flying-foxes in the Clarence Valley

Calling all local women...Have you ever been to Susan Island?

Join us in celebrating World Rainforest Day with a special women's trip to Susan Island.

We will learn about the incredible rainforest that exists there and the species that rely on it, take a guided tour of a successful restoration area, and get our hands dirty with a very easy vine weeding activity. In exchange, lunch is provided!

Thursday, 20th June 2024

10am - 1pm

Meet at Prince Street Boat Ramp

This is a FREE event, but places are limited so please reserve your spot

In honour of International Day for Biological Diversity we’d like to take the opportunity to highlight the incredible job our furry flying-fox friends do for biodiversity. Without them, there would be no food and shelter for koalas, no pristine habitat for native birds, and no magnificent forests for us to enjoy.

Did you know…

• Flying-foxes are the largest flying mammal in Australia and use their excellent vision and sense of smell to navigate over vast landscapes at night.
• Flying-foxes are keystone pollinators and super seed spreaders, helping to propagate over 100 native tree and plant species.
• In one night, flying-foxes can travel 50km pollinating native trees and spreading up to 60,000 seeds as they forage.
• Many native trees depend on flying-foxes and have co-evolved with them over the last 25-40 million years. Eucalypts, for example, flower more and produce more nectar at night when flying-foxes forage.

Council acknowledges the difficulty flying-foxes cause when they are camped near your home or feed on your trees, but please remember that by protecting flying-foxes and their habitat, we are protecting other native plant and animal species, enhancing our local ecosystems, and maintaining biological diversity in our lovely region.

Have you seen this year's theme for The Long Way Home Writing Competition?

Flying by Night

Are they thinking flying-foxes?

The writing competition is open and waiting for your batty tale. For more information visit The Long Way Home website.

Closing date 11pm 1st June 2024.

Hey trivia lovers...

Grab a team and join us for a FREE fun-filled evening of batty brain teasers and a fly-out spectacle over the Clarence River.

It promises to be an exciting night of nocturnal noggin nourishment where you can test your general knowledge and sharpen your wits around our winged wonders.

WHAT: Who Gives a Flying-fox Trivia Night!

WHEN: Flying off at 7pm Thursday 22nd February

WHERE: Crown Hotel, Grafton

WHO: Come with a team (max 10 people) or create one on the night

Prizes for the top Wingding Whiz!

Contact Rhianna.Faithfull@clarence.nsw.gov.au for any queries or just turn up.

Don't miss out on this batastic trivia extravaganza!

On Thursday 23^rd November Clarence Valley Council supported the launch of Greg Clancy’s most recent report: The Fauna of Susan Island (Nyami Julgaa) 2010-2022.

The morning was spent listening to several talks about the island, including its land-use history, the island’s significance to the First Nations Nyami Julgaa women’s group, vegetation on the island and how the island is now managed for conservation. Council was also pleased to participate in the talks by presenting an overview and update on the Susan Island: Restoring to Reduce Conflict Flying-fox project that is funded by LGNSW Flying-fox Habitat Restoration Program.

Greg Clancy presented the results of his report through a series of great photos of many of the fauna species he was able to survey in 2018 – 94 vertebrate fauna species and 103 invertebrate species. The report was then officially launched by Clarence Valley Council Mayor Peter Johnstone and will be made publicly available through the Clarence Valley Libraries.

On the beautiful morning of Wednesday 20^th September Clarence Valley Council was thrilled to partner with the Nyami Julgaa Women’s group to take 25 local aboriginal elders and women out to visit Susan Island.

Susan Island holds great significance to the Nyami Julgaa group, who are the cultural custodians of the island and have a close and ongoing relationship to the place and its rainforest. The women in this group have worked hard over the years to support and advise bush regeneration efforts by National Parks and Wildlife Services and the Susan and Elizabeth Island Recreation Land Manager, and are now seeing the revival of indigenous flora and fauna on the island that have traditionally been used for food, medicine and technology.

Council supported this women’s visit to Susan Island by providing food, transport, safety, and other planning logistics. We were also excited to work with the Gumbanggyirr Rangers from Ngiyambandigay Wajaarr Aboriginal Corporation for the first time, who assisted with boat transport and safety procedures on the day.

Council is fortunate to be able to support this type of community engagement thanks to the grant it received through the LGNSW Flying-fox Habitat Restoration Program. The Susan Island Nature Reserve, with its intact remnant floodplain rainforest, is a seasonal home to Grey-headed and Little Red flying-foxes each year. Clarence Valley Council has launched the Susan Island: Restoring to Reduce Conflict project to restore further flying-fox habitat on the island while also working to develop a greater understanding of flying-foxes amongst the community.

Flying-foxes hold an extremely important environmental role as seed dispersers and pollinators and are intricately linked to the health of our forests, the other wildlife that depend on these forests and the communities that are connected to them like the Nyami Julgaa group on Susan Island.

As part of the Susan Island: Restoring to Reduce Conflict project and events like this women’s visit, Council hopes to demonstrate the link between flying-foxes and their importance to the island’s natural rainforest and significant cultural heritage. We look forward to creating more opportunities for community engagement with flying-foxes and Susan Island through this project.

The survey “Community attitudes towards flying-foxes in the Clarence Valley” has closed and the results are in!

We received 56 submissions. Thank you to everyone who participated. You can view the whole Survey Response Report, but here are some of the highlights…

KEY STAKEHOLDERS with an interest in flying-foxes are:

• Local residents or community groups; and
• Environmental/conservation organisations.

The community’s general KNOWLEDGE AND AWARENESS of flying-foxes in the Clarence Valley is extremely high. Everyone who took the survey know that flying-foxes live in the Clarence Valley area and have seen or encountered them. A high majority of participants are also already aware that:

• Flying-foxes are a native species protected under legislation;
• Flying-foxes are important seed dispersers and pollinators;
• Flying-foxes contribute to the preservation of native vegetation;
• Grey-headed flying-foxes are listed as a threatened species; and
• Disease from flying-foxes can be prevented by not handling them.

Understandably, there are mixed FEELINGS AND ATTITUDES towards flying-foxes and habitat restoration amongst the Clarence Valley community. 59% of participants are either currently affected by flying-foxes or have been in the past, but more expressed positive feelings (46%) towards flying foxes than negative ones (34%). More participants also described their overall experiences and interactions with flying-foxes as positive (46%) rather than negative (39%).

The top 3 flying-fox topics of most concern or interest are:

1. Smell
2. Flying-fox droppings
3. Damage to vegetation

70% of participants think flying-foxes are good for the environment, with most agreeing that:

• Flying-foxes are environmentally important and should be protected;
• Flying-fox habitat should be protected and restored; and
• Council has a role to play in protecting flying-foxes and restoring their habitat.

More than half of the participants, however, also agree that:

• Flying-foxes are a nuisance that need to be managed;
• Living/working/studying near flying-foxes has its challenges; and
• Council has a role to play in managing flying-foxes.

When asked what role Council should have in flying-fox management when camps occur on public land, some common responses include:

• Community education and information;
• Managing, restoring, and protecting flying-fox habitat away from residential areas;
• Maintaining street trees and vegetation on public land; and
• Relocating flying-foxes when camps set up in residential areas.

Just under half of the respondents showed an interest in participating in community education and/or events about flying-foxes and habitat restoration, with some common suggestions for Council including:

• Educational materials and events for the community, including for school children;
• Promoting flying-foxes positively;
• Creating opportunities for people to see and experience flying-foxes in person e.g. tours/events; and
• Opportunities to participate in bush regeneration and tree planting.

Thanks again to all the community members who participated in this survey. Council will be using these results to help inform a Community Engagement Strategy for our Susan Island: Restore to Reduce Conflict flying-fox project. We look forward to sharing this with you soon.

Do you want to get involved in restoring flying-fox habitat on Susan Island?

Join the Friends of Susan and Elizabeth Islands this Saturday 19th August for their monthly volunteer day. Spend the morning learning about rainforest regeneration by liberating native trees from vines or planting new natives. These activities contribute to the overall work Council is doing as part of the new Susan Island - Restoring to Reduce Conflict Flying-fox Project.

Find more information and follow the group at Friends of Susan and Elizabeth Islands or email nick.reeve@icloud.com to register your interest.

Please take our online survey - https://www.clarenceconversations.com.au/flyingfoxes/survey_tools/community-attitudes-towards-flying-foxes-in-the-clarence-valley

Clarence Valley Council is seeking to better understand the target stakeholder groups and community attitudes towards flying-foxes and habitat restoration projects in the Clarence Valley Council local government area.

Your contribution will help guide Council's direction for community engagement and education about flying-foxes and their projects.

If you cannot take the survey online paper copies will be made available at Clarence Valley Council Customer Service Centres.

The survey will close 31st July 2023.

Clarence Valley Council is excited to announce a new flying-fox project: Susan Island – Restoring to Reduce Conflict. This project is grant funded through the Local Government New South Wales 10-year Flying-fox Habitat Restoration Program and aims to improve flying-fox habitat on Susan Island.

The Susan Island Nature Reserve – which has a significant area of intact remnant floodplain rainforest once covering the banks of coastal rivers throughout northern New South Wales - is already an important roosting and breeding area for the threatened Grey-headed and Little Red flying-foxes. In recent years, however, we have seen a dramatic decline in seasonal flying-fox numbers on the island due to the 2019 influx of Little Reds and the vegetation damage they caused in the reserve. Subsequent seasons have instead seen ‘spill-over’ influxes of flying-foxes into residential areas in South Grafton and Grafton, causing much conflict in the community.

Habitat restoration of this Susan Island camp is therefore essential to encourage flying-foxes back to the island and minimise these 'spill over' events into neighbouring urban areas. The Susan Island – Restoring to Reduce Conflict project plans to do this through restoration activities like weed control and revegetation in the island’s remaining Crown Land to extend the existing rainforest canopy. This will not only increase suitable habitat that supports healthy flying-fox populations but will have positive flow on effects for the overall biodiversity of Susan Island. Council will work closely with NPWS and the Susan and Elizabeth Island Recreation Land Manager (SEIRLM), who already manage bush regeneration work on the island.

Council will also work closely with Nyami Julgaa, the cultural custodians of Susan Island. This group of Aboriginal women have a close and ongoing association with the island and its rainforest, with an important women's site located there. The project seeks to enhance community engagement around the cultural practices and use of the island, as well as increase general community understanding of flying-foxes and their importance in wider ecosystem health. Through this project Council is excited to improve overall attitudes towards flying-foxes by providing the community with more opportunities to view and engage with our local batty friends.