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The Queensland Government is providing more than $1.25 million for projects under its Queensland Threatened Species Research Grants program.

Grants of up to $150,000 will support research projects that will improve the understanding of Queensland’s threatened flora and fauna species and assist with their recovery in the wild.

This includes new methods on the distribution and abundance of threatened species, and ways of improving monitoring of threatened species and mitigating threats.

Projects include research on bilbies, whale sharks, grey nurse sharks, freshwater sawfish, spectacled flying fox and threatened plant species and communities.

The projects will help safeguard the future of Queensland’s threatened species, and the funding is an investment towards protecting the state’s biodiversity.

QLD Minister for Environment and Science Leanne Linard notes “this funding of more than $1.25 million will be directed at some of our most iconic and vulnerable animals such as the bilby and grey nurse sharks.

“The recipients are either universities or environmental organisations with vast experience in conducting critical research into our threatened species.

“I’d like to congratulate the recipients of the eleven projects, and I look forward to seeing the outcomes and how they will assist our threatened species.

“We have an ambitious environmental agenda, and providing funding through our Community Sustainability Action grants and our Queensland Threatened Species Research Grants is a game-changer.”

Sharks And Rays Australia Director and Principal Scientist, Dr Barbara Wueringer shares “the funding will allow us to continue and expand our collaborative research with Indigenous Land and Sea rangers.

“We have completed a three-year project into freshwater sawfish, and we can now track juvenile sawfish to determine how they’re using the rivers in the Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park (CYPAL).

“This is not just a tracking study however, it is a community project of discovery, because we believe they leave their freshwater habitat when they mature.

“The freshwater sawfish can grow up to seven metres long, and used to be common along Queensland’s east coast, from the tip of Cape York to Brisbane.

“The Brisbane River once was a pupping ground for the freshwater sawfish, and unfortunately on the east coast their range is now limited to rivers within the Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park (CYPAL).”

Full list of grant recipients:

Artemis Nature Fund Inc $149,821
Chidna Station, near Gunpowder, north of Mount Isa
This project aims to develop effective habitat management models for Carpentarian Grasswrens, Gouldian Finches and Purple-necked Rock-wallabies on Chidna Station, North-Western Highlands.

Australian Wildlife Conservancy $145,045
Coorabulka Station, near Boulia 
This project aims to implement a monitoring program to conserve priority threatened species the Plains-wanderer, Greater Bilby and Kowari on Coorabulka Station.

Biopixel Oceans Foundation Limited $90,000
Great Barrier Reef off Port Douglas
This project aims to determine the significance of the whale shark aggregation in Wreck Bay and the far northern Great Barrier Reef.      

Bush Heritage Australia Central Queensland $149,294
Edgbaston Reserve Nature Refuge, near Aramac This project aims to develop standardised methods for Great Artesian Basin spring-dependent threatened species and communities to determine and implement standard monitoring frameworks for a minimum of 25 species endemic to the area.    

James Cook University   $82,500
Townsville, Charters Towers, Hinchinbrook, Tully, Atherton Tablelands, Cairns and Daintree regions. This project aims to collect and assess data on 48 vulnerable to critically endangered plant species and develop state-of-condition reports or population summaries for use as baseline information for ongoing ecological research on each species.              

Save the Bilby Fund Ltd  $149,660
South West Queensland pastoral stations and Currawinya National Park  
This project aims to collect data on the density of wild Bilbies and their key threats (cats, red foxes and canids) in three study areas in South-West Queensland.

Sharks and Rays Australia Research Ltd.  $149,240
Cape York - Normanby River, Rinyirru National Park and Lakefield
This project aims to identify distribution, occupancy and demography for the East Coast Freshwater Sawfish population in Normanby River catchment area.

South Endeavour Pty Limited as trustee for South Endeavour Trust $104,826
West of Cooktown and Cape York Peninsula         
This project aims to collate new information from eight key Ghost Bat locations, to assess the population viability and to assist in future management of a cluster of colonies in Far North Queensland.

University of Queensland, School of Veterinary Sciences  $78,297
St Lucia
This project aims to develop a mitigation strategy for the leading threat to the health and survival of the endangered Spectacled Flying Fox.   

University of Southern Queensland $40,257
Crows Nest, Ipswich and Lockyer Valley  
This project aims to contribute new knowledge on the New Holland Mouse within South-East Queensland and develop mitigation strategies for key threatening processes.          

University of the Sunshine Coast $116,670
Wolf Rock (near Double Island Point), Great Sandy Straight, Agnes Waters and Moreton Bay          
This project aims to collate and catalogue existing data and re-survey Grey Nurse Shark populations at aggregation sites of Wolf Rock and Flat Rock to assess population trends and dynamics, including estimations of population growth and mortality.   

More information about threatened species and the Queensland Threatened Species Research Grants program is available at www.qld.gov.au/environment/plants-animals/conservation/threatened-wildlife/threatened-species

Image. A juvenile freshwater sawfish Pristis pristis is fitted with the custom-built accelerometer tag attached to the base of its saw. The tag detaches after 3 days, during which Sharks and Rays Australia keep a close eye on the fish. Credit: Sharks and Rays Australia 

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