Events in the world of FATE have been fairly hectic over the past few months rather than slowing down for the holiday season. The main projects occupying our time have been the Choosing Kangaroo marketing project, the Barrier Ranges Sustainable Wildlife Enterprise trial looking at kangaroo management in far northwestern NSW and - just in case you were starting to think FATE was entirely kangaroo-obsessed - the Blue Mountains Western Edge Native Farm Forestry Project. Peter Ampt and Alex Baumber of FATE has also had a paper published on kangaroo harvesting issues in the latest edition of Australian Zoologist, as well as a book review.
The Choosing Kangaroo project, which is being funded by the New Animal Industries program of RIRDC, is looking at consumer behaviour in relation to kangaroo products - what factors influence the purchasing choices people make around kangaroo meat. Guided by the project Steering Committee, which includes research partners Peter Ampt (FATE Program Manager) and Dr Kate Owen (UTS School of Marketing) as well as kangaroo and meat industry representatives, the project has been exploring the potential for new smallgoods and processed meat products (eg meat pies) to use kangaroo as a visible ingredient and selling point.
The project has involved interviews with meat maunfacturers and retailers as well as three focus groups of meat consumers, who provided preliminary information about the level of awareness of kangaroo meat in the marketplace and the factors influencing their purchasing choices. The next stage of the project is to conduct Discrete Choice Experiments (DCEs), which can analyse how consumers are likely to respond to a series of product choices which differ in price, content (eg kangaroo vs other meats) and information provided. The results could have significant implications for the ways in which the kangaroo industry promotes its products.
The Barrier Ranges Sustainable Wildlife Enterprise trial has been exploring the sustainable use of kangaroos from the other end - attempting to increase landholder involvement in managing the kangaroo harvest on their lands. Funding from RIRDC's Wildlife and Rangelands Systems program has enabled us to welcome a new member to the FATE team - Katrina Hannigan, who is working part-time for FATE out of the Western Catchment Management Authority in Broken Hill.
Katrina, Alex and Peter have been working closely with members of the Barrier Area Rangecare Group (BARG) to develop a trial proposal that would allow the group to collaborate and share a sustainable harvest quota across property boundaries. This would better reflect the cross-property movement patterns of kangaroos and even out the high harvest variability that can occur when working with a single property. This might allow the group to negotiate more stable supply arrangements with kangaroo meat and skin processors. FATE has also been supported by Western CMA to train a number of BARG landholders in Landscape Function Analysis (LFA) with David Tongway, formerly of CSIRO. The aim of this training is to enable landholders to monitor factors such as stability, infiltration and nutrient cycling across their properties and feed this knowledge back into management decisions, including kangaroo management under the Barrier Ranges trial. The first round of this training took place in November 2006 and was rounded out nicely with some fantastic local hospitality at the Packsaddle Melbourne Cup luncheon and BARG Christmas Party.
David Tongway answers questions at LFA Training Course, while
the new face of FATE in far western NSW, Katrina Hannigan steps out in style
for the Packsaddle Roadhouse Melbourne Cup Luncheon, Nov 2006
The growth in the FATE team has been huge over the past six months. In addition to Katrina's commencement as part-time local research coordinator on the Barrier Ranges trial, Dr Rosie Cooney has been appointed as a visiting fellow at UNSW, exploring models for sustainable wildlife use with FATE.
Rosie has worked around the world on the sustainable use of wildlife and ways in which it can contribute to conservation goals. Of particular importance to FATE's work on kangaroos and ideas for small mammal reintroduction activities is her understanding of the role that regulatory arrangements play in encouraging or discouraging conservation outcomes. Her experiences with international examples of conservation through sustainable use have been invaluable, such as South Africa, where the area of wildlife habitat conserved in private reserves is now three times the area in National Parks, thanks to a combination of tourism and sustainable harvesting.
Claire Carlton of Eco Change has also been engaged by FATE to help develop the Blue Mountains Western Edge Native Farm Forestry project. This project is aiming to develop farm forestry options that can be implemented systematically across target areas that adjoin the western edge of Blue Mountains World Heritage Area and that provide environmental services, economic returns to landholders and investors and contribute to sustainable regional development. These economic returns might be through timber harvesting, carbon trading, biomass energy production, environmental services (such as improved water quality) and ecotourism.
FATE, Claire, the Blue Mountains World Heritage Institute, Hawkesbury-Nepean Catchment Management Authority and other project partners submitted an application for a NSW Climate Action Grant in October 2006 to further develop the project. More details can be found on the FATE Website.
FATE has also partnered with two students undertaking the Masters of Environmental Management at UNSW's Institute of Environmental Studies in 2006. Rachael Stewart-Rattray has explored carbon trading and other payments for ecosystem services under the Blue Mountains Western Edge project, whilst Kate Norris has been looking at common property approaches to the commercial use of native species in Australia's rangelands.
All of this project collaboration has meant a lot of new faces and activity around FATE's UNSW headquarters. If you are interested in adding to this collaborative activity, finding out more about any of these projects or simply telling us what you think about them, contact FATE Program Manger Peter Ampt on p.ampt@unsw.edu.au
Have a great Christmas and we'll look forward to further communication in 2007. And while we're on the topic of holiday festivities - we think nothing says Christmas in Australia like the wonderful red-and-green combination of Home Made Red Wine Kangaroo Skewers With Asparagus Spears & Rocket (courtesy of Macro Meats).
Merry Christmas from all the FATE Team
For previous FATE news, have a look at the May
2006 and October
2005 FATE Newsletters
Last Updated 8 December 2006
