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2021 VIRTUAL FLYING-FOX FORUM

The 2021 Flying-fox Forum was conducted virtually and we had over 155 attend to share, discuss and gain insight into the conservation & management of flying-foxes in Australia. You can download the agenda or access the replay instantly.

ACCESS THE 2021 REPLAYDOWNLOAD THE ABSTRACTS

The 2021 Flying-fox Forum

Speakers & Presentations

September 14, 2021

The Forum provides up-to-date research and insight into the management and conservation of flying-foxes and their habitat right across their range.

Ecosure has facilitated and lead six successful annual forums, which have been attended by experts in the field and delegates from local, state and federal government, research institutions, NRM groups, NGOs, wildlife care organisations and conservation groups.

Welcome to the Forum by Ecosure Hosts:

Jess Bracks & Ellie Kirke

FLYING-FOX FORUM PROGRAM 2021

You can view the program below and download the PDF presentations, or you can access the full reply here.

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FORUM WELCOME
Jason Van Weenen

Jason Van Weenen

Team Leader, Urban Biodiversity | Department for Environment and Water

Download PDF
VICTORIA UPDATE
Rodney Vile

Rodney Vile

Principal Officer Wildlife Emergencies | Biodiversity Division | Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning

ACT UPDATE
Michelle Jeffrey

Michelle Jeffrey

Manager Open Space | National Capital Authority

Sue Ellis

Sue Ellis

Flying-fox Project Manager | Flying-fox Habitat Restoration Program

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NEW SOUTH WALES UPDATE
Matthew Mo

Matthew Mo

Senior Project Officer - Threatened Species Issues Management | NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment

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SESSION 2

In morning session 2 we continued with State updates and began hearing from expert researchers, wildlife carers, and authorities. If you would like to have instant access to the entire day of LIVE video presentation recordings, you can purchase an all-access pass below.

PURCHASE THE VIDEO PRESENTATIONS
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QUEENSLAND UPDATE
Lindsay Delzoppo

Lindsay Delzoppo

Director Northern Wildlife Operations | Department of Environment and Science

AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT UPDATE
Tim McGrath

Tim McGrath

Threatened Species Officer | Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment

KOOLOONBUNG CREEK FLYING-FOX CAMP MANAGEMENT PLAN – DELIVERY OF
ACTIONS
Byron Reynolds

Byron Reynolds

Ecologist | Port Macquarie Hastings Council

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REVIEW AND EVALUATION OF CONVENTIONAL WISDOM ON THE ROOSTING OF
FLYING-FOXES
Tamika Lunn

Tamika Lunn

PhD Candidate | Griffith University

Download PDF
RESTORING FLYING-FOX HABITAT
Jen Ford

Jen Ford

Principal Restoration Ecologist | Ecosure

CAMP RESTORATION AND SPECIES RECOVERY: ENHANCING HABITAT FOR THE
GREY-HEADED FLYING-FOX IN BEGA
Hugh Pitty

Hugh Pitty

Community Coordinator | Friends of Glebe Wetlands

Mark Robinson

Mark Robinson

Team Leader Parks and Gardens | Colac Otway Shire

PRESERVATION OF HERITAGE TREE ASSETS – DISPERSE OR NUDGE?
COLAC BOTANICAL GARDENS GREY HEADED FLYING FOX CAMP MANAGEMENT
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Cameron Duthie

Cameron Duthie

Manager, Services and Operations | Colac Otway Shire

SESSION 3

In afternoon session 3 we continued hearing from expert researchers, wildlife carers, and authorities. If you would like to have instant access to the entire day of LIVE video presentation recordings, you can purchase an all-access pass below.

WATCH THE REPLAY
NATIONAL FLYING-FOX MONITORING PROGRAMMING: 9 YEARS OF GREY-HEADED
FLYING-FOX POPULATION DATA
Adam McKeown

Adam McKeown

Research Officer | CSIRO

Anita Gordon

Anita Gordon

Principal Veterinarian, Pathology | Department of Agriculture and Fisheries

PARALYSIS EVENT IN FLYING-FOXES IN QUEENSLAND AND NEW SOUTH WALES
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Keren Cox-Witton

Keren Cox-Witton

Senior Project Officer | Wildlife Health Australia

Natalie Foster

Natalie Foster

Natural Resources - Flying-fox Officer | Eurobodalla Shire Council

FLYING-FOX ODOUR NEUTRALISING TRIAL
Jess Bracks

Jess Bracks

Principal Wildlife Biologist | Ecosure

Tyron de Kauwe

Tyron de Kauwe

Natural Areas Conservation Officer | Sunshine Coast Regional Council

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A REPORT OF RARE CLUSTERS OF AUSTRALIAN BAT LYSSAVIRUS INFECTIONS IN
QUEENSLAND
Dr. Janine Barrett

Dr. Janine Barrett

Principal Veterinarian (Surveillance) | Department of Agriculture and Fisheries

SESSION 4

In afternoon session 4 we continued hearing from expert researchers, wildlife carers, and authorities. If you would like to have instant access to the entire day of LIVE video presentation recordings, you can purchase an all-access pass below.

INSTANT ACCESS TO ALL LIVE RECORDINGS
REVERSING THE PATHWAY TO EXTINCTION: THE SPECTACLED FLYING-FOX
RECOVERY TEAM
Maree Treadwell-Kerr and Sera Steves

Maree Treadwell-Kerr and Sera Steves

The Spectacled Flying-fox Recovery Team

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THE IMPACT OF HEAT STRESS EVENTS AND ELECTROCUTIONS ON JUVENILE
GREY-HEADED FLYING-FOXES: ADELAIDE COLONY
Linda Collins

Linda Collins

Fauna Rescue of South Australia Inc.

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CORONAVIRUSES AND AUSTRALIAN BATS: NEW DATA AND A REVIEW IN THE
MIDST OF A PANDEMIC
Dr. Alison Peel

Dr. Alison Peel

ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) Research Fellow | Griffith University

Dr. Justin Welbergen

Dr. Justin Welbergen

Western Sydney University

EXPANDING OUR UNDERSTANDING OF GREY-HEADED FLYING-FOX MOVEMENT,
FORAGING BEHAVIOUR, POPULATION STATUS, AND THREATS
Dr. John Martin

Dr. John Martin

Research Scientist | Taronga Conservation Society Australia

2021 Flying-fox Forum Speakers

Meet Our Speakers

Jason Van Weenen

Jason Van Weenen

Team Leader, Urban Biodiversity | Department for Environment and Water

Jason is an ecologist with the South Australian Department for Environment and Water and has been working with threatened species conservation projects and native species management for 24 years. He now sits within the ecology team of the Green Adelaide Landscapes Region and has been involved with flying foxes since their arrival in South Australia in 2010. In his personal time, Jason is committed to the restoration of bushland areas in his care, volunteering in wildlife conservation projects and leading biodiversity conservation activities on one of SA’s offshore islands.
Lindsay Delzoppo

Lindsay Delzoppo

Director - Wildlife Northern Operations | Department of Environment and Science

Lindsay is the Director of Northern Wildlife Operations, where he is responsible for: public and stakeholder engagement, delivery of cassowary, crocodile and flying-fox management programs, development of wildlife management policies such as flying-fox codes of practice and roost management guidelines, and investigations and compliance under Queensland’s Nature Conservation laws. His previous roles include Director of Environmental Impact Assessment (DEH), Director of Regional Service Delivery (DERM), Director of Sustainable Industries (Environmental Protection Agency), and Regional Director for the far northern region of Queensland (QPWS).
Jen Ford

Jen Ford

Principal Restoration Ecologist

Jen is a highly experienced ecological restoration practitioner with 25 years’ experience working in a range of positions. She has worked in the field as a Bush Regenerator, as a trainer and TAFE teacher of Conservation and Ecosystem Management and in local and state government roles facilitating the recovery of many sites and large conservation areas. For the last 8 years, Jen has been in the role of Ecosure’s Principal Restoration Ecologist where she leads a team of 60+ people. Her experience includes successfully applying a range of ecological restoration approaches across a wide range of ecosystem and habitat types. She successfully works on larger scales including developing practical ecological restoration plans to assist a wide range of people understand how and where to intervene on a site to maximise recovery and achieve project goals.
Mark Robinson

Mark Robinson

Team Leader Parks and Gardens | Colac Otway Shire

Mark is the Team Leader Parks and Gardens for the Colac Otway Shire and oversees the maintenance of all the shires active and passive areas of open space including the historical Colac Botanical Gardens. Mark has provided to the Colac community 40 years of service and as a part of his portfolio provides oversight of the Botanical gardens. Mark has taken the Project Management lead for the management of the Colac Grey Headed Flying Fox Camp and the current nudging project.
Natalie Foster

Natalie Foster

Natural Resources - Flying-fox Officer | Eurobodalla Shire Council

Tyron de Kauwe

Tyron de Kauwe

Natural Areas Conservation Officer | Sunshine Coast Regional Council

Tyron is a Natural Areas Conservation Officer with a strength in developing novel management techniques for wildlife conservation and conflict issues. Tyron is highly experienced in flying-fox management and conservation and is a member of the SEQ flying-fox managers group and the LGAQ/DES flying-fox special working group. He also presented at Annual flying-fox forum 2019 on novel Heat-stress Autonomous Response Unit, for which he was a Finalist for Sunshine Coast Council CEO Awards 2019 Innovation Category (Project lead). Tyron was also involved in the Queensland-first trial of subsidised services program for flying-fox management.
Dr. Alison Peel

Dr. Alison Peel

ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) Research Fellow | Griffith University

Alison is a DECRA Research Fellow at the Centre for Planetary Health and Food Security at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia. She trained as a wildlife veterinarian in Sydney and London, but it was her PhD at the University of Cambridge which introduced her to the world of bats. She is now working on a large project across 5 continents that aims to understand the root drivers of bat viral dynamics and ways in which we can pre-empt and prevent spillover. She mostly focuses on ecological drivers of viral community dynamics of Hendra virus and other bat paramyxoviruses in Australian flying foxes, but has also recently branched out in attempt to fill the significant gaps in knowledge on coronaviruses in Australian bats.
Dr. Justin Welbergen

Dr. Justin Welbergen

Associate Professor | Western Sydney University

Justin Welbergen is an Associate Professor at the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment (Western Sydney University), where he leads the “Lab of Animal Ecology”. He is also President of the Australasian Bat Society, a nonprofit organisation whose aim is to promote the conservation and study of bats in Australasia. In addition, he is co-founder of ‘BATsLAB’, a primary academic destination for bat research in Australia. Justin’s research covers a range of subjects in whole-organism biology, but focuses on the evolutionary ecology of bats and birds. He has parallel interests in conservation and climate change biology, and particularly in the areas of endangered species biology, human-wildlife conflict, extreme events, and conservation planning. Justin and his students have worked on flying-foxes for over 20 years, starting with his study on the social organisation of the grey-headed flying-fox for his PhD from the University of Cambridge. Further info: https://www.animalecologylab.org/justin-welbergen.html
Rodney Vile

Rodney Vile

Principal Officer Wildlife Emergencies | Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning

Rodney is the Principal Officer Wildlife Emergencies for the Victorian Department of Environment, Land Water and Planning (DELWP). In this role he develops policy, response plans and training programs for the declared wildlife emergencies within Victoria and provides strategic leadership and advice to the State during incidents. Rodney represents DELWP on Victorian and national committees to ensure that wildlife emergency response plans are developed in line with industry best practice and that synergies between response agencies are developed. He has undertaken a range of roles that has given him experience in extension, regulation and enforcement, vocational training and development, emergency management and program and project management at senior levels. The development of response plans and training programs is a key strength.
Tim McGrath

Tim McGrath

Threatened Species Officer, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment

Tim has been working for the Australian Government for the last 10 years in the Threatened Species section. Prior to that, he worked privately as a consultant ecologist in Queensland. His role with the Commonwealth is diverse but relates largely to threatened species listing assessments and conservation planning, particularly for reptiles. Other responsibilities include supporting regulatory areas of the Department with threatened species advice, engaging with traditional owners on the conservation of culturally important species, educating the agricultural sector on its responsibilities to threatened species under national environmental law and managing some responsibilities for nationally listed flying-foxes.
Tamika Lunn

Tamika Lunn

PhD Candidate | Griffith University

Tamika recently completed her PhD at Griffith University under the supervision of Alison Peel, Hamish McCallum and Raina Plowright, and advisement of Peggy Eby. Tamika’s PhD research focussed on quantifying the roosting structure of flying-foxes in south-eastern Queensland and north-eastern New South Wales, including application of roost structure information to conservation goals and understanding of disease dynamics. Tamika’s presentation focusses on one element of her PhD research that has recently been accepted for publication – ‘Conventional wisdom on roosting behaviour of Australian flying foxes – a critical review, and evaluation using new data’ – available as a preprint: DOI: 10.22541/au.161615114.43163894/v2.
Cameron Duthie

Cameron Duthie

Manager, Services and Operations | Colac Otway Shire

Cameron is the Manager of Services and Operations for the Colac Otway Shire and has had to date an extensive career in Local Government more specially oversight and management of Council service delivery. This includes the management of environmental issues including more recently the Colac Colony of Grey Headed Flying Foxes. Cameron is passionate in making a difference to the Colac community through precise management of operations and effective environmental outcomes.
Jess Bracks

Jess Bracks

Principal Wildlife Biologist | Ecosure

Jess is a Wildlife Biologist with 16 years’ practical experience with wildlife through positions in the veterinary, zoo and consulting industries. She has extensive experience in risk assessment and managing human/wildlife conflict, with demonstrated successful outcomes developing and implementing mitigation measures for a diverse array of wildlife. Jess is passionate about driving pragmatic wildlife management policy, balancing the needs of community and conservation, and is driving a National Flying-fox Strategy and Working Group to ensure a consistent and strategic national approach to flying- fox management and conservation.
Dr. Janine Barrett

Dr. Janine Barrett

Principal Veterinarian (Surveillance) | Department of Agriculture and Fisheries

Janine is a veterinarian with postgraduate qualifications in veterinary pathology, virology, and management. As a policy officer for Biosecurity Queensland, she created Queensland’s policy for managing the exposure of pets to Australian bat lyssavirus based on her PhD research at UQ. Through this work she significantly influenced the national emergency animal response policy for lyssaviruses under AUSVETPLAN.
Linda Collins

Linda Collins

Fauna Rescue of South Australia Inc.

Linda has been a volunteer flying-fox rehabilitator, trainer, researcher and consultant for the past 33 years. She has worked in numerous flying-fox colonies throughout NSW and Queensland and with over 30 rehabilitation groups. Linda is currently the flying-fox consultant for Fauna Rescue of SA and stakeholders responsible for supporting the Adelaide colony.
Dr. John Martin

Dr. John Martin

Research Scientist | Taronga Conservation Society Australia

Dr. John Martin is a research scientist at Taronga Conservation Society Australia. His current flying- fox projects involve researching grey-headed flying-foxes including GPS tracking, population monitoring, and assessing habitat preferences. An extension of this research includes the assessment of flying-foxes response to heat stress throughout the eastern States of Australia (http://theconversation.com/killer-climate-tens-of-thousands-of-flying-foxes-dead-in-a-day-23227).

Connect with Leaders in Flying Fox Management

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Michelle Jeffrey

Michelle Jeffrey

Manager Open Space, National Capital Authority

Michelle is the Open Space Manager for the National Capital Authority (NCA), managing the green assets, open spaces, and memorials of Canberra which make the National Capital. Significant assets in this portfolio include the Parliamentary Zone, Anzac Parade, Commonwealth Park, Kings Park, the National Rose Gardens, the Old Parliament House Rose Gardens, Lindsay Pryor National Arboretum, national memorial sites and commemorative spaces, conservation areas, diplomatic sites, outdoor art, fountains, ponds, and event spaces.
Matthew Mo

Matthew Mo

Saving our Species, NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment

Matthew is a Senior Project Officer working for Saving our Species, the NSW Government’s flagship program for threatened species. His current role involves convening the NSW Flying-fox Consultative Committee and the NSW Flying-fox Land Managers’ Network, as well as representation on a number of working groups. Matthew has led key flying-fox projects including policy work on flying-fox camp management, recent rounds of the Flying-fox Grants Program, support initiatives for wildlife carers and the phasing out of flying-fox shooting in NSW. He’s currently leading a flying-fox stream for the Australian Government’s bushfire recovery funding. He enjoys collaboration and has recently worked with local councils to develop flying-fox camp management case studies, and collaborated with wildlife carers, land managers and scientists to estimate flying-fox mortalities during the 2019-20 extreme heat and pup abandonment events. His work has been published in Australian Zoologist, Pacific Conservation Biology, Australian Mammalogy and Human Dimensions of Wildlife.
Byron Reynolds

Byron Reynolds

Ecologist | Port Macquarie Hastings Council

Hugh Pity

Hugh Pity

Community Coordinator | Friends of Glebe Wetlands

Hugh Pitty is the Community Coordinator for the Friends of Glebe Wetlands, a local conservation group in Bega on the Far South Coast of NSW. Hugh leads the Friends of Glebe Wetlands as a group of volunteers who conduct monthly flying fox counts of the seasonal Grey-headed flying- foxes that form a breeding camp at the Glebe Park Lagoon each year from around October/November through to April/May. Through this valuable citizen science initiative, Hugh has built a dataset spanning the last eight years (2012 to 2020), which has made a valuable contribution to the National Flying Fox Monitoring Program and also underpinned education about flying foxes in the local community.
Keren Cox-Witton

Keren Cox-Witton

Senior Project Officer | Wildlife Health Australia

Keren Cox-Witton is the Senior Project Officer at Wildlife Health Australia. She is a veterinarian with an interest in wildlife health and epidemiology and has worked at WHA since 2010. Keren coordinates the WHA Bat Health Focus Group, which has a broad membership and considers bat health issues in the context of biosecurity, public health, domestic animal health and environmental impacts in Australia. Keren’s role at WHA also includes co-ordination of wildlife disease surveillance programs involving zoo- based hospitals and sentinel veterinary clinics, administering a national database of wildlife health information, and maintaining a national dataset for Australian bat lyssavirus.
Anita Gordon

Anita Gordon

Principal Veterinarian, Pathology | Department of Agriculture and Fisheries

Anita works as a veterinary pathologist at the Qld Department of Agriculture and Fisheries Biosecurity Sciences Laboratory. She has been the Queensland State Co-ordinator for Wildlife Health Australia since 2006.
Maree Treadwell-Kerr

Maree Treadwell-Kerr

The Spectacled Flying-fox Recovery Team

Maree has a Masters of Wildlife Management and is currently undertaking a higher degree examining societal values for flying foxes by assessing impact of education/interpretation programs, including tourism potential, in changing attitudes toward flying-foxes. She is a joint convenor of the Australasian Bat Society’s (ABS) Flying-fox Expert Group and created and coordinates the annual ABS Australasian Bat Night program, including coordinating the Cairns Bat Festival since 2015. Maree has presented to national conferences of Wildlife Tourism Australia, Australasian Wildlife Management Society, Australasian Bat Society, and Interpretation Australia on the subjects of bat tourism, interpretation and flying-fox management.
Sera Steves

Sera Steves

The Spectacled Flying-fox Recovery Team

Sera holds a degree in Biology and Psychology with an Ethology focus and is currently working on her
masters in Zoology and Ecology including research on crocodiles and blossom-bats. Sera has been
in the zoo industry for 12 years working in both Australia and the United States as a zookeeper, animal
trainer and wildlife presenter. Her main focus is birds and reptiles, but bats have been an interest of
hers since she was a child. Sera is promoting bats and tourism using a model developed by Bat
Conservation International in her home state of Texas.
Adam McKeown

Adam McKeown

Research Officer | CSIRO

Adam McKeown is an ecologist working for CSIRO on a range of ecological and transport related projects. He has worked on flying-fox population and movement ecology questions on all Australian species for 20 years.

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Where Was it Held?

The virtual forum was held on HOPIN, one of the world’s leading all-in-one virtual event platform where attendees can learn, interact, and connect with people. 

It was kind of like a “Zoom call” except there was also has a reception area, schedule, user profiles, polling, direct video calling, expo area, sponsor branding, backstage, and a multi-tier chat.

Hosted at Ecosure

The Ecosure team who hosted the flying-fox Forum created a studio-like environment for recording right in our Brisbane office. There is a surprising amount of tech and logistics to host an event like this and we look forward to future live, and perhaps HYBRID (live and virtual) events in the future.

Virtual Backstage

The Flying-fox Forum team were able to bring together speakers from across the country in a virtual backstage. Some organisational firewall restrictions meant that rehearsals were vital to ensure all our remote presenters were able to access the virtual backstage area and create a seamless experience for all who attended. 

With Thanks to Our Sponsors

Thanks to our sponsors for supporting flying-fox conservation and management. If you would like to be a sponsor please get in touch!

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