Experts in conservation, management and breeding of Growling Grass Frogs (GGF) are coming together in late August to share latest knowledge being gathered across a range of ‘testbed’ locations including Winton Wetlands.

The meeting at 2pm (Eastern time) on Tuesday 27 August will be the second such virtual gathering of Growling Grass Frog practitioners from across Victoria and beyond, coming together by ‘Zoom’ technology.

Expert speakers will update participants on all sorts of interesting GGF projects, including the work at Winton Wetlands, the ongoing recovery of a Growler population at Wirra Lo and neighbouring properties near Kerang in north-central Victoria; development of a hot and salty ‘day spa’ treatment by Australian National University researchers to help support Growlers; and developments at the Clayton Bay GGF breeding facility in South Australia.

The Winton Wetlands team has been proud to help facilitate the workings of this group, recognising that lessons being learned in one location can often be of great value to those working elsewhere too.

The group will ultimately be able to judge its success by the extent to which healthy populations of Growlers are being restored right across the range of traditional habitats where they have become extinct or seriously threatened over recent decades. This in turn will link to restored populations of endangered native bird species including the Australasian Bittern. So, these meetings have highly practical outcomes in mind!

Invitations are going out this week to existing members of the practitioners group.

If you are working on any aspect of Growler recovery and want to be added to the list (assuming you are not already on it), just fill out our Task Force Growler Expression of Interest form at the base of the first page here https://wintonwetlands.org.au/growling-grass-frogs/ and select “Joining the Practitioners network” or any of the other ways to stay in touch with Task Force Growler!

Posted 8 August 2024