The world’s first continent-scale nature discovery project, Bush Blitz, is being extended to broaden the search for Australia’s least known plant and animal species.
Bush Blitz will run until 2017 thanks to $6 million from each the Australian Government and BHP Billiton Sustainable Communities.
Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment Senator Simon Birmingham said to keep habitats healthy we’ve got to know what species they contain and Bush Blitz is helping to fill in those crucial gaps in our knowledge.
“Since 2010, Bush Blitz has discovered more than 700 new species, including a water-walking wolf spider in the Kimberley and a native truffle in Victoria,” he said.
“This new funding will send teams of researchers to ‘blitz’ dozens more remote areas throughout Australia, uncovering their hidden biodiversity and discovering hundreds of species that are completely new to science.”
Bush Blitz is a pioneering partnership between the Australian Government, BHP Billiton Sustainable Communities and Earthwatch Australia.
Expedition teams scour the bush, waterways and even go underground in their quest to deepen scientific knowledge of our unique plants and animals.
The additional $12 million in funding will expand the research area, enable greater community involvement and increase educational outcomes. This means there will be more ‘Bush Blitz TeachLive’ expeditions, with science teachers engaging with their students while out in the field and greater involvement from BHP Billiton employees as research assistants.
Earthwatch Australia chief executive Professor David McInnes said the Bush Blitz partnership to discover, document and describe Australia’s unique flora and fauna is providing essential information to help manage and protect some of Australia’s most fragile and precious ecosystems.
“Bush Blitz surveys have already located more than 350 species listed as threatened, vulnerable or endangered, and more than 700 species of weeds and feral animals,” Professor McInnes said.
“Bush Blitz is a great example of citizen science, where teachers and BHP Billiton employees help world-class scientists to conduct their research in the field. These expeditions are life-changing experiences that transform how participants think about science and biodiversity.”
To highlight the impact of Bush Blitz, Senator Birmingham presented 12-year-old Robert Beeton, from Burnie, Tasmania with a special award for discovering what is believed to be a new species of racing stripe spider.