Having previously provided a MP-funded Seeds for Change grant for wildlife signage and data collection on McKinnon Drive and Cooroy-Noosa Road, Noosa Independent MP Sandy Bolton has outlaid almost $10,000 from her office funds for an assessment of key wildlife road-kill hotspots in an effort to further reduce wildlife strikes in the Noosa electorate.
“This assessment will inform what types of responses are needed, with the outcomes provided to the managing authorities of identified roads whether that be the Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) or Noosa Council. This will include recommendations for site specific mitigation options and we look forward to sharing the results with the community upon its completion,” Sandy said.
“This continues our ongoing commitment to use as much office operating funds as possible for the betterment of our community.”
The project is being carried out by Dr Elizabeth Brunton who aims to:
– Map key road-kill hotspots using data provided by local and state governments, wildlife rescue
organisations and the community.
– Classify characteristics of identified road-kill hotspots that influence options for mitigation e.g., road
type, driver behaviour, proximity to protected areas, wildlife movement patterns, based on currently
available data.
– Provide recommendations for best-practice road-kill mitigation methods specific to Noosa road-kill
hotspots.
Dr Brunton is a wildlife ecologist who has been conducting research on the impacts of urbanisation and roads on macropods in Southeast Queensland since 2014.
“The issue here is not who is right or who is responsible, the issue is and always has been the need to preserve the wildlife and biodiversity that Noosa residents value. With increasing human population pressure, this issue will not go away on its own and will only continue to become more relevant. Working out how we can share space with our wildlife lies at the heart of creating a sustainable region,” Dr Brunton said.
State Members of Parliament have a set amount of funds allocated to operate their electorate offices for the purchase of equipment, mail outs, community event hosting as well as other ‘day to day’ expenses. MPs can also use these funds for advertising on billboards, newspapers and radio, which Sandy has never supported as she believes where possible these funds should be used to benefit the residents of the electorate rather than the office bearer.
Updates on this, and other MP-funded projects, are posted to Noosa 360 at sandybolton.com/noosa360
