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As of
January 2017, empowering bushwalking volunteers adventurers who also want to contribute to the environment, has turned $ 223,000 worth of state and federal government grants into $ 1.4 million worth of volunteer labour. SPRATS has also eradicated the few blackberry infestations found along the
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Site access by teams is on foot. Remote area volunteers are deployed by helicopter, boat, or fixed-wing aircraft. Trips vary from eight days to three weeks. On the longer hauls food drops are used so that the volunteers only have to carry one week’s worth of supplies, they also have to bring their
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has demonstrated and proven a highly successfully means of weed eradication in areas of difficult access. It is regarded as the "way of the future for community conservation" by the
Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service.
22:(SPRATS) is an environment care group founded in 2007, using a volunteer adventure conservation model. The initial primary purpose of the group, made up of a number of teams, is to remove the invasive
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Detailed maps of work sites and routes are prepared prior to deployment and GPS programmed. Optimisation of base camping and excursions has occurred for both new areas and for follow up treatment.
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Risk to volunteers is managed by their careful selection, operations safety assessments, and communications support. Predeployment briefings and postdeployment debriefings are held.
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own hiking and camping gear. A day typically includes four to six hours of weeding, with the rest of the time left for birdwatching, snorkelling, exploring or just relaxing.
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Sea spurge has a toxic sap, and critically the plant changes the shape and ecology of the coastal dunes, pushing out shore nesting birds, and also negatively impacting
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By 2015 the partnership between SPRATS and the
Tasmanian Parks & Wildlife Service had resulted in nearly 14 million plants have been removed, mainly by hand.
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130:, 25% of Tasmania's coast. Another SPRATS group is operating on the east coast of Tasmania. The SPRATS approach is also used in northern Tasmania on
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SPRATS was formed as an outcome of a survey in 2006 and of a pilot programme undertaken in 2007 to support the
Tasmanian Beach Weeds Strategy 2003.
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As of 2017, SPRATS have removed over 14 million plants. It is regarded as the "way of the future for community conservation" by the
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Volunteers typically pay their own way to predeployment staging areas, and utilise their own personal time to contribute.
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In the first 3 years to 2010, 80 volunteers had contributed 2000 person days, removing 3 million sea spurge plants.
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coastline, monitored for other weeds, recorded information on rare and threatened shorebird species, for example,
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In 2017, after 11 years, SPRATS have removed over 14 million plants. For their work the group has been awarded a
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SPRATS are a group consisting of volunteers, and is part of the
Tasmanian environmental organisation, Wildcare.
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research the most effective treatment method, for example, based on plant maturity and seeding times
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In 2009 SPRATS received the
Tasmanian Award for Environmental Excellence in the Community section.
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A feature of the SPRATS work is the supporting science and formal processes. The volunteers:
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More broadly, adventure volunteering, or adventure conservation, is a very successful form of
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428:"Adventure weeders protect Tasmania's entire southwest wilderness coast from alien invaders"
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As of June 2010, SPRATS expect to have cleared sea spurge from 90% of the shore between
184:, and hut sites, and the usage of the area by other users. The estimated reduction in
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EVALUATION REPORT DECEMBER 2015 - Wildcare SPRATS volunteer weed eradication project
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Other groups and organisations actively support and contribute personnel to SPRATS.
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collect information on site location, the weeds removed, time taken to weed sites
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213:. Activity has also been organised to remove other infestations, for example
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The SPRATS have been so successful that the concept is being generalised into
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The group was founded by Dr Jon
Marsden-Smedley, a research fellow at the
525:"Community involvement in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area"
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Environment care group using a volunteer adventure conservation model
402:"An 'impossible' challenge accomplished by wilderness weed warriors"
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heritage sites. The
Tasmanian target area is a key area for the
627:"Wilderness adventurers clean out Tasmania's sea spurge threat"
96:) along 600 kilometres (370 mi) of southwest and southern
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SPRATS aimed to establish and maintain an eradication zone for
333:"Volunteers receive award for work removing invasive species"
550:"2009 Tasmanian Awards for Environmental Excellence Winners"
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A sample of other groups actively contributing to SPRATS:
577:. King Island Natural Resource Management Group Inc. 2010
552:. Tasmanian Environment Protection Authority. 5 June 2009
367:"West Coast weeding war: 14 million weeds in nine years"
404:. Tasmanian Parks & Wildlife Service. 12 March 2015
572:"Sea Spurge Management Plan for King Island, Tasmania"
654:"SPRATS - Weeding on the Tasmanian South West Coast"
64:. It is also a key feeding zone for the migrating
33:'s School of Geography and Environmental Studies.
459:"Tasmania Wilderness Sea Spurge Program - SPRATS"
134:. SPRATS have also worked on Tasmanian islands.
108:. The initial programme had a 10 year duration.
176:, and Aboriginal cultural sites, for example,
625:Marsden-Smedley, Jonathan (12 January 2017).
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698:A case study of the SPRATS programme, 2014
656:. Melbourne University Mountaineering Club
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650:Melbourne University Mountaineering Club
499:. Tasmanian Parks & Wildlife Service
671:"Birthday Bay Track Conservation Group"
306:"Taking adventure weeding to the world"
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668:Birthday Bay Track Conservation Group
490:"Weed Management Guide - Sea Spurge (
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247:Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service
38:Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service
530:. The Australian Committee for IUCN
523:Mooney, Peter (29 September 2015).
461:. Willow Warriors. 27 February 2017
335:. ABC RN Breakfast. 1 February 2017
426:Luscombe, Geoff (1 January 2010).
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365:Mounster, Bruce (18 March 2015).
750:2007 establishments in Australia
598:"Tasmania: State of the islands"
720:WildCare Tasmania official site
241:Logistics costs are covered by
304:Pree, Richard (18 June 2010).
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603:. Tasmanian Land Conservancy
72:is also adversely affected.
20:Sea Spurge Remote Area Teams
652:T, Allex (13 August 2012).
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740:Environmental volunteering
629:. Invasive Species Council
745:Volunteering in Australia
146:Invasive Species Council
735:Volunteer organizations
308:. ABC Northern Tasmania
263:Science and methodology
228:Formation and structure
112:Achievements and awards
596:Bryant, Sally (2014).
211:adventure volunteering
180:, stone arrangements,
31:University of Tasmania
243:Australian Government
191:The SPRATS model of:
174:orange-bellied parrot
66:orange-bellied parrot
715:SPRATS official site
198:community engagement
188:clumps is over 95%.
673:. Landcare Tasmania
249:operating funding.
62:sooty oystercatcher
492:Euphorbia paralias
201:agency partnership
170:pied oystercatcher
94:Ammophila arenaria
86:Euphorbia paralias
58:pied oystercatcher
430:. Tasmanian Times
166:red-capped plover
102:Macquarie Harbour
26:flowering plant.
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675:. Retrieved
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186:marram grass
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128:Cockle Creek
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106:Cockle Creek
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90:marram grass
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373:. News Corp
371:The Mercury
178:petroglyphs
154:little tern
132:King Island
70:little tern
729:Categories
282:References
215:blackberry
158:fairy tern
82:sea spurge
76:Objectives
50:Aboriginal
44:Motivation
24:sea spurge
98:Tasmanian
677:18 June
660:18 June
633:18 June
607:18 June
581:18 June
556:18 June
534:18 June
503:18 June
465:17 June
434:18 June
408:18 June
377:18 June
339:17 June
312:17 June
182:middens
144:by the
124:Strahan
68:. The
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88:) and
60:, and
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679:2017
662:2017
635:2017
609:2017
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126:and
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.