2018-08-07 P&E Agenda - Attachment 1 to Item 3 - Noosa Biosphere Reserve 10 Year Periodic Review

6.2     Summary of main themes of research and monitoring

Over the past decade, there have been two major rounds of funded research projects undertaken in the
NBR by the NBRF and its partners: Foundation Project Grants 2015-17 and Big Ideas Project Grants
2017-18.

The main themes have been:
•     Identifying and preventing soil erosion in the upper catchment of the Noosa River
•     Re-stocking of the Noosa River – oysters, prawns
•     Maintaining the health of koalas
•     Raising community awareness of the NBR, and
•     Encouraging new sustainable hinterland enterprise.

(A) Foundation Project Grants 2015-17

In 2015-16, the NBRF held its inaugural grants round for scientific research projects that help to secure
better knowledge and understanding of the NBR. Council provided the NBRF with $250,000 per annum
for grants to fund projects focused on the environment, plus $80,000 for projects on economic
development. A summary of the funded projects 2015-17 appears in Table 13 below.

Table 13. - Summary of Foundation Project Grants 2015-17
PROJECT PROJECT PROJECT TITLE              GRANT CO-         TOTAL                PROJECT SUMMARY
SIZE    RECIPIENT                          AMOUNT INVESTMENT PROJECT
                                                  (Cash & In VALUE
                                                  Kind)
Large      USC, UQ,      Bring Back the     $513,516 $1.13 million $1.65 million A multi-year, multi-strand
           Murdoch       Fish (including                                         project designed to
           University    Keep It in Kin Kin                                      restore fish stocks in the
                         component)                                              Noosa River.
Medium     University of Mapping Koala       $59,500    $200,000      $259,500 The tracking of koalas by
           the           Health                                                  using ‘sniffer’ dogs;
           Sunshine                                                              genetic analysis of scats
           Coast                                                                 to determine health
           (USC)
                                                                                 status of the species..
Small      Noosa         Understanding the $20,000       $39,000       $59,000 Production and
           Community NBR                                                         distribution of an
           Biosphere                                                             introductory video on the
           Association                                                           NBR.
           (NCBA)
Small      Noosa       Sedges, Rushes       $14,900        $40,000       $54,900 A high quality botanical
           Integrated and Restiads                                               guide to native
           Catchment                                                             vegetation in Noosa.
           Association
           (NICA)
                                           $607,916 $1.41 million $2.02 million
TOTAL                                      GRANTS CO-FUNDS PROJECT
                                                                  VALUE

Details of all projects are available at www.noosabiosphere.org.au. Examples of significant case
examples include the following:

Bring Back the Fish (BBTF)
Total project value:     $1,474,804
NBRF funding:              $441,304

In the past, the Noosa River was known as a place bountiful with fish and oysters. After decades of
commercial and recreational fishing, this is no longer the case. The depletion of fish life in the estuary is




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