Mt Rothwell field trip strengthens biodiversity conservation skills

With a team of over 90 staff based across Victoria, Tasmania, New South Wales and Queensland, it’s not every day that RMCG can get together face-to-face. That’s why 25 members of our Environment team made the most of a field trip to Mt Rothwell sanctuary in Little River, Victoria, which is managed by Odonata Foundation – a not-for-profit organisation supporting biodiversity impact solutions and one of RMCG’s donation partners.

The field trip was an opportunity to celebrate our work in the environment area – including our team’s passion, knowledge and capabilities in biodiversity conservation – as well as identify strengths and areas for improvement. It was also a chance for the team to network, learn from each other and practice their presentation and facilitation skills.

The day wrapped up with an afternoon of volunteering, followed by an evening spotlight tour of the sanctuary.

About Odonata and Mt Rothwell

The field trip began with an introduction from Odonata CEO Steph Swann and Head of Advisory and Growth Pipeline Sam Marwood about the foundation and Mt Rothwell sanctuary. Based 50km west of Melbourne, Mt Rothwell is one of eight sanctuaries and conservation projects in Odonata’s network across Australia.

Mt Rothwell is home to some of Australia’s most threatened fauna, including the Eastern Barred Bandicoot, Southern Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby and Eastern Quoll. The sanctuary focuses on protecting Victorian species – particularly those that are native to the basalt plains grasslands, habitats and woodlands – and is Victoria’s second-largest ecosystem which is free from feral predators.

“RMCG has partnered with Odonata over the last 12 months to reverse species loss,” RMCG Principal Carl Larsen explained.

“We do really important work in the environment and natural resource management sector, but we knew we had to do more – and Odonata is an organisation that is doing something new with their sanctuary network. The field trip was a chance to get our staff more meaningfully involved and use our business as a force for good now that we’re B Corp certified.”

RMCG’s annual $10,000 donation for the past two years to Odonata has supported the foundation to build populations of the Southern Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby.

Following the field trip, Mt Rothwell also hosted RMCG’s Leadership Team meeting where we continued discussions to strengthen our partnership and collaboration with Odonata.

Building biodiversity conservation skills and knowledge

The first half of the field trip focused on staff discussions and presentations on biodiversity conservation.

“The field trip was a great opportunity for us to come together and learn from each other, and share our experiences – both the successes and the lessons learned through the projects that we do in biodiversity conservation,” Environment Work Area Co-Leader and Associate Steph Drum said.

Team members shared an inspiring moment or personal action they had taken in conservation, which ranged from being inspired by their school teachers to taking action to protect the environment after witnessing the neglect of some international World Heritage sites.

The discussions highlighted that conservation provides hope in a challenging environment and underscored the importance of collective action to transform large-scale issues into manageable change.

“Conservation can sometimes be a difficult and challenging space to work in so it’s really important that we have these days that bring our staff together and remind us why we are passionate about doing conservation work,” Environment Work Area Co-Leader and Senior Consultant Jaclyne Scally said.

Staff presentations as tools for learning

Reflecting on RMCG projects in the environment area, sharing insights on approaches and lessons learnt was highly valuable to our team.

Consultants Sally Scrivens and Sam Gadsby spoke on biodiversity assessments in Tasmania and how the analysis of threatened flora and fauna is used to create biodiversity and vegetation management plans for development sites.

Senior Consultant Steph McNulty and Principal Shayne Annett discussed how Strategic Management Prospects (SMP) biodiversity data was used in conservation planning to evaluate threats, benefits and costs of action.

Associate Trent Wallis and Senior Consultant Jaclyne Scally updated the group on their work in developing Geelong’s Plan for Nature which includes condition reporting on the current state of biodiversity and prioritising management actions to enhance and monitor biodiversity in the Geelong region.

Associate Steph Drum and Senior Consultant Melissa Ludeman also shared their insights from an evaluation of NSW’s Koala Strategy and discussed strategies to support koala habitat conservation.

The presentations formed the basis of workshop discussions, with team members identifying strengths, and key areas to improve collective biodiversity conservation skills.

“Today was a great opportunity to think more strategically about how we work, and understand where we can make more of a difference to get greater exposure and take on more of the work we really want to do,” Senior Consultant Meg Caffin said.

Volunteering with some ‘dirty’ conservation work

In the afternoon, team members enjoyed the opportunity to give back to the sanctuary through hands-on volunteering. This included fixing the external fence around the sanctuary which is crucial to prevent predators such as foxes and cats. The team also went ‘rabbiting’ which involved identifying and collapsing rabbit burrows in the sanctuary with the help of trained dogs. The eradication of rabbits is necessary at Mt Rothwell as these pests can damage the surrounding environment and compete with protected species for food.

Consultant Atalaya Ferrari said seeing a group of Southern Brush-tailed Rock Wallabies nearby during the volunteering was a reminder of the real impacts of conservation projects.

“While we might work on projects across the country and never see the on-ground impacts, there is a very day to day tangible impact of what we do,” she said.

RMCG Senior Consultant Jamie Rooney and Consultant Brooke Zuidema also shared insights on their work in cultural heritage while out in the field.

“It’s excellent to see the interdisciplinary knowledge and breadth of expertise in the team. There’s such a wealth of knowledge to draw on within RMCG,” Consultant Jesse Clune said.

The field trip ended on a high with an evening spotlight tour of the sanctuary, where the team witnessed many of the protected species active in their native habitat, including the Eastern Barred Bandicoot and Eastern Quolls.

RMCG would like to thank the Odonata Foundation for hosting our team at Mt Rothwell sanctuary.