Case studies
These case studies are examples of the diverse projects funded by the Trust from 2010 onwards. Each project has demonstrated significant achievement and is helping to conserve and enhance the environment of New South Wales.
More recent case studies are currently being developed.
Environmental education
| Project title | Proponent | Year | Local government area |
|---|---|---|---|
| Powerful Owl (PDF 162KB) | BirdLife Australia | 2011 | Auburn |
Environmental research
| Project title | Proponent | Year | Local government area |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hybrid solar air conditioning systems (PDF 237KB) | University of Technology Sydney | 2012 | statewide |
| Dynamically downscaled climate projections for the eastern seaboard (PDF 142KB) | University of New South Wales | 2010 | statewide |
Protecting our Places
| Project title | Proponent | Year | Local government area |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bush medicines of the Illawarra (PDF 189KB) | Illawarra Aboriginal Corporation | 2010 | Shellharbour |
Restoration and rehabilitation
| Project title | Proponent | Year | Local government area |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ridgelines to rivers (PDF 234KB) | Riverina Highlands Landcare Network | 2010 | Burrinjuck |
| Project title | Proponent | Year | Local government area |
|---|---|---|---|
| Centennial Park Ponds – improving the wetland environment (PDF 126KB) | Centennial Parklands Foundation | 2014 | Randwick |
| Project title | Proponent | Year | Local government area |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gills Bridge Creek rehabilitation (PDF 317KB) | Kempsey Shire Council | 2012 | Kempsey |
Dissemination program
We add value to grant projects by working with grant recipients to spread the knowledge and experience they have gained.
Current and recent dissemination projects are listed below. There is also a list of earlier dissemination projects (DOCX 119KB). Please contact us for more information on any project.
Current dissemination projects
| Project name | Project leader | Product | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| School environmental art guide | NSW Department of Education | Guide, and lesson plans | Community and school environmental educators, art professionals and industry representatives, local and state government |
This dissemination project arises from the grant-funded Environmental Schools Sculpture Prize project, in which grantee Woollahra Municipal Council developed curriculum-linked resources and teacher training. The project will develop, pilot and distribute a guide to running recycled environmental art projects targeting school students and their communities.
The guide will draw on the experiences and resources from the previous grant, plus other best-practice examples, and will help organisations to use more rigorous and learning-based approaches in delivering school recycled environmental art projects.
Recent dissemination projects
| Project name | Project leader | Product | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Multicultural aquatic champions | Greater Sydney Local Land Services | Peer education program and community champion training, schools resource package, webpages | CALD community groups, boating and fishing community/industry organisations, local and state government, schools |
This dissemination project builds on a successful grant, managed by Greater Sydney Local Land Services, that promoted the importance of protecting aquatic habitat to culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) boaters and fishers. The project will:
- implement the multicultural aquatic champions peer-education program
- train interested members of 2 CALD language communities who are already engaged in boating and fishing to be aquatic champions
- deliver key messages on how to care for the aquatic environment to their peers and broader communities.
A complementary education resource package linked to the NSW school curriculum will be developed and distributed to selected schools.
| Project name | Project leader | Product | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guide to measuring short-term changes in natural resource management | CSIRO | Assessment guide, data to be fed into the Atlas of Living Australia, presentations | Land managers, Local Land Services, state government, Greening Australia and other relevant organisations |
CSIRO researchers completed a Trust-funded research project to assess short-term ecological change in the condition of Box Gum Grassy Woodland sites managed for biodiversity and conservation values. They successfully identified short-term indicators (such as the abundance of litter invertebrates) that can detect improvements in 2 years and be reliably applied by land managers.
This dissemination project will develop and distribute a guide to assessing short-term change in ecological condition of grassy woodlands in New South Wales, detailing how to collect and interpret data against the identified indicators and input them into an appropriate online citizen-science application. The researchers will also revalidate the short-term indicators over a longer period (6 years).
| Project name | Project leader | Product | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Koala movement and use of regenerated bushland | Department of Planning and Environment | Forums, factsheets, website and community liaison | Landowners, local, state and federal government and the community |
Liverpool Plains Land Management Committee carried out a restoration and rehabilitation project that researched several aspects of koala behaviour. The project showed the benefit of long-term landscape restoration works to koalas and investigated the types of plantings and the best layouts for koalas.
This dissemination project will provide critical information on koala movement to a range of organisations that may have an impact on the koala (such as local farming communities, mining companies, Local Land Services and local councils) and who want to know what their obligations are under state environment planning policies. The project will close the knowledge gap in New South Wales about how koalas move through the environment and dispel some long-held myths about koalas. It will:
- deliver 2 koala forums and publish the findings of these forums in an online e-book
- produce 3 audience-specific factsheets on koala protection and population movement.
Research reports
From time to time, we commission research to better understand certain environmental issues. The findings may be relevant to others working on the same issues and we want to share them widely.
Our research reports include:
- Integrated Volunteer Initiative: Quantitative Research Report (PDF 1.4MB)
- Multicultural Community Engagement (PDF 4.1MB)
- Environmental Education in NSW Early Childhood services (PDF 2.7MB)
- Urban ecology renewal investigation project.
If you would like to use the information in any of these reports, please contact us first for approval.
Coastal rivers and estuaries investigation project
The Trust engaged the Natural Resources Commission to investigate the health of coastal rivers and estuaries to identify areas where significant improvements could be made.
As part of this research, the Commission produced a number of documents, including:
- Summary of findings (PDF 1MB)
- Good practices in riparian rehabilitation: Benchmarks for Environmental Trust funded projects (PDF 5.5MB).
Further details on this project can be found on the Natural Resources Commission's website.