Benefits of the Frogs on Farms Project
Social benefits
The outcome will be the best design and application of wildlife ponds to maximise individual participation, community involvement and biodiversity benefit, particularly for frogs, and a better informed community armed with confidence and the knowledge to act.
- Guidelines on best environmental design and use of wildlife ponds for frogs.
- Community involvement through landowner participation in installing wildlife ponds and through reporting frog populations on their farms.
- Local learning opportunities through public talks, school groups, seminars, written publications and field days based on the knowledge generated by the project.
- Regionally relevant knowledge that will help to maintain and enhance frog populations.
- A better informed community able to implement sound environmentally sustainable on-farm practices.
Economic benefits
The installation of wildlife ponds in farm woodlands in the Wimmera and Mallee is a cost effective and water efficient method of enhancing biodiversity values on farms. This project will determine the best approach to conserve frog populations that are efficient in terms of farming resources, cost and water usage.
The establishment of a wildlife pond in a woodland will lead to improved sustainable farming through the ecosystem services that these environmental asset provides. Environmental, or natural assets, include soil, plants and animals, water and air. These assets provide inputs into production through the conservation of soil health and moisture, moderation of paddock climate, salinity control, pest control and firewood. They also provide a focus on the values that people discern from nature, including recreational, spiritual, and aesthetic value.
Environmental benefits
Farm dams, the ‘wetlands’ on farms, are (or were) the stronghold of frog populations in woodlands and are the sites of greatest biodiversity value. In the region serviced by the Northern Mallee Pipeline, farm dams dried out after decommissioning of the channel network and now lie idle. Prolonged drought and a lack of water in storage resulted in no water being released down the Wimmera channel system in 2006, and consequently no filling of farm dams. Water conservation and wise use is thus becoming a critically important factor in the region both for farming and local community needs.
The Diversity in a Piped System project (DIPS) has demonstrated that the installation of a wildlife water point in a farm woodland can increase the biodiversity value of the woodland, and that the absence of open water in the Wimmera and Mallee has serious consequences for frog populations. Frogs eat a wide range of insects, and because they susceptible to pollution, are good indicators of landscape health. Frogs are not only a useful form of pest control but monitoring frogs can also help assess the environmental impacts of land management practices.