Maddy+Jessi+Olly+M.+Holly

=What is the State of Our Backyard? = By Jessie, Maddy, Olly & Holly 

1/2. A map of the affected areas after the black Saturday fires. Link to map.

3. Animal 1 SOOTY OWL The Sooty Owl is a medium to large size owl. Its body is small and covered in feathers. The Males are darker than females. They have dark/gray wings with lite white spots. They have white faces with big dark eyes. Its tail is very short. Its legs are not very long. This type of owl lives in dense, foliage and tall hollow trees and sometimes caves.

One of the main reasons of why the Sooty Owl is on the most endangered list is because after the bush fires, 66% of the trees were burnt down. This had a huge impact on these owls because this species is so incredibly important to the environment it would be devastating to loose them.

Over the past few years the **//DSE//** has been monitoring the recovery of forests around the South Gippslands areas. They had received $50,000 to help the recovery project. They have been keeping a close eye on whether the owls will receive the friendly and safe ecosystem that they need.

3. Animal 2 LEAD BEATER POSSUM There body and tail are grey, with a black stripe from the forehead down the back; there is also a black stripe on each cheek, with a white belly.They measure about 300 millimetres in length, half of this is there tail, and they weigh about 100 to 170grams. The lead beater possum was not sighted for over fifty years and presumed to be extinct until its rediscovery in 1961 in the Mountain Ash forests of the Victorian Central Highlands. Less than 2000 adults were thought to remain and in February 2009, the situation became worse for this species as the Black Saturday Bushfires burnt through approximately 43% of their known home range and left only around 1000 possums.



3. Animal 3 GROUND PARROT The ground parrot is also known as the Swamp or Button-grass parrot. The ground parrot is not usually seen as it is a shy bird. It is bright green with black and yellow markings and a yellow wing. The tail is long and striped with yellow; it has a small red circle on its forehead. It lives mainly in heathland, sedgeland and/ or button-grass plains. The bird has scattered populations around Australia. Southeast costal Queensland, East coast of Australia, places in northeast and southern NSW, costal areas Gippsland VIC and the islands of Bass Straight Tasmania. It’s diet is mainly of seeds of sedges, grasses, herbaceous plants and shrubs. It crates a small bowl of thin sticks and grass, well hidden under low shrubs and grass. The female incubates the eggs and brings up the young. The male, who also feeds the young when they hatch, feeds her.



4. Why is Australia so vulnerable? - Bushfires happen in Australia due as a bad combination of heatwaves, droughts and strong winds. Fires also gets big because in Australia up to 70% of Australian forest is made up of Eucalyptus trees which contain highly flammable oil. This would help the fires to feed and grow. Eucalyptus trees also count on fire to be able to germinate which why we have so many of these trees in our 7,600,000 km2 of Australia.

5. Healsville Sanctuary - Healsville Sanctuary saw the effects of the Black Saturday bush fires first hand. The sancutary itself was under threat of the fire at one point and they had to evacuate everybody including the animals from the shelter. Here is a video of how Healesville Sanctuary had to evacuate their animals as the fire blazed towards them. It also has videos of the staff saving all the animals they could find from the bush. []

A species that Healsville helped keep from extinction was the Orange- bellied parrot. There are fewer than 50 of the birds left in the world and they have become threatened due to habitat loss.

Healsville Sanctuary  and all the other Wildlife support groups worked around the clock treating fire affected animals in the wildlife hospital. Species that were already endangered were put under even more pressure to survive by these bushfires. Victorias state emblem, the Lead beater possum, was both effected and could have become extinct if it wasn't for all the help.

Here is an extract from a blog from the perpective of a person visiting Healsville sanctuary. To visit the entire entry visit []

"The sanctuary is kind of a blend between a zoo and pure mothernature. The animals aren't kept in cages, but they are taken care of by the people that work there. So in a way, you get to experience the creatures in their "natural habitats," which is pretty cool. A lot of them will come right up to you, which isn't something that you get to see every day. There were so many animals that I have never had the chance to see before, including some really exotic birds, koalas, dingos and kangaroos! I actually got the opportunity to pet and feed them, which was awesome. They are so soft and kind, though apparently if you touch their faces they will pounce. I found out that they eat popcorn kernels like candy, and besides that they snack on leaves from trees that are trimmed back at the sanctuary. Interacting with them was definitely the highlight of the trip, but everything there was amazing, and it was a very cool and relaxing experience. Walking around in nature has a funny way of making you forget about everything else you were thinking or worrying about."

6. The Lorax - ‘Mister,’ He said with walking around like an animal, ‘I am the Lorax; I speak for the mammals, – and all other species, who doesn't want to get driven over by Mitsubishis. ‘ And then he went on and yelled out loud, standing very tall and equally proud. ‘There are animals out there, in danger of death, and all you do is take a big breath.’ There’re dying from bushfires, smoke and even heat, and guess what you do? Sit on your seat. No matter how much I push you of this chair, you will always get back up there. By next time I do come around, I want you to make a difference to all those animals. Big and small, and maybe you might be useful after all. Jessie G Hello, I am the Lorax and I’m speaking about how we could prevent the Victorian bush fires from happening again. We need to educate the communities about the fire dangers. Protect the most vulnerable areas. Getting people to understand, and make wise choices about the way they look after their environment. People need to think twice and say ‘how can I prevent a bush fire from starting around my house?’ simple things like cleaning out your gutters, picking up dead leaves, foliage from the ground and not leaving things around where they could end up being the course of a fire. Keeping people safe is also very important. Make sure you have things like water tanks or hoses close to your home in case of a fire.

The lorax would be devastated by the way that we treat our animals. He would quote his book, "They loved living here. But I can't let them stay. They'll have to find food. And I hope that they may." Our species are becoming extinct because we, humans, want power, land and money and we ruin our environment selfishly so that we may live a faster, quicker life. We use transportation, meaning pollution, and factories don't help looking after our environment either. The gases rise up creating the 'Greenhouse effect' which allow sunlight in but the heat gets trapped inside which make the earth heat up very slowly. As the earth gets hotter it mean there is more risk of fires and more really bad fires like the Black Saturday fire. Approximately 1 million animals died during that horrible fire. So if we had another fire like that another million animals would possibly die. The Lorax speaks for the species and if he can see any harm becoming of his animals, then he would notify us like he told the Oncler, although the Oncler didn't realise it before it was to late. If we realise too late with what we're doing to our planet, Earth could end up in serious jeopardy.

What action would the Lorax suggest needs to be taken to avoid a similar disaster happening in the future?

7. Q: What is the history of the Lead beater possum? A:  Even in earlier days the Lead beater's Possum was rare, with Sir Frederick McCoy the first to capture the possum in 1867. In 1909 there was the last sighting of the lead beater possum in the wild for over 50 years until the species was rediscovered near Marysville, in 1961. Scientist, think that there are approximately 4000 left in the world today. Although approximately 40-50% of their habitat was wiped out by the fires, the Lead beater possum is still trying to recuperate and is getting a lot of help from organisations. 

Bibliography -

- "Bushfires & Wildlife Challenge - Healesville in the Line of Fire - Zoos Victoria." //Wild! - Zoos Victoria//. Zoos Victoria. Web. 31 Aug. 2011. .

- "Natural Recovery following 2009 Bushfires." //Department of Sustainability and Environment, Home//. DSE. Web. 26 Aug. 2011. .

- "Kinglake National Park." //Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia//. Wikipedia. Web. 26 Aug. 2011. 

- "Threatened Species (Department of Environment and Resource Management)." //Department of Environment and Resource Management//. E & M Resources. Web. 26 Aug. 2011. 

- "Threatened Species Yield Ground to Loggers." //The Age - Business, World & Breaking News | Melbourne, Australia//. Web. 31 Aug. 2011. <http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/threatened-species-yield-ground-to-loggers-20110816-1iweu.html>.

- "Endangered Species Being Moved from Fire-hit Areas." //The Age - Business, World & Breaking News | Melbourne, Australia//. Web. 25 Aug. 2011. <http://www.theage.com.au/national/endangered-species-being-moved-from-firehit-areas-20090306-8rhe.html>.

- "Eastern Ground Parrot." //Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia//. Web. 31 Aug. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Ground_Parrot>.

- "Barred Galaxias." //Native Fish Australia Home Page//. Web. 31 Aug. 2011. <http://www.nativefish.asn.au/g-fuscus.html>.

<span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #1212de; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> - "DEC | NSW Threatened Species - Spotted Frog." Web. 31 Aug. 2011. <http://www.threatenedspecies.environment.nsw.gov.au/tsprofile/profile.aspx?id=10492>. <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"> - "Sooty Owl." //Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia//. Web. 17 Aug. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sooty_Owl>

//- Leadbeater's Possum; Victoria's Endanered Faunal Emblem//. Web. 17 Aug. 2011. <http://leadbeaters.org.au/>.

- "Tiger Quolls." //Home.acenet//. Web. 17 Aug. 2011. <http://www.home.acenet.net.au/rhysparry/Tiger%20quoll%20facts.htm>.

- "Healesville Sanctuary - Melbourne." //WeekendNotes - Make The Most Of Your Weekends//. Web. 31 Aug. 2011. <http://www.weekendnotes.com/healesville-sanctuary/10600/>.

//- Unique Australian Animals//. Web. 31 Aug. 2011. <http://australian-animals.net/lead.htm>. "Facts about Leadbeater's Possum, Habitat, Diet, Protection | Help save Leadbeater's Possum." //Leadbeater's Possum; Victoria's Endanered Faunal Emblem//. Web. 31 Aug. 2011. <http://leadbeaters.org.au/facts/>.

- The Australian Black Saturday Bushfires." //Britannica//. Web. <http://advocacy.britannica.com/blog/advocacy/2009/11/the-australian-%E2%80%9Cblack-saturday%E2%80%9D-bushfires-of-2009/>.