Closer to Nature podcast
The impacts of climate change are occurring all around us, but do we know what we’re seeing or how it affects us?
From Mountain Pygmy possums hibernating under boulder fields in the alps, to wombats at Wilsons Promontory National Park, Closer to Nature travels across the state to learn how Parks Victoria is protecting parks, reserves and everything that lives there in times of unprecedented change.
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About the Host: Dr Mark Norman, Chief Scientist Conservation and Climate Action
Mark’s role in Parks Victoria focuses on climate change impacts felt in parks across the state, and building programs, visibility, resources and capacity to address and manage issues such as extinction risk, transforming ecosystems, rising and warming seas, and the responses of biological systems to the unprecedented speed of change.
Episode List
In Nature, Everything is Linked - Listen Now
High up in the Victorian Alps, the Mountain Pygmy possum relies on the annual migration of the Bogong moth. Without the moth, the possum’s survival would is at risk. In nature, everything is linked. From animals to trees, plants and fungi - all are connected and vulnerable to changing weather patterns caused by climate change.
Click here to read more about the topics covered in episode 1.
Understanding the Cultural Landscape - Listen Now
Parks Victoria ranger Clinton Morton talks about the impacts of climate change on important tangible cultural heritage sites, like the loss of ancient middens through coastal erosion at Wilsons Promontory National Park, and the hard decisions Parks Victoria and Traditional Owners are having to make to decide what can be saved.
Click here to find out more about this episode.
People in Nature, Boosting Wellbeing - Listen Now
Victoria's national parks and reserves are here to preserve unique ecosystems and wildlife. But they’re also spaces for us humans to visit and enjoy nature and outdoor recreation. In this episode we speak to Dr Kelly de Bie, Manager of Evaluation Information and Social Sciences, about what behaviours make a good visitor to a national park. We also chat to three inspiring volunteers from the Friends of Canadian Corridor in Ballarat who explain the work they’re doing to restore and rehabilitate Woowookarung Regional Park, and what inspired them to lend a hand.
Click here to read more about this episode.
Species Behaving Badly - Listen Now
The lovable wombat is an unlikely weed spreader at Wilsons Promontory National Park. Hear from park rangers about their fight to keep the landscape pristine. Over at Ricketts Point Marine Sanctuary rangers are doing everything they can to keep sea urchin numbers under control.
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Resist, Accept, Direct. Tackling Climate Change - Listen Now
In the middle of the devastating 2020 bushfires, the Parks Victoria Biodiversity Science team were helicoptered to a remote location to save an endangered bird before it was too late. Mark Norman, Chief Scientist, explains a new decision making tool (the Resist Accept Direct Framework), and how this new way of thinking offers the best way to assist nature’s changing needs.
Click here to read more about this episode.