If you were lucky enough to visit Perth Zoo’s breed-for-release facility over the last few years, you probably saw many dibblers (Parantechinus apicalis) scurrying around in their leaf-litter filled enclosures. 

The concept of seasons and how they are defined in western culture includes indicators such as air temperature, rainfall or soil dryness. For Noongar Aboriginal peoples, it is a more nuanced and a more lived experience, noticing instead the movement and behaviours of animals or the reproduction of plants. These sensed phenomena play a key part in the seasonality of cultural burning practices.
 

The Wilderness Ocean Walk (WOW) Trail near Denmark has recently been extended, linking up with the Bibbulmun Track, Munda Biddi Trail and iconic Waterfall Beach to Elephant Rocks Trail, to create a 15-kilometre coastal adventure that takes full advantage of the picturesque landscape.

Ten-year-old Olivia Thomas enjoyed some unstructured play time at Kent Street Weir with her friend Edith as part of the Muddy Hands Festival. Each year, the City of Canning runs the festival, and Nature Play WA brings the muddy fun to help encourage children and families to enjoy playing outdoors and being in nature.

Josh Byrne grew up on the south coast of Western Australia, immersed in the stunning coastal landscapes, which carved a deep love and fascination with the natural environment. As his skills and knowledge grew, so did his sense of responsibility for our shared future, and he now spends his days sharing his love and passion for sustainability. 

Walpole–Nornalup National Park is 430 kilometres south of Perth, surrounding the town of Walpole on Western Australia’s south coast. An iconic area in the Walpole Wilderness, it is renowned for its forest of rare red tingle trees, known as the Valley of the Giants. These ‘giants’, the most massive of all eucalypts and unique to the Walpole area, can be seen from the breathtaking heights of the Tree Top Walk.

As the celebrations for the 25th anniversary of Western Australia’s famed long-distance walk trail, the Bibbulmun Track, come to an end, volunteer Jim Baker ponders what motivates people to walk for weeks through the bush, what attracts people from all over the world, and who are the people who were instrumental in creating, developing and maintaining the beloved track.

Bushwalking novice and eternal optimist Ivy James tried her hand at walking nearly 70 kilometres from Brookton Highway to North Bannister along the Bibbulmun Track as part of its 25th anniversary celebrations. With minimal training and an open mind, Ivy embraced the experience and was enveloped by the track and the warmth of her fellow walkers.

Environmental DNA is a new innovative technology being used to trace invasive cane toads in the Kimberley environment. Several Aboriginal ranger groups have been trained in the new sampling method and are detecting toads in previously undiscovered areas, including an offshore island.
 

Looking remarkably like matchsticks are the eye-catching flowers of Banksia cuneata or the matchstick banksia.
Concern was raised about the decline of matchstick banksia in the early 1980s and since being listed as threatened,
a large amount of work has been undertaken by the species’ recovery team.

Australian southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) feed across the Southern Ocean, which is vast and changing due to climate change. Researchers are addressing the question of how a changing climate affects the whales but first have to find out where exactly the whales are migrating.

Over the past three years the Dwellingup area has been developed as a world-class trail destination within a unique forested natural environment and a stunning river valley.

Murdoch University researchers, hundreds of ‘Turtle Tracking’ citizen scientists, local councils, the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, and many other partners have joined forces to play a crucial role in helping to protect the southwestern snake-necked turtle from becoming endangered.

Bardi, Jawi, Mayala and Dambeemangarddee people and the State Government have come together to declare three new marine parks in the Kimberley’s Buccaneer Archipelago. The parks are jointly vested in and managed by their Traditional Owners, who have partnered in their creation.

Always keen to try something new, Conor Doherty recruited a trusty friend and headed off on a sunny autumn morning to Orienteering WA’s second bush event of the 2023 season: Spice Brook.

Careful observers of the Australian bush may have noticed that, following fires, there are often more plant species present in the live vegetation than there were beforehand. Some of these newly appeared species recruit from seeds stored in the soil and can initially be abundant, yet disappear after a few years, only to reappear later after another fire. These species are known as fire ephemerals.

The new, 108-metre span suspension bridge across the Murray River at Dwaarlindjirraap, within Lane Poole Reserve, was a major component of the $8.4 million Dwellingup Adventure Trails project.

The chuditch, also known as the western quoll (Dasyurus geoffroii), was once found across 70 per cent of the Australian continent—from Western Australia across to Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. Today, the distribution of wild chuditch is just five per cent of its former range; restricted only to the south-west of Western Australia.