08/09/2020
Knowledge is power and the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions popular PestSmart best practice management website - pestsmart.org.au - has had a major upgrade to make it even simpler and easier for farmers, producers, land managers and group coordinators to find the most accurate information to effectively manage pest animals within Australia. Andreas Glanznig, Chief Executive of the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions said the PestSmart management toolkits have had more than 2.3 million-page views over the past five years and emphasised that the website now offers even better access to pest animal management information.“Pest animals cause agricultural productivity losses of more than half a billion dollars per year and they are also a significant extinction threat to our native vulnerable species.“Without strategic management action, this number would be much higher and the PestSmart website contains a wealth of information to ensure pest animal managers have the ability to plan, manage and improve their control programs, confirming they are using the right tools at the right time, in the right way”.As most pest problems need a people-based solution, the website now also includes a brand-new Community Action portal – community.invasives.com.au - to further support and provide coordinators access to information to be fully equipped to manage community-led or public programs.Dr Ian McDonald, project leader for the website upgrade and Communications Manager for the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions said the newly upgraded websites have been designed with land manager, producer and program coordinator users front of mind.“Before we started building the site, we undertook close to two years of strategic planning and engagement with website users via a national online survey and focus groups to ensure we undertook methods where users were part of the design process.“The websites have really been developed by our users, for our users, ensuring it will support their needs and requirements. …PestSmart now hosts 16 pest animal management toolkits which contain planning guides, national standard operating procedures for undertaking control methods, codes of practices, videos, case studies, factsheets and more.“The new site is now live but further upgrades will be made over the next 12 months based on continued user feedback,” Dr McDonald said.“While we are confident the new look site hits many of our users needs and wants, we welcome people to fill out the feedback form to provide us with any further updates you may want to see on the site or areas improved”.The PestSmart website upgrade project received funding from the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment through the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions and included input from all levels of pest animal stakeholders to ensure that the site meets user requirements. You can visit the site today via https://pestsmart.org.au
-ends-Media contact: Ian McDonald, Communications Manager, Centre for Invasive Species Solutions M: 0429 985 643 | E: ian.mcdonald@invasives.com.auQuick facts:
- The PestSmart website was first launched in mid-2015 and has had more than 2.3 million page views by more than 900,000 users.
- The PestSmart website has 16 pest animal management toolkits including wild dogs, foxes, rabbits, feral pigs, feral cats, feral/wild deer, feral horses, feral camels, feral donkeys, feral goats, cane toads, carp, tilapia, hares, pest birds, house mice and information about new and emerging vertebrate threats.
- It also houses 45 case studies, and more than 300 technical resources, guides and literature collected over the past two decades of research.
- A new community action portal, called ‘Community Invasives Action’ has also been created to support those coordinators on the ground with information on best practice community engagement practices for invasive species programs.
- The Australian Government invested $20 million over five years (2017-2022) to establish the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions, which has been further leveraged through its 17 members and partners.
