#108 Fighting for the Future of Australia’s Quolls with Paul Revie

When asked about his lifelong passion, Paul Revie smiles and recalls a childhood picnic in Goomburra. At just nine years old, he watched a spotted animal leap onto the family’s table and snatch sausages before vanishing into the bush. It was only after consulting his family’s World Book Encyclopedia that he discovered the culprit—a spotted-tailed quoll. That moment sparked an obsession that has never faded.Now an ecologist and zoologist, Paul is the founder of the Quoll Society of Australia and works with Wildlife Queensland and other conservation networks. Speaking from Brisbane, with Girraween National Park as the backdrop on his screen, he explained how quolls have disappeared from much of southern Queensland since the 1990s. “By the time I started mapping their distribution, they were reduced to just a handful of populations. Today, Girraween is the main stronghold left in Queensland,” he said.Determined to act, Paul founded the Quoll Society with three goals: find the remaining quolls, study their ecology and threats, and take tangible conservation action. His team deployed cameras across 36 protected areas and found quolls in only three. With government funding, they went further, fitting Girraween quolls with GPS collars to track their movements. The research revealed they would not cross open areas wider than about 100 metres, even inside the national park. “It showed us how fragmented the landscape still is,” he explained.To bridge those gaps, the Society launched a massive revegetation effort. Over two years, with the help of volunteers, they planted 39,000 trees across the Southern Downs to reconnect habitats. “It nearly broke me, but those trees are now growing well,” Paul admitted. “They are the stepping stones quolls need.”More Informationhttps://www.quollsociety.org/https://wildlife.org.au/our-work/conservation-programs/quoll-seekers-network/https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/people/7772516https://www.friendsofparksqld.org/If you enjoy this podcast, please like and subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts.Leave us a comment and share this show with your friends.It really helps us to reach more citizen scientists, like you.Contact the ShowWe are always looking for more guests to tell us about interesting citizen science projects, research and events.You can email us at: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.