Flying-Fox Roost Management—Local Government Grants Program

The Queensland Government recognises the need for flying-foxes to be managed in a way that both addresses community expectations around public amenity, and the long-term conservation of these important protected species.

The Flying-Fox Roost Management Local Government Grants Program is helping to enhance the capacity of local governments to deal with problem urban flying-fox roosts and to develop and implement comprehensive long-term roost management plans.

The Queensland Government is currently delivering $2 million in grant funding over four years (2021–2024) to assist local governments in Queensland to mitigate the impacts of flying-fox roosts on their communities and to better support residents and businesses to co-exist with flying-foxes. A further $1.5 million was announced in the 2023/24 State Budget to extend the program for an additional three years.

Since 2013, local governments in Queensland have had an 'as-of-right' authority that enables them to actively manage flying-fox roosts in specified urban areas within their Local Government Areas (LGAs), provided they comply with a Code of Practice under the Nature Conservation Act 1992 (NC Act). This has allowed local governments to make roost management decisions that best meet the needs and expectations of their communities, in a timely manner, without needing a permit from the DESI.

Funding streams

The funding is being delivered through six competitive rounds over four financial years, beginning in 2020–2021, enabling councils the opportunity to apply for grant funding twice per year over that period. All projects will be approximately 50% co-funded by the local government (including in-kind contributions), although the exact contributions may vary in some cases, depending on the financial capability of the local government to contribute funds.

It should be noted that local governments having a population of 50,000 people or less, are now eligible to receive 70% of funding for successful projects, with the remaining 30% to be contributed by the local government (including in-kind contributions). More information is available in the Program Guidelines.

As different councils are at different stages of the flying-fox roost management process the grants program provides funding through three complementary streams.

• Stream 1: Immediate/high-priority actions—grants to assist councils to carry out immediate high-priority works while longer-term arrangements are developed.
• Stream 2: Development of roost management plans—grants to assist councils to develop long-term roost management plans for their Local Government Areas (LGAs). Management plans will address particular problem roosts and provide a holistic guide to adaptive management options for roosts over the entire LGA.
• Stream 3: Implementation of roost management plans—grants to assist councils to implement roost management actions (identified within their management plans) to mitigate the impacts of flying-fox roosts and encourage their communities to co-exist with flying-foxes.

We are working closely with the Local Government Association of Queensland in administering the grants program, to ensure that grant funds are targeted to the areas of greatest need and will provide the maximum long-term benefits for flying-fox roost management in council LGAs.

Round 7

Round 7 of the Program will open for applications in 2024.

For more information please visit the Department of State Development, Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning Grants to Local Government webpage.

Rounds 1 to 6

Rounds 1 to 6 of the program have now closed. Successful applicants are detailed below.

Successful Round 6 recipients

Successful applicants under Round 6 were announced on 19 January 2024. In all, 16 local governments were successful, with 17 projects attracting over $620 000 in funding.

• Burdekin Shire Council: $37,100 to develop a long-term region-wide flying-fox roost management plan.
• Central Highlands Regional Council: $3,062 to install flying-fox educational signage at two known roost areas within the Central Highlands region.
• Charters Towers Regional Council: $42,000 to develop a long-term region-wide flying-fox roost management plan.
• Cloncurry Shire Council: $42,969 to develop a long-term region-wide flying-fox roost management plan.
• Douglas Shire Council: $14,104 to reduce canopy cover at two flying-fox roost sites thereby increasing the buffer between residents and the roosts.
• Gladstone Regional Council: $35,700 for cocos palm removal and tree replacement near four flying-fox roosts in the region that will help minimise the impacts on nearby residents by reducing foraging and the impact caused by flying-fox droppings.
• Hinchinbrook Shire Council: $13,720 for scoping works on a region-wide flying-fox roost management plan.
• Ipswich City Council: $34,800 for works to improve the sustainability of two flying-fox roost sites.
• Isaac Regional Council: $70,200 to undertake works recommended in the Hoods Lagoon draft flying-fox management plan, including roost habitat improvement.
• Logan City Council: $50,162 for a localised grant scheme for residents directly impacted by two flying-fox roosts in the region and $22,830 for the re-establishment of a buffer between residents and a childcare centre and the Mt Warren Park roost.
• Maranoa Regional Council: $80, 000 for the establishment of two nearby alternate long-term preferred flying-fox roosts in Surat, with a 5-year establishment period.
• Moreton Bay City Council (formerly Moreton Bay Regional Council): $24,715 to deliver an extensive flying- fox community education program.
• Noosa Shire Council: $15,500 to develop a flying-fox roost management plan at Pinaroo Park, Noosa Heads.
• North Burnett Regional Council: $25,550 to develop a long-term region-wide flying-fox roost management plan.
• Townsville City Council: $80,000 for a localised grant scheme for residents directly impacted by flying-fox influxes to a roost in the city.
• Whitsunday Regional Council: $30,000 to develop a long-term region-wide flying-fox roost management plan.

Successful Round 5 recipients

Successful applicants under Round 5 were announced on 12 July 2023. In all, 10 applications from 9 local governments, attracting a total of approximately $220,000 in funding, were successful.

• Townsville City Council: $28,700 to develop a long-term roost management plan for the local government area.
• Douglas Shire Council: $42,000 to develop a long-term roost management plan for the local government area.
• Gladstone Regional Council: $37,769 for a localised invite-only grant scheme for residents and businesses directly impacted by flying fox roosts in the region and enable the purchasing of goods and services aimed at mitigating roost impacts.
• Sunshine Coast Regional Council: $17,000 for stakeholder engagement and creation of new flying-fox messaging strategy to be included in the new 10-year SCRC Regional Flying-fox Roost Management Plan.
• Logan City Council: $20,920 to revegetate 3,750m² of an existing roost at Regents Park with 1500 mid-storey plants.
• Gympie Regional Council: $9,744 to revegetate a roost site at Widgee Crossing.
• Rockhampton Regional Council: $20,250 for a localised grant scheme for residents directly impacted by flying fox roosts at the Rockhampton Botanical Gardens and Westwood.
• Noosa Shire Council: $16,000 for the provision of a flying-fox roost monitoring program and a council staff training program in monitoring flying-foxes by an environmental consultant.
• Southern Downs Regional Council: $18,235 to undertake rehabilitation works of an alternative roost site.
• Rockhampton Regional Council: $9000 for tree trimming at the Rockhampton Botanical Gardens.

Successful Round 4 recipients

Successful applicants under Round 4 of the program were announced on 16 December 2022. In all, 6 applications from 5 local governments, attracting a total of approximately $149,333 in funding, were successful.

• Townsville City Council: $80,000 for a localised grant scheme for residents directly impacted by flying fox influxes to roost in the city. Eligible residents will be able to apply for grants of up to $3000 for goods or services to mitigate the impacts of flying-foxes on their properties.
• Maranoa Regional Council: $30,958 for council to engage an expert flying-fox consultant to develop a long-term flying-fox roost management program for the Maranoa local government area.
• Gold Coast City Council: $20,000 to develop and implement a long-term roost management plan for a flying-fox roost at Catalina Park.
• Noosa Shire Council: $6375 for a localised grant program to help Kin Kin residents directly impacted by flying-fox influxes along Keys Creek to install water filtration units on their rainwater tanks; and $5000 to help council develop a long-term roost management plan for Pinaroo Park at Noosa Heads.
• North Burnett Regional Council: $7000 to fund preliminary work necessary for the development of a long-term flying-fox roost management plan for its local government area.

Successful Round 3 recipients

Successful applicants under Round 3 of the program were announced on 22 July 2022. In all, 11 applications from 10 local governments, attracting a total of more than $300,000 in funding, were successful.

• Livingstone Shire Council: $23,800 to control the weed coastal morning glory at an Emu Park roost site and $45,500 to develop a flying fox roost management plan for four roosts in the Livingstone local government area.
• Rockhampton Regional Council: $30,360 to disperse flying foxes currently roosting in the Botanic Gardens.
• Goondiwindi Regional Council: $15,400 to develop a roost management plan for the local government area, including identification of suitable areas in the region where permanent flying fox habitat could be improved/developed.
• Gympie Regional Council: $42,000 to develop a management plan for flying fox roosts in the Gympie local government area.
• Ipswich City Council: $30,000 to update the 2014 Ipswich flying fox roost management plan to incorporate new long-term roost management strategies.
• Noosa Shire Council: $5,000 to manage a roost at an aged care centre at Cooroy.
• Sunshine Coast Council: $65,000 to develop a ten-year best-practice regional management plan for flying fox roosts in 12 SEQ local government areas.
• Banana Shire Council: $5,026 to install educational signage to promote community understanding of flying fox conservation.
• Logan City Council: $20,000 to conduct weed control at the Regents Park roost site.
• Moreton Bay Regional Council: $18,900 for roost habitat predictive modelling and analysis of historical roost sites.

Successful Round 2 recipients

Successful applicants under Round 2 of the program were announced on 8 February 2022. In all, 9 applications from 6 local governments, attracting a total of more than $241,000 in funding, were successful.

• Charters Towers Regional Council: $3,162 to refit the irrigation system at its alternative roost site at Young’s Block to optimise the microclimate for flying-foxes.
• Rockhampton Regional Council: $45,105 to implement immediate high-priority remediation works at the Rockhampton Botanic Gardens, including vegetation management and installation of deterrence equipment, to address an ongoing influx of little red flying-foxes at the site which have been there since May 2021.
• Sunshine Coast Regional Council: $41,168 to install a canopy-mounted sprinkler system to create a 10m to 15m flying-fox exclusion buffer and reduce the impacts on residents at Porter Park, Golden Beach.
• Isaac Regional Council: $28,000 to develop vegetation mapping to identify high-conflict locations and inform future management approaches, develop a comprehensive management plan for an existing roost at Hoods Lagoon, Clermont, and develop a behaviour change and engagement framework to positively engage Isaac communities in flying-fox management going forward.
• Scenic Rim Regional Council: $20,000 to develop long-term roost management plans and associated implementation actions for two high-conflict sites at Canungra and Beaudesert.
• Sunshine Coast Regional Council: $21,750 to develop high-confidence roost habitat suitability modelling to inform management approaches, guide future land use planning and encourage community co-existence with flying-foxes.
• Sunshine Coast Regional Council: $9,000 to collaborate with key stakeholders, including Traditional Owners, scientists, wildlife carers, teachers and community groups to develop a primary school flying-fox education and engagement program.
• Moreton Bay Regional Council: $66,250 to undertake DNA analysis of urban flying-fox diets to inform landscape planning and develop guidance materials and advice for residents, planners, developers, business owners and conservation groups on co-existing with flying-foxes.
• Moreton Bay Regional Council: $7,500 to develop an interactive, interpretative, and portable digital touch screen display which will enable Council to educate its community about flying-foxes, their role in the environment and how to co-exist with them.

Successful Round 1 recipients

Successful applicants under Round 1 of the program were announced on 27 July 2021. In all 16 applications from 12 local governments, attracting a total of more than $572,000 in funding, were successful.

• Gympie Regional Council: $20,507 to install a canopy sprinkler system and create buffer zones to protect flying-foxes and offset impacts on residents at an emerging roost at Commissioners Gully.
• Gympie Regional Council: $27,000 to manage weeds (particularly the invasive cat’s claw creeper) at an abandoned roost site at Widgee Crossing, with the objective of attracting flying-foxes back to this site.
• Moreton Bay Regional Council: $60,330 to install interpretative signage and a cantilevered roof over a pedestrian path that is beneath a flying-fox roost at Shirley Creek, Bongaree.
• Moreton Bay Regional Council: $40,680 to relocate an existing footpath and park furniture away from a flying-fox roost and to install associated interpretative signage at Sweeny Reserve, Petrie.
• Brisbane City Council: $37,500 to develop a management plan for six permanent flying-fox roosts in Brisbane to ensure the animals’ ongoing protection while managing their impacts on the community.
• Logan City Council: $20,000 to develop flying-fox roost management plans for two high-conflict urban roost sites at Regents Park and Mount Warren Oval Park.
• Lockyer Valley Regional Council: $30,250 to develop a long-term, region-wide flying-fox management plan for roosts within the Lockyer Valley.
• Noosa Shire Council: $24,000 to develop roost management plans for roost sites at Kin Kin and Wallace Park, Noosaville.
• Redland City Council: $63,750 to develop a city-wide roost management plan setting out an ecologically sustainable approach to flying-fox management, while managing risks and amenity impacts for Redland residents.
• Redland City Council: $20,461 to deliver a targeted education and assistance program for residents at Lotus Close, Thornlands, who are impacted by a nearby flying-fox roost.
• Rockhampton Regional Council: $23,000 to develop a long-term management plan for flying-foxes in the Rockhampton Botanic Gardens and other roost sites in the region.
• Southern Downs Regional Council: $20,000 to develop a long-term flying-fox roost management plan which balances community concerns with flying-fox management and conservation, including a targeted community engagement strategy.
• Sunshine Coast Regional Council: $29,879 to evaluate council’s current Regional Flying-Fox Management Plan to determine how the plan and council’s flying-fox management program is achieving its conservation outcomes.
• Sunshine Coast Regional Council: $40,000 to undertake a micro-grants program for residents impacted by flying-fox roosts, offering them the opportunity to purchase products or to make improvements to their properties to reduce the long-term impacts from flying-foxes.
• Townsville City Council: $60,000 to install canopy sprinklers in flying-fox roost areas at Dan Gleeson Botanic Gardens to encourage the animals to move to a roost at the rear of the gardens, reducing impacts on playgrounds and multiple neighbouring properties.
• Hinchinbrook Shire Council: $55,000 to address long-term flying-fox issues at the Ingham Botanic Gardens by modifying the Botanic Gardens site to make it less attractive to flying-foxes and enhancing the appeal of alternative roost sites.