00:00 This job sucks.
00:04 But it is effective.
00:07 Armed with a tube, hose, filter and a good set of lungs, these guys are hunting the tiny
00:12 matchstick grasshopper.
00:14 Only found in Australia and once extinct in Melbourne, it's flourishing in Royal Park.
00:19 Of the ten sites that we did last year, seven of them are successful.
00:24 And this small reintroduction means a lot.
00:26 First to the resilience of the city's wildlife and biodiversity.
00:29 You get this particular matchstick around in the winter, so putting them back into Royal
00:34 Park actually really helps the food chain.
00:36 Second, because the council is inspired to do even more.
00:39 In city environments, we can play a role in regenerating species that have become extinct
00:46 because of bushfires in country areas, for example.
00:50 The pine mountain grevelia only grows naturally in north-east Victoria and was nearly wiped
00:54 out by bushfires in 2019.
00:56 This sapling is the first to be planted in what the council and Royal Botanic Gardens
01:00 Victoria is calling its 'threatened species living collection'.
01:04 We call it the backstop to extinction.
01:06 It will relocate endangered flora to city parks to be nurtured as part of an active
01:09 ecosystem.
01:10 From little things, big things grow.
01:13 Australia has about 1500 threatened plant species and while seed banks exist, not all
01:18 species are safe.
01:19 50% of the threatened flora across the state is banked, which is phenomenal.
01:24 However, there's a whole bunch of species, we call them recalcitrant species, that can't
01:28 be stored.
01:29 Now that this fragile little grevelia is on some solid ground, another 40 species have
01:34 been identified to be planted as part of this project.
01:37 The grasshoppers benefit too.
01:39 As you put more and more plants in, including the grevelia, they will feed on those too.
01:44 Sites at Royal Park, Fitzroy Gardens and Domain are being surveyed for threatened plant life.
01:48 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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