History

SWIFFT had its origins in 2003 when meetings were held with representatives of the Leigh Catchment Group, the Ballarat Environment Network, the Corangamite Catchment Management Authority, local government representatives, the Department of Primary Industry and the Department of Sustainability and Environment to talk about revegetation issues in the Leigh Catchment. These meetings highlighted the need to share information about threatened species in the south western region.

On 1 December 2003 a meeting was held in Ballarat, the main focus of which was to "develop a joint integrated project including Threatened Species protection with community links".  Attendees represented Leigh Catchment Group, Trust for Nature, Department of Sustainability and Environment, Department of Primary Industries, Ballarat Environment Network and Corangamite Catchment Management Authority. Early in the following year a concept paper was developed and a meeting was held on 17 March 2004 to discuss the idea of a network for threatened species covering south western Victoria.

Support for the idea ensured that there was a follow up meeting at Lake Bolac on 27 May 2004 to discuss a name for the network, development of a communication strategy and a calender of events and potential participation in a new web initiative. From here, a 'Wiki' webpage, hosted by Ballarat Envrionment Network was started (later referred to as the BIRD wiki) which later evolved into the SWIFFT website. What we now refer to as "SWIFFT" was established and held its first quarterly video conference on Thursday 14 October 2004.

Although originally an initiative focused on the south west of Victoria, SWIFFT has truly evolved into a State Wide network: the 'State Wide Integrated Fauna and Flora Teams'.

SWIFFT annual reports can be found in the Resource Library.

Contributions to SWIFFT are actively sought, please see Contact Us.

 SWIFFT overview