Published on Tuesday, 20 February 2018 at 1:30:37 PM
Geraldton’s wildlife naturalists have joined forces with the Conservation Council of Western Australia Citizen Science Program and the City to undertake a fauna survey in the Chapman River Regional Park.
A new Everlasting Partnership Agreement between the Conservation Council and the City will see the development of a base-line biodiversity survey specific to the Chapman River Regional Park and the training of local volunteers to undertake the survey.
City of Greater Geraldton Mayor Shane Van Styn said the partnership has important social and environmental outcomes.
“In Geraldton we have a lot of wildlife naturalists who have been enthusiastically going out at any time of the year to survey anything from birds and echidnas to lizards and frogs,” he said.
“Our partnership with the Conservation Council will bring these like-minded individuals together to help us benchmark the fauna who call the Chapman River Regional Park home and to assist in area monitoring in the years to come.”
Conservation Council WA Citizen Science Coordinator Dr Nic Dunlop said the fauna survey was the first step towards biodiversity conservation management in the park.
“The data volunteers and citizen scientists will be collecting will help us better understand where species occur in the landscape, how they live and what they require,” he said.
“Once we know what’s there, subsequent surveys will determine which species are doing well and which are declining so conservation projects can be effectively targeted.
“In the long-term, we will get a much better understanding of the year to year trends and fluctuations due to unusual weather and which species could potentially need help or those that are responding or adapting to environmental changes such as conservation management or climate change.”
Over the coming week, and again in April, Dr Dunlop and his team, which includes Birdlife Australia and a Murdoch University micro bat research project, will be onsite in the Chapman River Regional Park to train and coordinate volunteers and Central Regional TAFE students to undertake surveys of terrestrial, aquatic and avian fauna.
If you would like to know more about the project, please contact Environmental Planning Officer Erin O’Connor on (08) 9956 6600.
PICTURE CAPTION:
Central Regional TAFE Lecturer Irene Ghannage and TAFE students installing pit traps for small vertebrates such as geckos and lizards, which will be measured, counted and then released as part of the Chapman River Regional Park wildlife survey.
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