Have you ever wondered what wildlife gets up to on your property? The National Parks Association of NSW (NPA) is helping private landholders answer the question “Who’s living on my land?” using infrared cameras to survey their land for wildlife.
Landholders from the Robertson region are invited to come along to a free workshop at Robertson Community Centre on the 27 April 2018 to learn how to use and then borrow infrared cameras. Landholders have an opportunity to become a citizen scientist for two weeks and put up an infrared camera on their property. Infrared cameras work by detecting heat in motion; it gets triggered to take a photograph whenever a warm-blooded animal walks in front of it and works both day and night. These cameras are a great new tool being used to survey animals because they are non-intrusive and can be easily used by anyone.
“People participating in the ‘Who’s living on my land?’ wildlife survey are sometimes in for a surprise with what they find. We have had landholders discover Koalas, Spotted-tailed Quolls and deer that they didn’t know were there before. It’s hard to conserve a species or create a pest management plan if you don’t know what’s there,” says Margot Law, NPA Citizen Science Officer.
“We hope that our participants can use this information to change some of their land management practices – whether it is signing up to programs like ‘Land for Wildlife’ or initiating their own monitoring program.
“Conservation on private land is crucial for threatened species like the Long-nosed Potoroo as the Illawarra Escarpment is at its thinnest point for connected vegetation between Sydney and the Victorian boarder.
Landholders participating in the workshop will have an opportunity to find out what funding is available for to them to help manage your native bush.”
Workshop details:
Date: Friday 27th April 2018, 9am-12.30pm, lunch and morning tea provided
Venue: Robertson Community Centre, 7-9 Caalong St Robertson NSW 2577
Cost: FREE
RSVP essential: whoslivingonmyland.org/robertson/ or call 02 9299 0000 and ask for Margot.
Media contact – Margot Law 02 9299 0000