Join us as Citizen Scientist


Be part of a bold scientific project designed to repair a 138Ha micro-catchment of Box Ironbark forest.

Citizen Science expands the range of monitoring activities we can do within the Spring Plains Watershed Repair project. Your involvement helps us to understand what impact our work is having on ecosystems and enables us to refine this process.

The suite of volunteer management activities below help us understand the state of the ecosystem in its current form and ongoing monitoring will help us in understanding what impact our actions have over the years and decades to come.

The second purpose for this program is to increase community involvement with Citizen Science. People of all ages have an opportunity to participate in the program and the dates have been set to accommodate school holiday events. We also want to put Heathcote on the map for conservation, and the community's involvement is key to achieving this.

The following volunteer opportunities are funded by the Parks Victoria Volunteer Innovation Fund.

 

Working Bee to fix ponds and plant native plants at Spring Plains

After record rainfalls across Heathcote several of the ponds in Peters Gully were damaged. We need your help to fix them.

Date: Saturday 8th June 2024

Time: 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM

Location: Spring Plains Nature Conservation Reserve, Heathcote

Spotlighting for nocturnal animals

Dates: 14th May, 28th May, 11th June, 25th June, 9th July
Time: From 5:30pm
Location: Spring Plains Nature Conservation Reserve, Heathcote

Reptile surveys

Date: Wednesday 22nd May 2024
Time: 9am
Location: Spring Plains Nature Conservation Reserve, Heathcote

Identify animals in our camera traps

Join the citizen scientists using the australian museums DIGIVOL platform to identify and transcribe records from our baited camera trapping

Swift parrot Search, Birdlife

Location: Spring Plains Nature Conservation Reserve, Heathcote

Record field sightings or identify others records

We have more than 700 records for the site which need to be identified or validated

Kangaroo population survey

Date: Easter period 2025
Time: TBA
Location: Spring Plains Nature Conservation Reserve, Heathcote

Nest box monitoring

Dates: TBA
Time: 9am
Location: Spring Plains Nature Conservation Reserve, Heathcote

Pollinator surveys

Dates: TBA

Nocturnal Invertebrate Surveys

Date: TBC
Time: TBC
Location: Spring Plains Nature Conservation Reserve, Heathcote