Join us as a Citizen Scientist

Be part of bold scientific projects designed to repair and restore Central Victoria’s vital ecosystems.

Citizen Science expands the range of monitoring activities we can do within our projects - including the Spring Plains Watershed Repair project and Glideways in Central Victoria. Your involvement helps us to gather data and understand the impact our work is having on the ecosystems we work in.

The suite of monitoring activities available include spotlighting and nest box surveys to find gliders and phascogales, looking for reptiles using artificial shelters, and observing the diverse range of invertebrates around us. These methods help us to understand the state of the ecosystem in its current form, and ongoing monitoring will help us understand what impact our actions have over the years and decades to come.

We aim to increase community involvement in habitat restoration and include the whole community in Citizen Science - people of all ages have an opportunity to participate in the program. We want to put Central Victoria on the map for conservation, and the community's involvement is key to achieving this.

 

Reptile surveys

Date: Nov 2025 - Feb 2026 - follow link below for survey dates
Time: From 7:30am
Location: Spring Plains Nature Conservation Reserve, Heathcote

Spotlighting for nocturnal animals

Date: Sep - Dec 2025 - follow link below for survey dates
Time: From 6pm
Location: Spring Plains Nature Conservation Reserve, Heathcote

Nest box monitoring

Date: 27th + 28th August 2025
Time: 8am - 4pm
Location: Spring Plains Nature Conservation Reserve, Heathcote

Greater Glider spotlighting surveys

Date: Regularly updated - follow link for current dates
Time: From 6pm
Location: Tallarook and Mt Disappointment State Forests

Kangaroo population survey

Dates: Easter period 2026
Location: Spring Plains Nature Conservation Reserve, Heathcote

Pollinator surveys

Date: Flexible - follow link to get involved
Time: 9am
Location: Biolinks Alliance office, Tooborac

Record field sightings or identify others records

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

Swift Parrot Search (Birdlife Australia)

Dates: 26th April - 8th June 2025
Location: Spring Plains Nature Conservation Reserve, Heathcote

Nocturnal Invertebrate Surveys

Date: TBA - Spring 2025
Time: 8pm
Location: Spring Plains Nature Conservation Reserve, Heathcote

Identify animals in our camera traps

Join the citizen scientists using the Australian Museum’s DIGIVOL platform to identify and transcribe records from our camera trapping surveys.