Citizen Science Programs
whY Get Involved
While science warned us that catastrophic fire conditions were likely in 2019-2020, no one predicted the catastrophic impact on Australia’s forests and wildlife. And while increased scientific effort is urgently needed to assess post-bushfire forest and habitat condition, understanding the full impact of the fires and developing pathways for forest and wildlife recovery will take time and increased resources.
Fortunately the community is responding to the crisis in unprecedented ways. Support for forest and wildlife recovery has never been greater. Wildlife rescue and support is morphing into citizen science efforts to identify remaining undamaged or lightly damaged habitat.
- ‘More than 100 threatened species hit hard by Australian bushfires, pushing many towards extinction’ story
- ‘Australia’s fires killed or harmed three billion animals’ story
- ‘Up to 30% of koalas killed in NSW mid-north coast fires’ story
Fortunately the community is responding to the crisis in unprecedented ways. Support for forest and wildlife recovery has never been greater. Wildlife rescue and support is morphing into citizen science efforts to identify remaining undamaged or lightly damaged habitat.
Citizen Science Apps
The community has a powerful role to play in observing and understanding the recovery of forest ecosystems following bushfires. The local knowledge of residents, and their sense of custodianship means Citizen Science can make a critical contribution to large-scale or widespread collection of observational data on a range of important forest assessments.
The Bush Recovery App and Murramarang Cybertracker App have been developed to engage local communities in monitoring the revival of their local forests and wildlife, and in collecting scientific data that can be used in wider assessments of fire severity and ecosystem recovery.
The Bush Recovery App and Murramarang Cybertracker App have been developed to engage local communities in monitoring the revival of their local forests and wildlife, and in collecting scientific data that can be used in wider assessments of fire severity and ecosystem recovery.