Do you want to be part of exciting hands on citizen science projects helping to protect koalas and yellow bellied gliders. The Bunyah Restoration Project is looking for volunteer citizen scientists to help us with the following Projects:

Koala Scat Collectors – Yes that is correct. You have an opportunity to become a pooh bear. We need fresh koala scats for research into the prevalence of Chlamydia and retro virus in our Bunyah Koala population. As a volunteer you would follow up koala sightings by our drone team. Using a GPS you would traverse into the koalas and make observations about the health and reproductive status of the individuals. Fresh scats also need to be collected and supplied to our academic partners to inform research into koala health. We need physically fit teams of 2 or 3 individuals to follow up the koala sightings each morning after the night time drone surveys. It will be early starts located around 2 hours north of Newcastle and 1 hr south of Taree. Our next survey is in late August (22nd to 26th) and we also intend to have regular surveys over the next few years.

Citizen Science Acoustic Specialists – Do you love listening to the music of the bush. In partnership with Mid Coast Council and the Department of Primary Industries we are placing recording devices across known koala and yellow bellied glider habitats. The recording devices are laid out in a grid array which allows our partnering scientists to work their statistical magic and estimate the population and movement patterns of both koalas and yellow bellied gliders. We use a computer program to identify possible glider and koala calls. This process creates a lot of data and we need citizen scientist volunteers to help us verify and document the recorded calls. This task is home based and your only requirement is a computer and internet link. We will provide training and networking days for our volunteers along with site visits for those interested to see how the process works in the field.

This is a great opportunity to make a positive impact on the conservation of some of our most threatened species. We really value our volunteers who are giving their most valuable resource to our Projects. That is, the gift of their own time.
All queries and enquires by email.
Shaun Tamplin – bunyahkoalas@gmail.com

This project received grant funding from the Australian Government. Bunyah Koalas would like to acknowledge our funding sources and partners.
@TSCommissioner
@nsw_dpi
@dcceew
@fnpw
@llsnsw
@universityqueensland
@koala
@yelllowbelliedglider
@sunshinecoastuniversity
@landcare_nsw
@midcoastcouncil