Join local nature lovers when the Albury Wodonga Nature Map goes live tomorrow night.
The Albury Conservation Company will host on online event with ACT Government's Senior Environmental Planner and co-founder of the NatureMap citizen platform Dr Michael Mulvaney.
The Albur
y Wodonga Nature Map is an opportunity for locals to sign up and share their wildlife sightings.
Executive Officer Sam Niedra said the Albury Wodonga Nature Map was a free resouce and only takes a couple of minutes to join.
"It doesn't matter if you don't know what bird or animal you are photographing. For example, you see a bird in your garden and you don't know whether it's native or introduced. Take a photo, upload it and within a few hours an expert moderator will identify it for you," he said.
"Albury Wodonga Nature Map is the 'go to' on-line library to learn out about Albury Wodonga's unique plants, animals and other living things.
"There are many ways to use Albury Wodonga Nature Map. You can use it to document nature in your own property - such as an urban backyard. You can use it to add wildlife records for your favorite park or nature reserve to help compile 'local field guides' and contribute to the management of these sites.
"You can also use it to add bulk data to the public domain from current and future wildlife surveys, as well as adding historical data collecting dust inside your personal computer."
The nature map is part of the NatureMapr citizen science platform that emerged out of Canberra in 2014 and has since engaged thousands of ACT and NSW residents and contributed over 1.5 million wildlife records to the public domain (Atlas of Living Australia).
The platform creator is the Canberra-based company AT3AM IT, and Albury Conservation Company has engaged them to build and develop Albury Wodonga Nature Map.
Albury Conservation Company has been able to bring the platform to the border and create AWNP through:
- Funding received from the Ross Trust, the Australian Government (via the Communities Environment Program - Sussan Ley MP / Farrer electorate), and a donation from the Festival of Folk Rhythm & Life.
- Partnerships with Wodonga Council and Albury City Council.
"Albury Wodonga Nature Map closely aligns with the Threatened Species Monitoring Program that Albury Conservation Company has been rolling out since early 2018," he said.
"Initially the focus was on Albury's major urban growth area of Thurgoona / Wirlinga, but in 2020 we have expanded the program into Wodonga thanks to funding from the Ross Trust and a partnership with Wodonga Council."
Both cross border programs - Albury Wodonga Nature Map and the Threatened Species Monitoring Program - aim to improve knowledge of Albury/Wodonga's unique wildlife, engage key stakeholders and ultimately help to improve conservation outcomes for wildlife living in Australia's 20th largest city.
Want to know more visit Albury Wodonga Nature Map or sign up to the Zoom event .
Image of echinda by Karen Retra.
