It’s one thing to appreciate the species you’re protecting on a conservation agreement. It’s another to have photographic evidence and have contributed to the most significant private land biodiversity data set ever collected in NSW.
For more than 150 of our conservation agreement-holders the wealth of evidence collected through our Land Libraries pilot was a massive 1.4 million camera images, 80 years of voluntary monitoring effort and 10,000 verified species shared using the NatureMapr app.
The collected evidence also offered delightful surprises, with landholders confirming species they’d only previously suspected were protected by their conservation areas.
NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust senior ecologist Joel Stibbard said the scale of the project showed what can be achieved when landholders, scientists and technology work together.
“The involvement of landholders has been critical. Their stewardship and passion for conservation makes this kind of large-scale monitoring possible,” Joel said.
“And this data set is extraordinary. It’s a treasure trove for understanding what species are out there and how they are using the landscape,” Joel said.
Along with identifying species through motion cameras and sound recorders, the data collected also showed an expanded reach for some species, extending knowledge about where they’d previously been found.
The year-long community-led citizen science pilot wrapped up last month, with the innovative approach to train landholders, loan equipment and use a purpose-built online hub within the NatureMapr platform awarded a Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water award.
The more than 1.4 million motion camera images and 15,000 hours of acoustic recordings represented 720,000 hours - or 80 years - of voluntary survey effort from the participating landholders.
“The project design works, we know that now,” NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust Education Team leader Alice McGrath said.
“As data continues to flow in and landholder communities grow stronger, the project is proving to be more than a pilot, it is a model for community-led conservation across the state,” she said.
“It’s not just about collecting data: it’s about giving landholders insights into the incredible biodiversity they’re supporting and empowering them to continue to monitor.
“For many, this is their baseline survey for fauna and they now have the skills and motivation to keep going.”
How Land Libraries works
Kits containing pre-configured motion cameras and song meters are loaned to landholders with a NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust agreement.
Landholders join a local training day and learn how to best use the equipment. They’re given written guides to support three months of monitoring.
Landholders upload their collected camera images and site data into the NatureMapr hub, via a mobile app or desktop portal.
The images and data is reviewed and verified by NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust ecologists and experts from the NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPI) Forest Science Unit.
Verified results are added to NSW’s BioNet database, where they can support future biodiversity policy and planning.
All findings are made available through the NatureMapr Land Libraries Hub, where participants can build their own species libraries linked to their conservation agreements, access expert-verified records and interact with moderators.
“We’re really excited to return this information back to landholders in a way that’s meaningful and accessible for management of their agreements,” Alice said.