KOALA REGISTER
Join Lily and her dad as they search for wild koalas in the Australian bush, with some top tips from Ranger Rebecca on how to find them. Learn about the I Spy Koala initiative and why recording koala sightings is so important for koala conservation in NSW.
Find out more at www.koala.nsw.gov.au/report-sighting
Video Source: NSW Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water
Citizen Science and Koala Monitoring
Koalas are an iconic species living across New South Wales, from the coast and hinterland to inland areas. They are endangered and they need our help. To help protect koalas, we need to better understand where they are, and that's where property owners across New South Wales can help out with some citizen science. Using the I Spy Koala app property owners across New South Wales can now record any koalas they find. Developed by the New South Wales Government, the I Spy Koala app is helping us to know where koalas live and how the population is going. We use the information we get from I Spy Koala to help make better koala planning and koala conservation decisions.
Recording koala sightings is crucial to help us understand and protect this endangered species. The data you collect with I Spy Koala informs environmental managers, land managers and the community about koala distribution. It also helps us develop long-term conservation strategies to secure healthy koala populations in the wild.
Koala sightings entered into the NSW Government's I Spy Koala app are the fastest way to get koala data to the decision-makers.
The NKMP uses a wide range of approaches to monitoring koalas. This enables us to use a wealth of existing knowledge and suit our data collection methods to the specific needs of each site.
Multiple approaches are harder to model, but foster partnerships to share responsibility for koala monitoring and management. These partnerships are vital to ensuring that quality data continues to be collected throughout the koala's range.
Koala monitoring can be done using thermal drones, looking for koalas from above or looking for koala poos using things like detection dogs. Acoustic recorders can also be used which lets researchers hear koalas in the environment, or people can use our eyes and just walk around looking for them and counting them ourselves.
Koala monitoring apps include Koala Spotter, Koala Counter, and I Spy Koala. These apps allow users to record koala sightings and contribute to conservation efforts.
Allows users to record sightings, take photos, and record their location
Data is sent to the National Koala Sightings database
Designed to be easy to use by people of all ages
Allows ecologists to conduct systematic surveys for koalas
Supports single-count and double-count transects
Uses GPS to track location
Collects koala observation and survey data
Records are combined with other koala observations and made available in BioNet
Data is accessible to researchers, land managers, planners, and the public
I Spy Koala links directly to the NSW Government wildlife databases.
Text Source: Reagan Walker and Ciaron Dunn
