Last month, the Sydney Basin Koala Network began recording valuable data about koalas and their habitat via our Citizen Science project.

Become an SBKN Citizen Scientist

On a sunny Saturday in Rosemeadows in South West Sydney, community members came together for a day of learning about koala ecology and gaining skills to collect and record valid scientific data about koalas guided by experienced ecologists, Kirsty and Amanda.

Kirsty from Biolink explaining tree identification

Our trainee citizen scientists had a range of experience, some with decades of koala tracking under their belts and others completely new to it. However they all share a passion to build knowledge, gain skills and contribute to koala protection. The breadth of experience in the room made for a wonderful atmosphere of collaboration and knowledge sharing. Thank you to everyone who came and made the day what it was.

We spent the morning learning about koala ecology and how to record and use data to advocate for koala conservation. Then headed to nearby prime koala habitat to practice our survey technique; looking for koalas, koala scats and identifying koala food trees.

Our first training was a great success, and our network of dedicated Citizen Scientists are already building a database of koala sightings in the Campbelltown area and beyond. Check out the sightings in Atlas of Living Australia. 

Here are some photos of koalas spotted by Geoff, Pat and Barry (photo credit to Geoff)

The SBKN Citizen Science Project is all part of the campaign to create a strong voice for the Koala and its habitat that is the home for so many other threatened species.

We will be hosting more Citizen Science training days and other events throughout the Sydney Basin in 2023. If you would like to become a Citizen Scientist or get involved in the SBKN in other ways, register your interest to keep up to date with what’s happening.