An extension and expansion of a four-year project using motion-sensing cameras, sound recorders, automated call recognition, and acoustic indices to cost-effectively collect and analyse data that can be used to infer the health of remnant forests and woodlands in Nillumbik.

This next phase of the project is expected to enrich the understanding of forest health across wet and dry forest assets within Nillumbik Shire Council, by creating a long-term monitoring framework and program capable of assessing changes in forest health status through time and at different scales.

It is also expected to build a community culture of stewardship enabling meaningful action in preserving and improving Nillumbik’s forest assets and the flora and fauna they support.

This project will expand the range of data collected, and the number of monitoring sites to improve the accuracy of inferred health of forests.

It also aims to improve the performance of the indicator species call recognisers, seek to automate the identification of camera images, and also species data uploads to the Victorian Biodiversity Atlas.

In parallel with the improved data collection and processing, this project also seeks to establish a Community Ecoacoustic Stewardship Program and build a network of citizens scientists collecting complementary data, and linking educational materials, workshops and on-ground action to the monitoring findings.