Jarrahmond Landcare: Putting Local Nature

on the

Map:

2,106

species

At every Landcare Meeting Vik Dunis updates the group on achievements and millstones on their group Citizen Science Project. This month a remarkable community effort has been passed to discover, document and protect Jarrahmond’s biodiversity. He also investigates a variety of species and the relative importance of its occurrence such as: A Short History of INaturist and Jarrhamonds significant contribution on a international platform:

The results are impressive, with 11,136 observations covering 2,106 species. The project is building a valuable record of local biodiversity while encouraging people to look more closely at the natural environment around them.

Jarrahmond Landcare is showing what can be achieved when a community takes an active interest in its local environment. A community-driven biodiversity mapping project using the iNaturalist platform to record plants, animals, fungi and other species across the landscape.

Local knowledge meets citizen science

A key part of the project is the involvement of local residents, including the project’s “iNat Legends”

— people regularly getting out into the landscape, photographing species and adding their

observations.

The plant component alone has recorded 2,952 observations of 593 species, contributed by

69 observers.

The project is also documenting local plants such as wattles and elderberries and recording

observations through the seasons. This helps build knowledge of when species flower, fruit and

seed, providing valuable information for local ecology, restoration and revegetation.

Recent observations include Sunshine Wattle, Myrtle Wattle, Early Wattle,

Golden Wattle and Long-leaf Wattle, along with local elderberry and rainforest species.

A great example of community Landcare

Jarrahmond Landcare’s work demonstrates how community enthusiasm,

citizen science and local knowledge can come together to better understand and

care for the environment.

Thousands of observations and more than 2,000 species are helping create an increasingly

detailed picture of Jarrahmond’s remarkable biodiversity — one photograph at a time.

The project is about more than collecting data. It is about building knowledge, connecting

people with their landscape and giving the community the tools to understand and care

for the places they live in.

Congratulations to Jarrahmond Landcare and all the local volunteers contributing to this fantastic project — a wonderful example of local people discovering, documenting and protecting their natural environment.