Council has been working with Parks Victoria, Nillumbik Landcare Network and local landowners since 2017 to measure the health of wet/damp and dry forest remnants across the Shire.
The Forest Health Monitoring Program is a structured wildlife monitoring program that uses remote survey techniques (such as motion-sensing cameras and acoustic recorders) to detect ‘indicator’ wildlife species that are associated with healthy and degraded forested habitats.
Annual collection of data at these and other sites across the Shire will help us assess the health of Nillumbik’s forests and track changes over time - including the impact of bushfires and climate change.
The 30+ sites are on private and public land across Nillumbik.
In July 2024 we held a webinar to share information about the background to the program, and some of our findings over the first seven years of monitoring. You can watch the recording here:
With advice from local wildlife experts and community consultation, 31 species of mammals and birds have been selected as ‘indicator’ species to represent forest health.
Mammals
Birds
Between 2017 and 2022, more than 70,000 camera images were taken.
We identified:
In this short video you can see some of the native wildlife and pest animals that we've been detecting:
And here are some of the photos taken:
An echidna in Hurstbridge
Phascogale in Plenty Gorge
Superb Lyrebird in Kinglake
Wombat in Hurstbridge
From the list of 31 indicator species, we have been able to create acoustic recognisers for 16 of the species so far; and citizen scientists and experts have validated the results of seven of them.
The Southern Boobook and the White-throated Treecreeper are the most common indicator species being detected by acoustic recordings – present at 31 and 29 sites respectively. The Powerful Owl is the rarest, detected at only three sites.
If you are interested in bird calls and would like to become a citizen scientist, find out how to volunteer.