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2016 BioBlitz Site Confirmed

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Community Engagement

Tarin Rock near Lake Grace has been confirmed as the location for this year’s BioBlitz.

A BioBlitz is a citizen science event that aims to discover and record as many different living things as possible, within a set location, over a limited time period. It is usually conducted over 24 hours (from noon on Saturday, to noon on Sunday), on a mix of reserves and adjacent or nearby private properties.

BioBlitzes allow community members to work alongside environmental science experts as they identify and log details of the area’s biodiversity. Results from the BioBlitz are then collated to form a snapshot of the area which can assist with future environmental management of the region.

Wheatbelt NRM and the Dumbleyung Landcare Zone Inc. will be co-hosting the event and encouraging the local community to help conduct biodiversity surveys to enhance knowledge and understanding of the area’s biodiversity values.

Dumbleyung Landcare Zone Inc. have been active in the area since 2000, working closely with landholders and the local shire. Surrounding landholders have put up 150 kilometres of fencing to protect 1500 hectares of remnant vegetation, and have planted 220,000 biodiversity seedlings and 37,000 Oil Mallees.

The BioBlitz site falls within the Southwest Australia Ecoregion biodiversity hotspot and contains a high number of vegetation associations which help maintain three threatened and 37 priority flora and four threatened fauna species. These include, Malleefowl, Carnaby’s Black Cockatoos, Baudin’s Black Cockatoos, Western Whip Birds, and Red-tailed Phascogales.

For more information, contact Wheatbelt NRM’s Regional Landcare Facilitator Leigh Whisson on 9670 3136 or via lwhisson@wheatbeltnrm.org.au.

What: Tarin Rock BioBlitz 2016
When: Sat 8 to Sun 9 October 2016 
Where: Tarin Rock, near Lake Grace