Volunteers needed for fauna survey
Home to bandicoots and skinks, very little research has been done into the Mt Melville reserve and volunteers are encouraged to help carry out a fauna survey of the area.
The City of Albany is encouraging volunteers to help with a second fauna survey this month, checking traps or going on spotlight walks on Mt Melville, also called Kardarup.
Animals such as reptiles, frogs and possums are humanely captured, identified, photographed and immediately released back into the wild.
The second survey out of three is supported by a South Coast Natural Resource Management grant and a fauna consultant.
City works and services executive director Matthew Thomson said it was a great opportunity to see wildlife up-close and see how scientists undertook fauna surveys.
Albany resident Peter Stewart went with Albany Young Naturalist member and daughter Tahlia, 10, to the first survey week in November.
He said traps were set overnight and the group came in, showed the children the animals and documented their sex, species and where and when they were caught before releasing them.
"It's important to know what type of animals are where and in what numbers," he said.
He said from the environment in the Mt Melville area was quite varied and information collected would help with decisions about weed control, prescribed burns or where to take members of the public to see and appreciate the local environment.
The Mt Melville survey will be held from February 18-23. Email sandram@albany.wa.gov .au.
