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Involving volunteers in threatened

plant monitoring in South Australia:

the best laid plans of plants and men

Doug Bickerton

Summary

With many threatened plant species, and with multiple sites to manage and
monitor, the South Australian Government’s task is made easier by enlisting
interested and capable volunteers to assist in conservation management, especially
with monitoring. Government agencies are often limited by budget constraints,
particularly in the field of biodiversity conservation, and the recovery objectives for
nationally threatened plant species can remain purely aspirational unless a
concerted effort is made to find the resources to implement recovery actions. There
is limited benefit in dedicating effort to recovery actions without monitoring to
gauge the effect of this investment. Volunteers often come to a project with a
specialist interest in native plants or a particular suite of species, and they can also
provide local knowledge. Their passion can be motivating, and they often bring the
added benefit of greater f lexibility when it comes to the timing of site visits and