338 Monitoring Threatened Species and Ecological Communities
be useful in understanding the current composition and condition of the habitat at
the site, as well as factors that might contribute to the decline or stability of the
target threatened species. For example, one local volunteer was able to explain why
the structure and composition of the eucalypt woodland at a particular site
differed considerably from others in the area. Having lived in the valley all of his
life, he related that when he was young the eucalypts in the valley were regularly
felled for firewood and timber. The local residents also conducted a controlled
burn every 10 years. Also, unusually, there were very few golden wattles Acacia
pycnantha, which would normally germinate in profusion following a fire, but the
same volunteer told me the previous owners were market gardeners, and they had a
habit of cutting out all of the wattle saplings in the scrub to use as tomato stakes.
In reality, it is not always easy to find volunteers who are both local and
enthusiastic. South Australia’s population is very centralised, more so than
Australia’s eastern states, and most of the state is sparsely populated. There is
usually no shortage of volunteers for projects near Adelaide and the Mt Lofty
Ranges (Box 26.1; Fig. 26.1); however, for much of the state, local volunteers with
the suitable set of skills are not always available (Box 26.2).
Volunteers with specialist knowledge or interests, such as native orchid
enthusiasts, bring their own set of advantages with them. Orchid buffs often have
very good identification skills, which can be handy where closely related species
are growing at the same site or in close proximity. They can also be very good at
spotting the small leaves and f lowers of orchids, when a novice would have walked
straight past. Orchid enthusiasts love the opportunity to witness and photograph
species they haven’t seen before, so they’re often willing to travel further afield or
to new sites to assist with surveys and monitoring. Unfortunately, specialist native
plant groups are not in great abundance, and as a result it can be difficult to
attract volunteers to monitoring projects for unremarkable plant species such as a
grass species or a raspwort. As any real estate agent will tell you, location is also
important. When the critically endangered spiny daisy shrub was re-discovered in
the late 1990s, it was only found on open roadsides surrounded by weeds,
cropping paddocks and mostly unsealed roads. To this day, the six remnant
populations are all located on roadsides, and it takes a very dedicated
conservation volunteer to give up their day to stand on a degraded roadside
counting daisy bushes!
Conservation volunteers vary in age, capacity and interests, but it is fair to say
that a substantial proportion are retirees. This has its advantages, because retirees
are free on week days to assist with monitoring. Older volunteers are more likely to
commit to the full term of a monitoring season, and to come back next year for
more. Many younger volunteers tend to start with good intentions but find that
family commitments and employment obligations take priority. There can be
disadvantages in working with an older demographic range, however, and one of