27 – Community involvement in monitoring threatened species: a WWF perspective^349engages a broader volunteer base, allowing participants to join from anywhere that
has an internet connection, with less physical and time-critical demands than
fieldwork. ABC and partners promoted Wildlife Spotter across the country as part
of National Science Week, reaching potential volunteers through ABC networks
(radio, television and website), social media and email.
Maintaining the volunteer base is paramount, because the current scale of
fieldwork cannot be accomplished without continued community support. Over
250 volunteers have joined the cage trapping team, a small proportion of whom
(~10%) are committed, well-trained volunteers, who join repeatedly as team leaders
and have been key to the success of the program. To keep individuals engaged,
regular written updates on progress are provided, including photos, key results and
recognition of participants. Organised events and workshops, along with local
radio, newspaper and television reports, have also helped to raise awareness about
northern bettongs and increase volunteer participation.
Recruiting and managing volunteers for cage trapping is a much smaller scale
exercise than for Wildlife Spotter. Clearly, the larger the volunteer program, the
F i g. 2 7. 2. Wildlife Spotter’s design for image identification (ABC 2016).