Snow gums are the iconic vegetation species of the Australian High country.

They are beautiful, vital for biodiversity and tourism, help hold snow pack which is released into river catchments, and hold deep cultural value for many people.

However, we are now seeing the beginning of ecosystem collapse across these forests – drought, dieback and successive fires have altered the structure, composition, and condition of snow gum woodlands dramatically.

Over the last weekend of August (29 & 30) we want to invite resort and mountain loving communities to join us for a couple of hours of citizen science to better understand the health of local snow gum forests. This can happen anywhere that snow gums grow naturally. This will involve walking (or possible skiing or snow shoeing) through an area of forest and recording the health of individual trees.

Read on to find out more.

Background

We must intervene and develop a robust recovery plan if these ecological communities are to remain viable into the future. 

Friends of the Earth (FoE) is preparing a proposal to seek threatened species listing for snow gums under federal environmental laws (called the EPBC).

If successful, this will help deliver:

·      Legal protection and regulatory measures

·      Greater access to funding for research and restoration

·      National Coordination

·      Public awareness and profile of snow gums

·      Elaboration of a National Recovery Plan (and Recovery Team)

We believe this is the best chance we have to get the federal government's attention and channel sorely-needed funding to snow gum science and conservation work.

There are many ways you can get involved to support the listing application – and here is our next action: a weekend of citizen science to map the health of snow gum trees so we can gain a better understanding of the overall status of these ecosystems. We encourage you to join us.

The weekend

Over the last weekend of August (29 & 30) we want to invite resort and mountain loving communities to join us for a couple of hours of citizen science to better understand the health of local snow gum forests. This can happen anywhere that snow gums grow naturally. This will involve walking (or possible skiing or snow shoeing) through an area of forest and recording the health of individual trees.

If you're busy over the August weekend, you could do your local event at any time up until the end of August, wen we plan to compile the data. are welcome

It’s a simple process:

1/ JUNE. We hope to find a local organiser or convenor at each resort or area who will co-ordinate the day locally. For instance, Protect our Winters will organise the day at Mt Hotham. We would like to see events in all ski resorts, plus any areas where a local group has an interest in/ connection with snow gums – for instance we already have a group that looks after a hut on the Bogong High Plains join the initiative! We are approaching outdoor clubs and businesses, schools, environmental eductators, resort and tourism operators, and anyone with a connection to snow gums.

We suggest that each event go for a couple of hours (obviously dependent on the weather conditions on that day) and finish with a group photo that can be used in the campaign and some sort of social event – a beer at your local pub, a picnic on a hilltop, etc.

2/ JULY. Create an event rsvp page for each event so people can register (knowing how many people will attend is important for planning how to run the event and how big an area to map). Local organisers are welcome to establish their own event page or we can do it.

3/ JULY. Advertise the events via partner networks, ski resorts, snow and regional media, etc.

4/ Confirm the methodology. The citizen science aspect involves participants identifying the health of mature trees (marking trees into 3 categories: are they healthy, dead, or facing problems from dieback).

This information can be tracked either on a map, or as data (showing the number of trees in an area in each of the 3 categories).

We are planning to use iNaturalist for the data collection.

5/ early JULY. We will hold a brief online session for all local organisers - so everyone understands the methodology, gets any support they need, co-ordinate advertising, etc

6/ AUGUST. Host the events. Have a wonderful time. At the end of the day, we ask you to share your tree health data with FoE, who will compile a media release and a report for MPs and other decision makers.

We also propose hosting a second citizen science weekend sometime over summer.

To get involved

If you would like to host or co-host an event in your community, resort or favourite mountain please get in touch asap.

We will ask all local organisers to create a risk assessment plan using a template so that participants can be covered through public liability insurance.

Contact:

Cam Walker - 0419 338 047 / [email protected]

Anna Langford - 0478 031 771 / [email protected]

Find out more about the listing process here via this open letter.