About 60 Landcarers from across the North West coast were up to their waists in water bug identification at Fernglade on Sunday.

Participants enthusiastically donned their waders to get up close and personal with the water bugs in the cool waters of Fernglade Reserve at Burnie.  They were taking part in Landcare Tasmania’s first Member Outreach BBQ for 2018, hosted by local group Friends of Fernglade.

People from 14 Landcare groups, scouts and the Mayor of Burnie, Alderman Alvwyn Boyd, were among the first Tasmanians to use a new mobile app to help identify water bugs.

John Gooderham, Freshwater Ecologist with the Waterbug Company, showed both young and old how to collect waterbugs and how to use the new Waterbug App to identify them. The water bug app is part of the National Waterbug Blitz, a citizen science initiative for collecting data on the health of rivers and wetlands around Australia.

Friends of Fernglade gave Landcarers a tour of the reserve and showed how they are maintaining the area as a conservation asset and a tourist drawcard for cruise boat visitors. They also demonstrated the QR (Quick Response) codes they have used on extensive signage installed throughout the reserve, which bring information on the reserve to visitor’s mobile phones. These are particularly popular with tourists from the 60 cruise ships who visit Fernglade annually.

Friends of Fernglade volunteer weed officer, Adrian Cooper, talked about their weed management plan for the reserve and the work being done to reduce its weeds.

Landcare Tasmania’s CEO, Rod Knight, said ‘The strong turnout really showed the level of interest in the Landcare community to find new ways to understand what is happening in our environment, and to incorporate these in their ongoing efforts to maintain and improve their local areas’.

John Gooderham, Freshwater Ecologist with the Waterbug Company, showed both young and old how to collect waterbugs and how to use the new Waterbug App to identify them. The water bug app is part of the National Waterbug Blitz, a citizen science initiative for collecting data on the health of rivers and wetlands around Australia.

Friends of Fernglade gave Landcarers a tour of the reserve and showed how they are maintaining the area as a conservation asset and a tourist drawcard for cruise boat visitors. They also demonstrated the QR (Quick Response) codes they have used on extensive signage installed throughout the reserve, which bring information on the reserve to visitor’s mobile phones. These are particularly popular with tourists from the 60 cruise ships who visit Fernglade annually.

Friends of Fernglade volunteer weed officer, Adrian Cooper, talked about their weed management plan for the reserve and the work being done to reduce its weeds.

Landcare Tasmania’s CEO, Rod Knight, said ‘The strong turnout really showed the level of interest in the Landcare community to find new ways to understand what is happening in our environment, and to incorporate these in their ongoing efforts to maintain and improve their local areas’.