Turtle Watch: Community engagement and action

Abstract

AbstractMany threats face the freshwater turtle, Chelodina colliei, also known as the oblong turtle. A community education project, Turtle Watch, focused on this target species and enabled effective conservation action to be implemented. Turtle Watch was conducted in the Perth Metropolitan Area of Western Australia, as the oblong turtle inhabits the wetlands of Perth. Predation, habitat loss, road deaths and climate change are key threats to this species. Nest predation issues arose during stage 1 of Turtle Watch (2005–2008), so Turtle Watch 2 (2010–2012) aimed to identify predators and foster community partnerships, including citizen science, to promote awareness and conservation of turtles. Turtle Watch 2 focused on four eco education centres and involved collaboration between government and community groups concerned about turtles. Camera surveillance was undertaken to determine predators. Various strategies were also adopted to promote community education and participation, such as, public talks, fair...