The solution

   The first nest boxes around Lake Hume village were installed in 2006, with others added or removed due to damage or development over the years. At the start of this maintenance program there were 43 boxes across that subset. Some of the boxes were reaching the end of their useful life and needed replacing, some needed maintenance, and all boxes needed their box identifier redone. A general refresh was also needed of the mapping, data systems and engagement. There are now 55 boxes at Lake Hume on private and public land. We also took the opportunity to do repair works on other boxes across our district.

   Maintaining nest boxes is expensive in both money, planning and time but it is a highly visible declaration of our commitment to eco-friendly initiatives for the preservation of biodiversity.  It is also very rewarding especially when we see native species using the boxes and better yet, building up their populations. We also monitored 383 boxes, recording 155 Squirrel gliders over the 12 months. Other tasks included adding an extra 44 private boxes into the dataset, changing box position for better shade in summer, holding a community information event to report the project outcomes, and training more volunteers in nest box monitoring.