OzGREEN invites all Bellinger and Kalang river users to participate in ‘Macro Muster 5’, a citizen science event at the Bellingen Showground on Friday 20th October from 4.00pm to 6.30pm, followed by a free community dinner.

This unique opportunity will encourage people who love and use the beautiful Bellinger River catchment to dive into the fascinating world of macroinvertebrates and learn about the very important role they play in keeping our rivers and our critically endangered species healthy.

The highly inclusive, highly interactive event aims to bring friends and families together for a fun and engaging, after-school and after-work activity that contributes to a meaningful cause. Experienced scientists and community mentors will work alongside participants to collect and identify waterbugs. The number and types of waterbugs found will tell a story about how healthy the river is and certain types of waterbugs are important for the diet of the critically endangered Bellinger River Snapping Turtle.

OzGREEN’s Bellingen Riverwatch’s Program Manager, Amy Denshire, is excited about the event saying,

" This event is a fantastic opportunity for friends and families to come together for a hands-on experience that not only connects them with nature but also empowers them to keep our rivers healthy. To show our gratitude to our community, we will also be offering a free thank you dinner afterwards so participants can get to know each other. The dinner is an optional waterbug masquerade, where you can wear a mask to look like your favourite waterbug - for a bit of fun!”

OzGREEN’s macroinvertebrate monitoring program is the largest of its kind in Australia and the upcoming event is an excellent opportunity for people in the Bellingen Shire to demonstrate their commitment to protecting their rivers, which are some of the healthiest rivers in Australia.

Amy adds,

“This event helps foster community connection and responsibility to care for the Bellinger River catchment. Please come down and have some fun, meet these little creatures that are so important for our rivers and learn something new about our local environment”.

The free event will be held in the Luncheon Pavilion at Bellingen Showground and is suitable for people aged eight and up. For more information, see www.ozgreen.org/macromuster

Dr Tracey MacDonald, Director of Water Wetlands and Coastal science at the Department of Planning and Environment (DPE) said:

“DPE is really supportive of the Bellingen macroinvertebrate monitoring program as it’s a fabulous opportunity to connect our science and community science which builds better outcomes for the environment.”

DPE has recently released the Bellinger River Health Program 2017-2022 on the SEED portal so that anyone can access this data: Bellinger River Health Program 2017-2022: DPE Science, Water Quality and Macroinvertebrate data - Asset - Information Asset Register | NSW Environment & Heritage

The free event will be held in the Luncheon Pavilion at Bellingen Showground and is suitable for people aged eight and up. For more information, see www.ozgreen.org/macromuster

OzGREEN would like to thank DPE and its’ Saving our Species program, the Bellingen Shire Council, Arborgreen and Vendart Diagnostics for their support of this program. This event is being part-funded by the DPE Flood Recovery Water Quality Monitoring Project, delivered through the NSW Environment Protection Authority's Flood Recovery Program for Water Quality Monitoring, in partnership with the NSW Department of Planning and Environment. The Program is jointly funded by the Australian and NSW Governments under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements.