Bellingen Riverwatch is the largest water quality monitoring citizen science program in NSW and the largest macroinvertebrate monitoring citizen science program in Australia. Our volunteers have collected the largest citizen science water quality monitoring dataset in NSW.

Bellingen Riverwatch involves the local community as citizen scientists to collect continuous water quality and macroinvertebrate data across the Bellinger and Kalang catchments to inform catchment management decisions. The project began as a joint initiative of OzGREEN and the NSW Government Saving our Species program, following a disease outbreak that caused a mass death event of Bellinger River Snapping Turtle (BRST) in early 2015. Since then, Bellingen Riverwatch has grown to become one of the largest, leading-edge river health citizen science programs in Australia. Read more

Our purpose.

Citizen scientists and the scientific community working together to collect long term data, undertake river restoration activities and communicate information to support the protection of our rivers and ecosystems for future generations.

Our objectives.

Ensure that Bellingen Riverwatch has a genuine science outcome.
Consider and control for assumptions, limitations and biases.
Take into account legal and ethical considerations of the program.
Contribute positively to both science and society.
Host science activities that build knowledge/skills to support river health.
Give our citizen scientists feedback from the program.
Support our citizen scientists to feel valued and acknowledged.
Provide opportunities for citizen scientists to participate in the scientific process.
Make program data and meta-data publicly available and accessible.
Acknowledge program benefits and outcomes in program evaluation.

Our Steering Committee

Read more about our Steering Committee here.

Volunteering opportunities.

There are multiple ways you can volunteer within the different arms of Bellingen Riverwatch

1. Water Quality Monitoring (WQM) Program

Our Water Quality Monitoring program sees community members, school and partners working together to test monthly water quality data, rain, hail or shine for the past six years. Data is shared to inform river management actions and support the recovery of the Bellingen River Snapping Turtle and other threatened species.Our volunteers test at 25 sites across the Bellinger and Kalang catchments NSW, Australia. So far over 8000 tests have been conducted! Read more about our WQM program.

2. Macro Invertebrate Program (Macro Musters)

Bellingen Riverwatch runs the largest macroinvertebrate monitoring citizen science event in Australia - the Macro Muster. Musters take place twice a year, community members and scientists come together to collect and identify waterbugs at six sites along the Bellinger and Kalang catchments. Sign up to our mailing list at www.ozgreen.org/subscribe to be notified when our next muster is taking place!

3. Riverbank Restoration Program

The Bellingen Riverwatch Riverbank Restoration Program sees volunteers, schools and partners working together to weed, plant trees and maintain plantings along riverbanks at key sites. We have two sites we are currently working on :

Orama Public School - Bellingen Riverwatch partners planted this site out in 2023 with the help of students from Orama Public School and Repton Public School.
Lavenders Bridge - We have recently taken custodianship of the riparian zone beside Lavenders Bridge from Bellingen Shire Council and will be launching a tree planting project here in April 2024. We are planning to conduct a series of workshops to maintain the site over the coming years and are looking for partners to help make this happen. If you know any organisations that may be interested to partner on this exciting project, please direct them to contact Anna, our Partnerships Manager. We are seeking volunteers to support this project - please sign up to our mailing list at www.ozgreen.org/subscribe to be notified when our next riparian workshop is taking place or contact Amy to let her know you are interested in volunteering with this project.