The Melbourne City Council is seeking citizen volunteers to participate in the Urban Forest Data Collection Project. This community project involves gathering information on the vegetation (trees and shrubs) and permeability in specific parks, gardens and streets. No prior experience is required and thorough training will be provided by qualified instructors both in the classroom and in the field. The data collected will help the City of Melbourne to quantify important benefits from the urban forest such as air pollution removal and carbon storage, monitoring tree health and diversity, and tracking changes occurring over time as the urban forest strategy is implemented. Volunteering is a fantastic opportunity to meet new people, learn new skills and build knowledge across our City.

Training Requirements

Office training for one hour (learning the steps of the methodology) and site training for two and a half hours (gathering information in the field).

How much field time is required?

About three to four hours per session (a morning or afternoon) whenever you are available, during the summer period. The idea is to have a number of citizens contributing to make the task easier.

If you are interested in joining the training please register your interest with urbanforest@melbourne.vic.gov.au(External link)

Once we have a group of willing Citizen Scientists we will arrange dates for training to occur.