
Sunshine Coast Bioblitz 2023
Sunshine Coast BioBlitz 2023
The Sunshine Coast BioBlitz kicked off in October 2023, taking place over three weekends and engaging 200 citizen scientists, 32 expert team leaders and four environmental organisations! The event series was funded by the QLD Government’s Engaging Science Grant, and proudly sponsored by Sunshine Coast Council, GHD, Ballistic Training & Solutions and Tree Safe Australia.
We’d like to thank all our sponsors, partners, experts, volunteers and participants for helping to make these events a great success!
13th – 15th of October
Hosted by Mooloolah River Landcare

20th – 22nd of October
Hosted by ECOllaboration feat Noosa & District Landcare

27th – 28th of October
Hosted by Barung Landcare

331 Species Total
9 Mammal Species
124 Insect Species*
*So far!
7 Frog Species
66 Bird Species
101 Plant Species
The Sunshine Coast BioBlitz 2023 was a collaboration between:

Barung Landcare
For over 30 years, Barung Landcare has brought together people committed to sustaining and caring for the magnificent natural environment along the Blackall Range and surrounds. With an extensive retail and wholesale native plant nursery, Barung also provide natural areas services and property visits.

ECOllaboration LTD
ECOllaboration is an environmental not-for-profit with 30 years experience in land restoration around the Sunshine Coast. Formerly Maroochy Water Watch, we have the longest standing water quality program in Queensland, as well as delivering services in natural areas management, citizen science and school education programs, industry training and environmental property consultancy.

Mooloolah River Landcare
Mooloolah River Landcare is a registered not-profit Landcare group whose mission is to empower people to protect and restore the natural environment of the Mooloolah River Catchment. To help us achieve our mission we welcome volunteers of all ages; run a retail and wholesale nursery that specialises in native plants endemic to the region; run a Biocontrol facility to breed bioagents which help control environmental weeds; have partnered with SEQWater to help care for the Ewen Maddock Catchment; and run an assortment of citizen science programs and environmental workshops to connect our community and care for country.

Noosa & District Landcare
Noosa & District Landcare is an environmental non-for-profit with over 20 years experience in vegetation management and horticulture. We provide a diverse range of services including carbon offsets, ecosystem restoration, native forest establishment and environmental property consultancy.
Our Experts

Alina Zwar
Kieran and Alina have combined skills and knowledge spanning over 25 years in the environmental industry with a particular focus on wildlife, biodiversity, education, and applied ecology (field). Our fields of expertise include fauna and flora surveys, wildlife monitoring, biodiversity assessments, and delivering educational workshops.

Andrew Franks
Andrew is a consultant botanist and arborist but his true passion is immersing himself into the microscopic world of the bryophytes (moss, liverworts and hornworts). Andrew has undertaken bryophyte surveys across Queensland. Andrew curates the Queensland Herbarium’s (BRI) bryophyte collection and is reasonably confident that he is the only consulting arborist to specialise in moss.

Ben Green
Ben’s been working in the environmental sector since 2003 in a variety of settings including local government, private consulting, not-for-profit and environmental management and compliance. Ben currently works as a Senior Ornithologist for a private consultancy specialising in bird work on renewable energy projects. Ben also works for Sunshine Coast Council as an officer in reserve management.

Dion Dior
Dion Dior is an amateur field naturalist, Dion specialises in natural science illustration, nature journaling, guiding, and teaching workshops. In 2019 she founded the Noosa & Sunshine Coast Nature Journal Club. Dion is also a Sessional Instructor with the University of the Sunshine Coast in Naturalist Field Studies and Field Journaling Technique.

Elliot Bowerman
Elliot is a Ecologist who specialises in Field Botany. Experienced in conducting flora surveys in a broad range of vegetation communities which target individual species, threatened taxa and mapping regional ecosystems & threatened ecological communities. His background is in ecological restoration, implementing prescribed fire regimes and threatened species projects.

Jessica Raintree
Jessica is fascinated by the natural world and is most happiest when out in the bush or underwater ‘treasure hunting’ for cool creatures such as caterpillars, fireflies, nudibranchs, fungi slime moulds and weevils. She has been running the Biocontrol Facility at Mooloolah River Landcare.

Joan Heavey
My love of all things botanical began at a very young age. I’ve been a member of Council’s Bushcare programme for over 20 years and am convener of the Noosa Parks Association Botany Group. For me, there is nothing better than being out enjoying our beautiful environment and all it has to offer.

Jono Hooper
Jono is an Ecologist who grew up on the Sunny Coast and he is passionate about Australia’s frog fauna. His work includes managing and leading various ecological projects where threatened frog species occur. He has been responsible for developing the offset pond construction plans for several large offset sites on the Sunshine Coast, which have successfully met the performance criteria. Jono has also volunteered with the QLD Frog Society for about 10 years and is currently the Events and Initiatives Coordinator.

Kieran Aland
Kieran and Alina have combined skills and knowledge spanning over 25 years in the environmental industry with a particular focus on wildlife, biodiversity, education, and applied ecology (field). Our fields of expertise include fauna and flora surveys, wildlife monitoring, biodiversity assessments, and delivering educational workshops.

Marc Russell
Marc has over 40 years in environmental management. Experiences include growing and selling native plants, and seeds, establishing/managing 9 local native plant nurseries, small and large-scale revegetation projects, bush regeneration, ecological consulting, and working as Land for Wildlife officer for Sunshine Coast, Gympie and Fraser Coast Regions.

Max Jackson
Max’s career has seen him in a broad range of roles from training rhinos to breeding Tasmanian Devils at a feral-free conservation sanctuary. Max also has extensive experience as a senior Field Ecologist and Wildlife Consultant, a role that has had him working in some of Australia’s most remote locations.

Nicola Jackson
Dr Nicola and her team’s work is aiming to validate airborne eDNA as the next generation of technology for the cost-effective and non-invasive monitoring of koalas and any other terrestrial wildlife.

Nick Willis
Nick has over 20 years professional experience undertaking ecological assessments for a broad range of clients and projects throughout Queensland. He is an accomplished field ecologist with extensive experience conducting terrestrial flora surveys within the diverse vegetation communities of the South East Queensland bioregion.

Ollie Scully
Ollie is a freshwater ecologist with a background in threatened species monitoring and conservation, particularly in Southern and South-East Queensland. His main obsessions are with frogs, crayfish, small-bodied fishes, and reptiles. He currently lives and works in Outback Queensland but his passion for the mountains and coastal swamps keeps him coming back.

Rachel Lyons
Rachel has more than 20 years of experience in strategic planning, natural resource planning, wildlife and biodiversity management. She has considerable involvement in natural resource management program delivery management. Rachel is also a committed and well-known wildlife rescuer and trainer.

Robin Rowland
Robin is a PhD candidate at the University of the Sunshine Coast investigating the impact of living near humans and urbanisation on microbats. This project aims to locate microbat roosts in buildings, trees, and bridges/culverts on the Sunshine Coast to analyse the stress levels of the microbat residents.

Ross Coupland
Ross has been studying the wildlife of southeast Queensland for 10 years with a special focus on insects in particular. He has described several species of stick insects from the scenic rim region and has undertaken biology studies on fulgorid planthoppers.

Scott Burnett
Dr Scott Burnett has worked as an environmental consultant, university research assistant, and finally a technical officer with the Threatened Species Unit of the QPWS in Atherton. During this time, and partly resulting from his PhD studies on Spotted-tailed Quolls, Scott came to appreciate the integral role of the community in wildlife conservation.

Spencer Shaw
Spencer has worked in the native plant, re-vegetation and bush regeneration industries for over 30 years and is passionately committed to the preservation of rainforest through various eco-restoration works but also through education. Spencer writes articles, presents on Youtube and is talks at events for a variety of eco-restoration and flora topics.

Vivian Sandoval
Vivian is an entomologist working with Fruit fly phenology and post-harvest research for the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Queensland, Australia. She is also an Honorary Research Fellow at Queensland Museum, doing taxonomic research on minute-tree fungus beetles from their collections. Previously she worked as a lecturer in Entomology and Invertebrate Zoology at the Federal University of Tocantins (UFT) in Brazil and as the curator of the Invertebrate Collection of the same institution.

Warwick Willmot
Geologist who has worked with the Geological Survey of Queensland on geological mapping, resource investigations and geological hazards for urban areas. Bringing geology to the public and has written booklets and leaflets in a Rocks and Landscape series for the Geological Society of Australia.
Thankyou to our Sponsors and Partners
Emergent Level Sponsor

Sunshine Coast Regional Council
Shrub Level Sponsors

GHD
Successful natural resource management requires balancing the competing pressures of development and resource use with the protection of our natural environmental. This is a critical challenge with the increasing pressure of population growth, urbanisation and climate change, and the need for ecologically sustainable development solutions.
At GHD, we understand the inherent complexity of natural resource management issues and the challenges faces by business, industry and government in managing resources sustainability within a strict regulatory framework. We work collaboratively with our private and public sector clients to guide effective land management decision-making and to deliver practical and appropriate project solutions. Our focus is on the early identification and management of project risks and the production of high quality, technically rigorous and defensible documentation tailored to project needs and broader business objectives.

Ballistic Training Solutions
Ballistic Training Solutions Pty Ltd is a Nationally Registered Training Provider (Provider no: 41097) specializing in the delivery of nationally accredited training programs tailored to industry and client needs.
We take pride in being specialists in the delivery of Nationally Accredited Training programs and traineeships across Business, Management, Work Health & Safety, Conservation and Ecosystem Management sectors and assist in the development of industry focused programs.
We pride ourselves on our customer service excellence, our attention to detail, and commitment to ensuring that your learning needs are not only met but exceeded by providing the highest standards of training & practical assessment services in the industry.
Groundcover Level Sponsors

Treesafe Australia
Discover the ultimate tree care solutions with Treesafe Australia who specialises in solutions for the Commercial, Government and Residential Sectors. Let Treesafe Australia elevate your business or home landscape with their professional tree services.
From meticulous tree pruning that enhances your property’s appeal, strategic environmental weed/tree removals ensuring safety and aesthetics, through to arborist safety assessments and reports. Treesafe Australia will tailor solutions to your commercial or residential needs.
Soil Level Sponsors

Hollow Log Homes
Hollow Log Homes has been a family owned and operated business for almost 25 years. Their passion for protecting Australian wildlife has been the driving force behind their extensive research into designing, building, and providing some of the most successful nesting boxes for hollow dependant fauna in Australia.

Fernland
Fernland is a One-stop Shop for all your horticultural requirements. We are a family-owned and operated business with over 45 years trading history, supplying a comprehensive range of products to the nursery, landscape and turf-care industries.
This event is proudly funded by the Queensland Government Engaging Science Grant.
