My time as a Graduate Ecologist Intern with NGT: April to August 2016 – Liam Turner
WOW! What can I say? The last five months have gone by at blistering pace. It was a fleeting 7 or 8 months ago that I was in another country trying to figure out what I’d be doing in 2016.
And then came the internship offer from Mark Bachmann for 2016 with NGT – and I couldn’t have been happier, as it eased some anxiety about what to do next!
Rolling up my sleeves and undertaking a plethora of research and conservation activities in south-west Victoria, north-east Victoria, south-east South Australia and even small parts of New South Wales along the upper and mid reaches of the Murray River, has been a truly educational and enriching experience. Made even better by the knowledgeable and passionate NGT ecologist supervisors that I was lucky enough to have along side me.
The various research and conservation projects I helped work on as an intern included:
- Wetland restoration on private farming and plantation properties
- East and West Mount Lofty Ranges fish monitoring and Murray hardy-head translocations
- Dwarf galaxiid fish monitoring of the Wannon catchment in the Grampians
- The 2016 round of fish monitoring for Long Swamp
- Cray net making for Murray crayfish research (constructing 30 from scratch!)
- Varigated pygmy perch sampling in the karst rising springs of SE South Australia
- Narrawong swamp scrub restoration
- A day doing southern brown bandicoot digging abundance surveys
- Glenelg freshwater mussel and fish sampling in Glenaulin Creek (Glenelg river catchment)
- Revegetation work in the Eaglehawk waterhole property as part of the 20 Million Trees Programme
- Long-term monitoring of the Murray crayfish in NE Vic., in the Mitta Mitta, King, Ovens and Murray Rivers.
Some small structures working wonders on a cattle property north of Port Fairy. (Photo by Lachlan Farrington)
Some small structures working wonders on a cattle property north of Port Fairy. (Photo by Lachlan Farrington)
Hauling out one of the many crayfish pots for the day (Photo by Nick Whiterod)
Having been lucky enough to travel to all of these amazing places to learn about their aquatic and terrestrial flora and fauna and the threats they face, as well as to help contribute to the conservation and protection of these species has truly been an experience I hold with great pride and won’t forget. I’m sure this won’t be the last NGT experience I have!
Thank you to everybody at NGT who I worked along side throughout this experience. A special BIG thank you to Mark Bachmann for giving me this wonderful opportunity and to my supervisors who I spent most of my time with; Lachlan Farrington, Lauren Veale and Nick Whiterod.
Liam Turner.
One of the smaller Murray crayfish individuals (Photo by Nick Whiterod)
A fyke net set in Jimmy’s Creek (Grampians) (Photo Lauren Veale)
Another fish sampling mission out on Lake Moniboeng is complete (Photo Lauren Veale)
