New Roadkill Reporting App launched
A new roadkill reporting App has been developed by staff within the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania. This app will allow roadkill data to be collected into the foreseeable future and anyone with the App is encouraged to use it to report devil and other roadkill that they come across.
In a recent letter to stakeholders, Sophie Muller, Deputy Secretary of Environment, Heritage and Lands, outlined the need for the app and its intended uses as follows:
“Roadkill has wide-ranging consequences, not just for threatened species conservation and animal welfare, but also for road user safety and insurance, and amenity and tourism experience.
However, without data it is difficult to understand how significant the problem is and to determine how and where to direct mitigation.
The Department of Natural Resource and Environment Tasmania (NRE Tas) has developed an in-house roadkill reporting app to enable ongoing collection of roadkill data by members of the public and road managers.
This new app will enable the collection of a range of species, including feral species. All data will be uploaded to the Natural Values Atlas (NVA) and the LIST promptly to allow regular interrogation of data. NRE Tas is confident this new app will provide the ideal forum for roadkill data collection now and into the future.
Roadkill is a challenging issue to manage that relies on collective efforts and while the new roadkill reporter app will be available for anyone to use, it is our road workers who could really make the difference in the quantity and quality of the data collected.
Workers removing roadkill from the road could also report these using the new app. Councils can tag their reports with the council name to allow them to download reports their workers have submitted from the NVA, or interrogate the data on The LIST. This will allow councils to take a proactive position on mitigating roadkill in their jurisdiction and enable an informed response to queries from their ratepayers.
I also encourage you to share information about the app on your social media channels.”
Instructions on how to download and use the new app are at this link and can also be found on the NRE Tas website (https://nre.tas.gov.au).
President of Wildcare’s ‘Tamar Valley Wildlife Roadkill Initiative‘ has reflected on the roadkill situation in Tasmania and what we can do about it in the following articles:
Feature image by Emmalene Maher and top image in article courtesy of Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary.