18 October 2025
The Grampians/Gariwerd to Pyrenees Biolinks Team, a regional coalition of Landcare groups, recently added another high-tech tool to their conservation toolkit: environmental DNA (eDNA).
The Grampians to Pyrenees Biolinks Project is a collaborative initiative of Landcare groups across the Upper Wimmera, Upper Hopkins, and Upper Mount Emu Creek areas. Its goal is to unite separate conservation projects into a focused, landscape-wide program to reconnect fragmented habitat for native wildlife, through the creation of a 'Biolinks Team' made of representatives from each group. Our guiding document, the 2013 Grampians to Pyrenees Biolink Plan, identifies local waterways as critical "corridors" that allow wildlife to move safely across the landscape.
At our quarterly spring get-together, the Biolinks Team met in Stawell to hear from Ben Holmes from the Wimmera Catchment Management Authority (CMA). Ben updated us on the Wimmera CMAs monitoring of the MacKenzie Creek platypus, and their goal of linking this population back up to the Wimmera river.
Ben then led us on a field trip to a stretch of Mount William Creek, just south of Lake Lonsdale, for a special training session on using eDNA sampling - a technique than can empower citizen scientists to monitor the health of local waterways.
The technology can detect trace genetic material from fur or feces left in the water by animals. All you need to do is collect a bit of water, and run it through a filter. This simple protocol allows volunteers to find out which species are using the area without needing to see or trap them.
This eDNA technique, a powerful, low-impact way for our community members to track waterway health, can be integrated with the Biolink Team's other planned monitoring tools, such as acoustic bird monitors, trail cameras, and iNaturalist bioblitzes.
Elia Pirtle
Landcare Facilitator