Using this Site
Quick Guide: How to Use the Monitoring Country Website
This site provides straightforward environmental monitoring methods for Indigenous Rangers, Indigenous land managers, and supporting staff. It provides background information and monitoring methods for important species (threatened and/or culturally significant), threats, and general monitoring guidance for your country.
Main Navigation
The Homepage
When you open the site, you will see:
- Three primary tiles (Things We Care About, Things We Worry About, How We Check on Things)
- One secondary tile (Other info and guides)
- A spatial filter tool (to focus on your area)
Whenever you need to return to the main screen, click the site logo or “Home” in the menu.
Homepage view showing the three primary tiles, the secondary tile, and the spatial filter on the side.
The Primary Tiles
- Things We Care About – Icons for threatened species, culturally significant species, and important environmental features.
- Things We Worry About – Icons for threats such as weeds, feral cats, foxes, feral pigs, and wrong-way fire.
- How We Check on Things – Icons for monitoring methods like camera traps, BRUVS, track counts, ARUs, drones, and 2-hectare plot searches.
Example tile opened showing icons inside (e.g., species icons under “Things We Care About”)
Landing Pages
Clicking on an icon takes you to a landing page. Each includes:
- A distribution map
- Photos and description (appearance, behaviour, habitat)
- Links to related threats or monitoring methods
- A link to a PDF SOP (Standard Operating Procedure/Environmental Monitoring Method):
- Before Going on Country – office preparation
- Going on Country – step-by-step instructions for undertaking the monitoring
- After going on Country – office tasks when you return
Example landing page for a species.
Spatial filtering tool and other Info and Guides
The Spatial Filter Tool
Use the mapping tool to focus the tiles on species, threats, and methods relevant to your location.
- Select a overlay:
- IPA (Indigenous Protected Areas) – detailed, local scale
- IBRA Regions – broader regional scale
- Ecoregions – largest scale
- If nothing shows under IPA, try IBRA or Ecoregion.
- The content of the primary tiles will automatically filter to only show what’s relevant to your selected area.
Spatial filtering tool with polygon layers visible and an example IPA selection applied to how we check on things
Tools and Guidance Documents (Secondary Tile)
This tile provides additional tools and information.
Species Explorer
- Based on Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) data
- Draw a rectangle or polygon around your area
- Click Search Area
- The table shows:
- Common & scientific names
- Number of records
- Conservation status (each state and territory)
- Use filters on the left to select classes of species or set a minimum record date.
Primary screen for the species explorer tool.
Example species list table for reptiles and mammals for polygon on previous map
Camera Point Generator
- Use the map tool to zoom into the area you are interested in
- Draw a shape around the area you want to set cameras in or upload a GIS file.
- Set the number of cameras you want to use
- Set the minimum distance between each camera and how far from boundary
- Select random or grid
- Generate points (may need to click twice to run)
- Once points are generated you can look at coordinates for each one
- Download all the information in several different formats
Other Tools (in development)
- Exporting georeferenced PDFs for Avenza Maps
- Links to additional ALA and TERN resources
- Links to Ecoacoustics tools for audio monitoring
Additional Resources
- Best practice data management
- Licensing & ethics requirements and links for each state or territory jurisdiction
- More guidance as new resources are added
Website Flowchart
How the site is designed:
