The Leard Forest Research Node is a citizen science group on Gamilaraay country, Namoi, North West NSW. With the Maules Creek community, we monitor air quality, noise pollution and biodiversity. We are local farmers, workers, students and professionals across generations, from city and country. We exist to hold the coalmining companies in Maules Creek accountable for potential impacts on community health and ecology in the region.
We pay our respect to elders past and present of the Gamilaraay nation who have suffered terribly from the desecration of this land and family burial grounds in the Leard Forest. We pay our respects to the community who is struggling to protect this heritage for the benefit of all. We are grateful for the invitation and ongoing support by our Gamilaraay elders, brother and sisters to conduct this work on their land.
We believe science can be an empowering, collaborative process with community. The Maules Creek Community is tired of being told that the thick coal dust on our roofs, and the low frequency noises that stop us from sleeping at night should not worry us, because the mining monitoring data says so. We do not believe the self reporting and self regulation of the mines is painting an accurate picture of what is really going on in agricultural-mining landscapes. We are taking the science into our own hands- testing our hypotheses and monitoring independently to translate our concerns in a way that the EPA and the companies will listen. And they are finally starting to listen.
We welcome you, young and old, from city and country to join in the fun. Everyone has skills, knowledge and experiences to share and learn here. We host regular citizen science events, but you can come up any time for as long or as little as you can commit. Live far away? We always need help collating, analyzing and reporting data from home.
Bring your enthusiasm, clipboards, cameras and ideas!
Photographers, videographers, map-makers, artists, musicians, graph geeks, data party-ers, comedians, media junkies, ecologists, geologists, fellow farmers and fellow people….You do not need to be a scientist to be a citizen scientist!
Science. Community. Ecology
Join the Leard Forest Research Node.