We are well and truly living in the technology era – an era that NACC is excited to be a part of and to adapt with.
The idea of having multiple sources of information on a single hand-held device is just too good to ignore and NACC is leading by example.
Late last year, NACC’s Coastal and Marine program was awarded Coastwest funding to turn the very popular Coastal Plant Pocket Guide into a smartphone application, which will be freely available to download from both Google Play and iTunes stores.
Major improvements to the guide will include additional native plant species, as well as information on seed collection and propagation techniques, increased weed species and inclusion of best practice removal methods, along with updated local Aboriginal Traditional Ecological Knowledge.
To help with local coastal knowledge and information, our coastal communities have readily stepped-forward to provide input into what they felt should be included in the new app.
A long list of suggestions and information has been compiled, and NACC is working towards prioritising the suggested species to better represent the coastal vegetation within the Northern Agricultural Region.
If anyone missed the first round of consultation, but would still like to be involved, there will be plenty more opportunities to provide feedback on the app prototype in coming months.
The Coastal Plant Pocket Guide app will be launched in December 2016 and it is hoped that this new resource will be a very useful tool for both our coastal communities and Local Government Authorities.
If you would like to have a chance to input into the guide, please contact Felicity Beswick felicity.beswick@nacc.com.au, and be sure to check your emails for those very important updates.