Over the past 6 months, our research team has been busy with fieldwork at two of our case study sites: Gluepot Reserve, South Australia and Scottsdale Reserve, New South Wales.

In July, we conducted our first focus group workshop in Adelaide with members of the Gluepot Reserve Management Committee. In September, the same workshop was conducted at Scottsdale Reserve with Bush Heritage staff who are involved in the governance and management of the reserve.

The main aim of the workshops was to gain an overview of the influences of each case study PPA on both nature and people. Each workshop involved a series of participatory activities to answer the following questions:

1. What and who is influenced by the PPA?

2. How are they influenced?

3. Which actors should we focus on for our research project?

Across both workshops, the results showed a diverse range of actor groups that are socially, culturally and economically influenced by the PPAs in different ways. One of the key actor groups identified were volunteers who are described as the lifeblood of these reserves.

In light of these results, our next phase of fieldwork commenced on site at Gluepot Reserve in November. Ascelin, Jasmine, Kylie and Sayed conducted 18 interviews with volunteers over the reserve’s end of year celebration.

Kylie and Jasmine both gave presentations about the research project to the management committee and the wider group of volunteers, including some preliminary findings so far and plans for fieldwork in 2026.

Our research project was received warmly by everyone and was even mentioned in the Gluepot Reserve Newsletter. The team is looking forward to sharing more research findings in the new year as we start to analyse the data from the interviews and the project continues to progress!