In the urban environment, populations of the long-lived, native, freshwater, oblong turtle Chelodina colliei may be undergoing a catastrophic decline unnoticed. The aim of this project was to determine if urban populations of C. colliei were sustainable and the factors that influenced this. Mark-recapture sampling was conducted at twelve wetlands (approx. 150 days over three trapping events). In seven of these, few turtles were captured indicating potential population decline. It also limited the capacity to credibly establish actual population size and factors that contribute to the population structure. This lack of information may prevent timely intervention to ensure species survival. In contrast, citizen science and community turtle sightings were able to provide long-term data sets (2 to 6 years) in both terrestrial and aquatic environments. By designing simple metrics (eg length of a Coke can), community members were able to contribute meaningful data e.g. whether turtles were sexually mature. Other information including location, behaviour and seasonal movements were also reported. While the ecological study was able to provide the sex ratio and distribution of age classes within specific wetlands, citizen science extended the range of information to terrestrial habitats and provided seasonal movements of specific age classes (e.g. hatchlings). Traditional ecological methods can be expensive and time-limited, while citizen science is low cost, long-term and, if well designed, can flag signs of population decline. This presentation will describe how integrating both information sources can maximise our understanding and capacity to conserve C. colliei.