2014 planting - Community Nurseries Network

Transcription

Newsletter, Spring 2014
2014 PLANTING
Jenny ...
a life member
The 2014 planting season is well and truly
over - cheers all round for a great job done!
A highlight of our Landcare
annual general meeting was the
presentation of a Life
Membership to Jenny Fontanot,
one of our longest and most
hard-working volunteers.
You’ll find Richard’s full report on page 4, but featured on
this page is the feedback we were pleased to receive after
local council employees joined us at Mundoo for the
Alexandrina Council Planting Day
In her letter of thanks to HILG, Shen Mann, the Council’s
Environmental Strategy Officer for the Council, said:
Story & photos on page 9
Butterfly day
So where have all the butterflies gone? Of the 78 species of
butterflies that once occurred in South Australia, most of us
would be lucky to see the odd butterfly now and then.
On October 19, the Butterfly Conservation Society of SA is
holding a butterfly day at the Hindmarsh Island property of
Chris and Karen Lane. You are all invited to come along, see
Chris & Karen’s impressive habitat plantings, and learn more
about butterflies and how to create butterfly-friendly
gardens. Butterfly experts available on the day to answer
questions, and butterfly and moth displays will be on view.
Find out more ... see the butterfly page - page 7
...
in this issue
Council Planting Day
...
“we were blessed with fantastic weather and all felt a great
sense of satisfaction at the end of the day looking across the
Mundoo Windbreak (site) at the sea of guarded plants.
For those not involved in tree planting before, a sense of
appreciation for the labour intensive nature of the endeavour
was gained and much admiration for the ingenuity of your
planting system was expressed. All agreed that Richard’s tour
of Grey Paddock at the end of the day was a major highlight,
really bringing to life the scale and significance of the work
being done by HILG across the island.
The mood on the bus as we returned to Council was decidedly
upbeat and we all agreed it would be fantastic if Council staff
could be given the opportunity to return to the Mundoo
Windbreak site in future years to monitor progress and
continue with planting.
. . . . . the day was another small but important step towards
fostering an organisational culture that genuinely values
environmental protection as a core function and responsibility
of Council.”
... and Richard thought the lunchtime soup was pretty good too …
1
AGM & Office-Bearers
2
Nursery report
3
Planting season 2014
4
Woody Weed update
4
Planting season photos
5
The challenges of 2014/15
6
Where are the butterflies?
7
Reports from Richard
8
Tony Randall & GWLAP
8
Jenny’s Life Membership
9
Wildflower country
10
Wyndgate Reserve’s Future
10
Georgina’s book review
11
Fleurieu swamps
12
A workday
rather different
from a day in
the council
office!
Part of the
Mundoo
windbreak
planting site
Hindmarsh Island Landcare Group Newsletter, Spring 2014
page 2
The 2014 AGM
The Annual General Meeting was its usual happy and
positive affair, despite the issue raised in Richard’s report
around the uncertainty of future funding.
Following the various reports and election of office-bearers,
Jenny was awarded Life Membership of Hindmarsh Island
Landcare Group. Angela spoke about Jenny’s achievements
and contributions, then there was a special performance by
Mr Bean (or rather, Mrs Bean) celebrating Jenny’s many
special quirks qualities, before the presentation of Jenny’s
certificate and landcare photo album. (more on page 9)
After cuppas and sticky buns, we reconvened to listen to our
guest speaker John Gitsham, of the GWLAP, give a very
knowledgable and inspiring talk about Southern Emu-wren
habitat restoration work around the Fleurieu swamps.
Office-bearers 2014/15
President
Jill Masters
Secretary
Paula Horbelt
Treasurer
Dee-Anne Farrow
Nursery Manager
Jo McPhee
Project Manager
Richard Owen
Health & Safety Officer
Wendy Phillips
Newsletter editor
Nic Nicol
Committee member
Denise Walker
Committee member
Angela Wilde
Special congratulations to our new committee
member Denise. Denise is young and enthusiastic,
and a welcome addition to our ranks.
A happy crowd being entertained by Mrs Bean
Comments and contributions, big or small, are very
welcome. Please contact me at
[email protected] or ph 0409 697 241
Get a HILG logo to put on your workshirt / hat / jacket.
The badges are the embroidered, stitch-on type, and look
great. They are $5 each, and
you can get one from Jo at
the nursery (or phone her on
0497 911 419 to make other
arrangements for collection/
payment).
Thanks to all of you who have paid your 2014/15 membership fees …
we really appreciate your continuing support.
To those of you who have forgotten, or haven’t got round to it yet, here are the details again :
Why keep your membership going?
It’s still only $10 per household per year
Well, $10 isn’t much to each of us, but together it adds
up to an amount that, for example, can buy us a new
auger or replace the brakes on the ute.
But maintaining your membership means much more to
us than your $10 …. having a large membership enables
us, for example , to lobby more effectively for local
environmental causes. And even if you’re not an active
member of our group, maintaining your membership is
a way of giving moral support to those of us who put a
lot of time and energy into making our nursery and our
revegetation projects achievements to be proud of.
How to pay …
 Pay by cash at the nursery
 By cheque & post to PO Box 9, Goolwa, 5214
 Direct credit to our general account:
Hindmarsh Island Landcare Group Inc
Bendigo Bank BSB 633000 Acc 144596285
Reference
your surname & initials
Advise by email [email protected]
Please advise us of any changes to your address / phone /email
page 3
Nursery report
The last of the plants went into the ground at the end of
August and with a little bit of reshuffling with a couple of
sites the numbers worked out fine (just over 40,000 in total)
PHEW!
The winter species are germinating well with Callitris gracillis
(Southern Cypress Pine) and Bursaria spinosa (Christmas Bush)
bursting out of the seedling trays. The Hakea mitchellii (Desert
Hakea) is also germinating well this
year and Jenny and I continue to
analyse the emu poo we have sown
to see if any rarer species come up.
It’s always a relief when the first
seedlings emerge and thankfully
Jenny has been taking care of the
more difficult-to-propagate species.
At a recent working bee we put our
Kunzea pomifera (Muntries) fruits
in the blender to release the seed.
Jenny and Ollie were a bit unsure
about this but I assured them that
Robert Mrongovius from Narrung has Yuk!!! Sue’s not too keen about
participating in Jenny’s emu poo
had good success using this method.
propagation process!
At least I soaked them in smoke water
which pleased Jenny!
from Jo
Our plant numbers have also been reduced this year
(from 40,000 to 34,700) and as a result of this we will
be looking at increasing our species range to
encourage more outside orders and public sales. Jill
has helped me set up our plant sale tables to make
them look more appealing and she has also provided
great information sheets for each species. I also went
on a field trip with Jenny to locate seed and cutting
material for species we think would sell well. I really
appreciate Jenny’s support, knowledge and expertise
and we always have a lovely time exploring.
Staff from DEWNR (Dept of Environment Water &
Natural Resources) and Commonwealth Water
Officer David Papps recently visited the nursery and
various planting sites with Richard. They were most
impressed with our operations and it was good to
highlight the fact that our group manages seed
collection as well as planning and propagation.
Unfortunately in the middle of my talk the sprinklers
came on and a few people got a bit wet, but this did
provide a bit of a lighter moment!
Lastly I would like to thank Jill Grieves who has singlehandedly washed all 40,000 tubes this year …
a BIG THANK YOU, JILL!
Planning is well underway for the 2014/15 sites and as the
CLLMM (Coorong Lower Lakes Murray Mouth) project is in its
final stages and budgets become tighter a large proportion of
our plants are to be grown in Hyco trays which are much
smaller than the Forestry tubes. This poses a challenge as far
as timing of propagation goes as we don’t want the plants
getting too big and health declining.
The Community Nurseries Network recently organised a
workshop with propagation guru Phil Collins who has
managed State Flora at Murray Bridge for many years. The
workshop was really helpful and Phil gave us lots of
propagation tips as well as a suggested schedule of sowing
times for different species.
Would someone please
tell me what I’m
meant to do with this
contraption??
And she doesn’t just wash 40,000 pots! … Jill does plant
maintenance too, in her volunteer job as Jo’s right-hand
A few of the year’s highlights … from Jo’s AGM report
In the 2013/14 propagating season the nursery grew approx 48,000 plants
of 80 different species … 40,000 for the CLLMM program, plus 5,000 for
outside orders which included Willunga Hillsface Landcare Group, GWLAP,
Goolwa Tourist Park, Barkers Knoll, Pt Sturt Landcare Group, Strathalbyn
Skate Park and private landholders on HI.
We had two productive work weeks (Oct & Dec) with the planting team
to do large scale tube filling & sowing, while our regular well-attended
working bees kept up with the on-going propagation work.
The long-awaited toilet finally arrived!
The pergola/shade extension & mini hot house have been very successful
additions to the nursery infrastructure. Jill Masters is in the process of
improving the hothouse’s performance with an enclosing curtain.
page 4
Planting season 2014
We finished planting on August 29. The final plant was planted
on the Johnson property, She-oak Lane, up in the northeastern part of the island. This was the latest date we had
finished since the Murray Mouth Project commenced, due to
the small planting teams we had early in the planting period.
It was good to finish, although the comradery we had
established over the 5 months we worked together will be
missed. The weather in the last week of planting reminded us
of the weather, back in April, when we had started, hot, with
the ground, quite dry.
Just a few stats to finish with:
A few snapshots from the planting season . . . . .
 One day of inclement weather, but we often got soaked
 40 000 plants in the ground
 13 loads to the dump/recycling centre
 70 loads of plants taken from the nursery
 Over 200 loads of water from the nursery, or Wyndgate, or
Jill’s place or Irwin’s, or Saunders, or Hartill’s or . . . .
 About 120 000 canes in the ground
 77 days of planting and site maintenance
through
Alexandrina Council Planting Day, July 3
See the front page of the newsletter for the response to this
successful day.
Norwood/Morialta High School, 29/30 July
As has happened for the past 4 years, 20 students from this
city high school travelled to the island, staying at Narnu Farm,
and planted with us for 2 half days. They also worked on the
Mundoo Windbreak site. The students were from years 8 to 10.
While they were here they visited the sites previously planted
by them, Sturt Farm, Grey Paddock, Mundoo Paddock and
Gilberts. We reckoned that for some of these students from
overseas this might have been the first time they had actually
dug in the soil. Several of the girls were paranoid about our
insects/spiders and reacted quite dramatically when they
inadvertently discovered/uncovered one.
James Aslanidis, one of the 3 teachers who accompanied the
students wrote
“On behalf of the Norwood Morialta High School and all the
students I’d like to thank you and your group for our camp
two weeks ago. The feedback from the kids was that they
really appreciated the whole experience and it was good to
see a few of them get their hands dirty for once too! Some of
the students have a keen interest in environmental issues and
conservation and I know they found the time particularly
invaluable.
 300 plants at Barker’s Knoll
 An extra 500 planted at Lane’s
 An extra 1 000 planted at Pomeroy’s
and we could go on . . . but next year will be a bit different . . . . .
Richard Owen
Woody Weed Removal
As I speak the Stage 4 Woody Weed contract with the
CLLMM Project is in the post (!!!) (We started negotiating
with government back in May!)
This contract will run until early March 2015, after which we
will have one more (Stage 5) woody weed contract before
the CLLMM Project concludes.
Stage 4 includes :
 Continuation of Bushcare maintenance at the Oreb site
 Completion of woody weed removal on Mundoo Paddock
 Completion of woody weed removal corner of Sugars
Road to the Murray Mouth shacks
 Completion of woody weed removal on western side of
Murray Mouth Road
 Completion of Casuarina glauca removal on Bongalong Rd
. . . . Thanks again to you and your team, and fingers crossed
we’ll be able to do something again next year.”
 Commencement of woody weed removal along Wyndgate
More than any other planting season we had animals giving us
the eye, from the black Angas cattle on Wyndgate that found
the electric fence no barrier to escaping down towards Denver
Road, to a mixture of breeds on Johnson’s that wanted to
inspect us and at one opportune moment decided to eat the
plants from the plant trailer, to the alpacas on Hartill’s, one of
which was sooooo friendly, to the kangaroos on Pennington’s
where we had to remove the front gate to get in to plant . . . .
all making planting more interesting. It was very useful having
Terry, our farmer on the planting team, as he brought with him
such a range of practical skills.
We work with 3 contractors, Better Bushland, Tony
Paterson, is the main contractor. Envirotrim do much of our
major tree removal and mulching work and Peter Miles is
the Bushcare contractor for the Oreb property.
Reserve northern boundary on Randell Road.
Stage 4 funding is $45 000.
Many of our landholders have been recipients of the mulch
generated by this clearing. This will continue throughout
Stage 4 at least.
Richard Owen
page 5
planting season pics ...
A hopeful sign! - after their ravaging by the deer, the
sheaoks on Wyndgate are sprouting again
New plantings on the dune area of Grey paddock
The team doing maintenance & infill planting on the
dune at Shadows West (Wyndgate) - as you can see, the
plants we put in several years ago are doing well
Alice, Allan & Martin
Denise
Some of the
members of our
hardy planting
team in action ...
Terry
Ellie
Allan
Deane
Jarrod
Hiro
Pauline
page 6
the challenges of
2014/15
a challenge of a more
amusing sort ...
Wyndgate has
some very
curious cows ...
Much, much less income for growing
and planting out
This has been driven by an environment department more
concerned about plant numbers being grown and less
concerned about plant health and survival. The research on
this issue remains unclear, but the Community Nurseries
Network (CNN) is being forced to grow in smaller
containers, for which we receive less per plant, so that the
state can meet the federal government’s expectations for
plant numbers. So we will receive $20 000 less for the
nursery for raising plants in 2014/15. For some reason, the
bureaucrats have also decided that it takes less time to
plant these smaller plants (the process is actually identical!)
so we are to be paid less per planted and guarded plant as
well. We will receive over $10 000 less for planting out too.
This approximates a 25% cut in our income.
… who get
curioser and
curiouser
… one day they
seemed quite
keen to join the
planting ...
We will still be planting 40 000 plants on 32 sites next year,
although because less plants are being asked for in 2014/15,
other nurseries will be growing about 5 000 of our 40 000
plants. So we are growing about 35 000 plants for next year.
This will also mean less income for us.
At this time we believe that we will be planting all of the
40 000 plants for Hindmarsh Island sites, and not sharing
this task with other community groups.
… and required the
team to try their
hand at cattle
wrangling ...
We have commenced looking at how we might supplement
our income in future, and will be actively seeking additional
sources of funding. Fortunately our program is well
equipped and we had set aside some funds in anticipation
of harder times returning, so we should be OK if we are
careful.
Because of the seriousness of this situation longer term, on
Wednesday November 5 the Goolwa to Wellington LAP is
holding a Local Landcare Forum. They want to know what
support local groups need to achieve their goals in an
environment where funding has been withdrawn by both
state and federal governments. The forum is being
supported by both the Alexandrina Council and Natural
Resources SA, Murray Darling Basin.
In all of the years that the Murray Mouth Project has been
running, 2001 to 2014, I cannot recall a grimmer time with
respect to funding for environmental groups. You’d think
the natural environment was healthy, wouldn’t you?
Richard Owen
Terry’s the cow
expert, but does he
really think those
cows are smart
enough to know
the meaning of
orange flags??
and then there was the challenge of
the locked gate ...
Terry’s farming know-how saved the day when the team
encountered a locked gate on the paddock they were to plant
that day. Richard was about to despair - the property owners
were interstate! No problem ... Terry simply undid the gate
from the hinge side … a useful skill previously unknown to the
rest of us town-dwellers!
page 7
Where are the butterflies ?
Butterfly Gardening
by Karen Lane, Hindmarsh Island
So where have all the butterflies gone? Like much of our wildlife there has been a
drastic decline in the numbers and diversity of native butterfly species due mainly
to habitat loss and fragmentation, and especially in the case of butterflies the
overuse of pesticides. Of the 78 species of butterflies that once occurred in South
Australia I think most of us would be lucky to see the odd butterfly now and then.
Butterflies play an important role in the food chain and are also important
pollinators of plants. If we provide good habitat for them we are also providing
habitat for native bees, birds and other wildlife as well.
Butterflies need nectar to feed on, suitable habitat to live in and have very
particular requirements on the plant species on which they will lay their eggs for
their caterpillars to eventually hatch and eat.
Butterfly gardening- whether on a large scale revegetation project or in a small
back garden, is fairly straightforward. You need three main ingredients:


Nectar Plants
Butterflies are not fussed from which native or introduced plants they will
source nectar but they do have some preferences for flowers such as brightly
coloured daisies like our local native Senecio odoratus and S.lautus and
Chrysocephalum apiculatum.
Habitat
Butterflies need protection from predators such as birds and from the
elements, neatly manicured lawns and garden beds aren’t very good for this so
we need to provide some ‘bush’ garden with long grass for them to live and
hide in and don’t forget a water bowl with a rock in it for them to rest on.
View the revegetation on Chris and Karen’s
80 acre farm - habitat plantings for local
fauna including butterflies, vernal wetlands,
sand dune and rising ground areas.
We advise bringing a warm coat, good
walking shoes, & insect repellent!
BYO Lunch, tea and coffee facilities available
Butterfly experts available on the day to
answer questions, and butterfly and moth
displays to view. Karen has also worked for
25 years as a native plant grower and
revegetation/bushcare consultant .
Revegetation supported by HI Landcare
(Murray Mouth Estuary Restoration Project)
and Clean Energy Federal Biodiversity Grant.
Registered Butterfly Conservation S.A,
Butterfly Site.
Goolwa
Randell Rd
Larval Host Plants
These are the most critical for the ongoing survival of our native butterflies.
Most butterflies will only lay their eggs on and their caterpillars (larvae) will only
eat a particular species of plant. In some cases butterflies have adapted to living
on weed species when native species have become locally extinct such as the
Australian Admiral Butterfly and its larval host plant which are stinging nettles.
We need to include native species of larval host plants in gardens and
revegetation sites that will support butterfly populations into the future. Some
local examples of these larval host plant dependant butterflies are the
Bitterbush Blue Butterfly and the Coastal Bitterbush - Adriana quadripartite (my
Bitterbushes had caterpillars on them within six months of planting).
The Grassland Copper and the native Oxalis perennans and many of the rare
local Sedge Skipper Butterflies and Gahnia spp. and Lepidosperma spp.
It is in the understanding of some of the intricate relationships of wildlife such as
butterflies and the larval host plants that they need to reproduce, that revegetation
and gardening efforts become really effective. Butterfly gardening too is about
celebrating (some) holes chewed in your plants!
McLeay
Lane’s
Semaschko

The Butterfly Conservation Society of SA
invite you to an excursion at Chris &
Karen Lane’s property, 81 McLeay Road
Hindmarsh Island, October 19th at 10am.
How to get there
Karen in one small section of their impressive
revegetation project. It’s worth the trip just
to admire the plantings!
Want to know more ? Come to the walk on October 19 th on Hindmarsh Island
Bibliography and Useful References:
Butterfly Conservation Society of South Australia website,
http://sabutterflies.org.au/bcsa.htm
Attracting Butterflies to Your Garden ,What to Grow and Conserve
in the Adelaide Region, Hunt,Grund,Keane,Forrest, 2007.
Butterflies of South Australia, Robert H Fisher, 1978.
Blue Banded bee on
Malva preissiana
(Native Hollyhock)
Saltbush Blue on
Einadia nutans
Photos by Chris Lane
page 8
a few more snippets from Richard
Jo and I invited the new GWLAP general manager, Ross Oke,
onto the island on Monday August 11. He was shown an almost
empty nursery, and lots of our planting sites. It was an
opportunity to both meet him and to try and lobby him about the
environmental needs here on the island. Ross comes from the
Department for the Environment, Water and Natural Resources
(DEWNR) where he was involved in developing and delivering
urban/city based programs like the SA Urban Forest Biodiversity
Program, the One Million Trees Program for the state
government. He comes to the GWLAP at a really critical time with
grant funding opportunities collapsing and environmental decline
still continuing, despite the major efforts of the last 4 years
through the CLLMM Project and others.
On Tuesday Sept 2 the Young Environmental Leaders Forum
was held on the island. Students from years 5/6/7, with a keen
interest in environmental matters from the Fleurieu, Goolwa
Primary, Mount Compass Area School and the Eastern Fleurieu
School (Ashborne, Milang and Strathalbyn) met at Ferryman’s
Reserve. They spent time in our nursery finding out about seeds,
seed collection and storage and then went to look at some photopoints in the field, finishing up at the Murray Mouth. The
mosquitos gave them a hard time at Ferryman’s but the feedback
was good and it was really great to work with a group of keen and
interested students. They came to us because the focus for this
forum was on taking action in their own communities as they
“connected with nature”. I was surprised just how much sand is in
the mouth area again.
The Murray Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) met at Signal
Point in Goolwa on Wednesday September 3 to inform local
people about progress being made with the Basin (MDB) Plan.
There seemed to be so many people from so many different
agencies, it was rather confusing. Still the person I sat next to was
related somehow to barrage management and he said that the
dredgers were on notice to recommence should things worsen
further at the mouth. At low tide now you can walk across to Sir
Richard Peninsula from Hindmarsh Island. Bureaucrats reported
positively about the environmental water now available, 2 750
Gls, and the impact this was having in some key areas. There was
a variety of publications available although the most important
one, the draft Basin-wide environmental watering strategy was
still at the printers! This is out for public comment and we need to
respond to this shortly.
On September 5 the Commonwealth Environmental Water
Holder, David Papps, visited the island as part of his inspection of
sites in the lower Murray region. Accompanying him were quite a
few state and federal bureaucrats and others. Jo spoke about our
nursery and they visited Grey Paddock and were pretty impressed
by what they saw here. I was told to stop talking as I was making
them late, still the opportunity was not missed to refer to our
Reconnecting Kumarangk project.
This was a week of bureaucrats eager to get out of their offices!
Richard Owen
Tony Randall (right) with
Minister Ian Hunt & Milang’s
Karen Bradford, at the planting
of the millionth tree of the
GWLAP’s Community
Revegetation Program
thanks,
Tony
After 7 years as Manager for the Goolwa to Wellington
LAP, Tony Randall has moved on to a new job & new
challenges. Tony worked tirelessly for GWLAP, and we
thank him for his valued contribution in projectmanaging and gaining funding for important community
and environmental projects around the Lakes & Murray.
Tony has moved into the SA Murray Darling Basin NRM.
We wish him all the best … but we’ll certainly miss him!
GWLAP’s National Environmental Awards
Congratulations to the Goolwa to Wellington Local Action
Planning Association (GWLAP) for recently winning two
different national environmental awards:
The Biodiversity Award at the United Nations Association
of Australia Environmental Awards was won by GWLAP
for its achievement as ‘the best company, organisation,
community or individual that has demonstrated innovation
and excellence in the protection of Australia’s biodiversity’.
The award recognises all of GWLAP projects including its
biggest - the Lakes Community Revegetation Project.
The Aust Government Partnerships with Landcare Award,
received at the recent 2014 National Landcare Awards,
recognised GWLAP’s success in involving thousands of
community volunteers as well as its achievement of getting
over 1,000,000 plants in the ground.
a bit more about GWLAP ...
CGWLAP is a not-for-profit, community-based organisation
begun in 1998 by local people to care for the environment.
It is managed by a board which includes community
volunteers. Our HILG representative on the board is nursery
manager Jo McPhee.
GWLAP is mainly funded by state and federal government
grants. The 1.9 million dollar grant ‘announced’ recently
was the final part of the grant money for the
Lakes Community Revegetation Project, GWLAP’s biggest
project, which began in 2010 in response to the drought &
its dire effects on the Coorong, Lakes & Murray. This is the
project that HILG is part of, and which provides the funding
for our nursery and planting activities.
To date, there is no guarantee of funding to continue
similar projects after June 2015.
page 9
Our Jenny - life member of HILG
Before Jill presented Jenny with her Life Membership certificate
at the AGM, Angela had a few words to say about Jenny’s
contribution to our landcare group ...
“There are several uncommon species to be found on Hindmarsh
Island. I’d like to tell you about one particular rare and special
specimen which is of great importance to our Landcare group.
The name of this special specimen is … Jenny !
Jenny has given so much time to Landcare, for years working
quietly and patiently behind the scenes. She has devoted a huge
amount of time over the years learning where to find particular
plants, how and when to collect their seed, and experimenting
with methods of propagating “difficult” plants. Her knowledge
has enabled us to grow and begin to re-establish some of the less
common species on the Island.
Jenny has not only done this work for years, but has carefully
recorded her methods, shared them with others across the
Nursery network, and passed on her knowledge and skills to
interested members of our landcare group.
Jenny realises that it is not enough to gather knowledge but
that it is important to share and pass it on - which she
generously does. When I was managing the Nursery it was
Jenny who kept me up to speed about what seeds had to be
nicked, scarified, minced , thermally shocked, abraded, leached.
But most of all smoked!... it’s a rare seed that escapes Jenny’s
“smoke treatment”! I have learned so much from Jenny over
the years and her mentoring has motivated me to keep learning
more about plants in general and especially seed collecting and
plant propagation.
Jenny is also an active member of the Field Naturalists and
Fleurieu Bird Watchers groups, and is a long term Bush-carer of
Walter Newell Reserve on Ferguson Road. Earlier this she was
awarded Life membership of Trees ForLife, for her 20-year
contribution.
Jenny, we feel it’s time to publicly acknowledge your
contribution by making you a life member … that means, of
course, that you’ll have to stay with us forever !!“
page 10
Wildflower country
In July this year, Nic and I travelled
into the central region of Western
Australia to look at the country and its
wildflowers. The road we travelled is
part of the route known as ‘Australia’s
longest short-cut’, linking Perth to
Alice Springs. We travelled the section
from Uluru in the NT to Leonora in
WA, which crosses hundreds of kilometres of central desert country
- the Gibson Desert to the north and the Great Victoria Desert to
the south. As this is mostly Aboriginal land, permits (which are easy
to obtain) are needed to travel this road.
The country is lovely - the landscape colours are beautiful and the
wildflowers, mainly small shrubs and groundcovers, are amazing.
It is incredible that when we stopped (frequently!) to look at a plant
on the roadside we ended up discovering more and more unusual
little plants with every step we took into the scrub.
One of my most fascinating discoveries was the ‘Upside-down
plant’, whose flowers sprout around the base of the plant. (Nic was
more fascinated by the dozens of upside-down abandoned rusty
cars that lined the road, and spent much time photographing them
- why I don’t know!) My camera was certainly overworked …
pictured below are a couple of the of 3,948 flower photos I took.
As a result of there being so much to stop and look at, it was not
much of a short cut! It was a pretty good dirt road, with the
occasional other vehicle flying past in a cloud of dust, but much of
the time we travelled at less than 50kph to make sure we didn’t
miss anything!
It was so good to see so much relatively pristine country, sprinkled
with flowers instead of weeds and litter, as is so common on
frequently used roads.
Angela
PS. if anyone would like to see the other 3,943 wildflower photos,
just let me know!
the upside-down plant
WYNDGATE RESERVE’S
FUTURE
We have planted on multiple sites on Wyndgate Reserve
this year and will be doing the same in 2015. These
include Grey Paddock, Grey Paddock Channels, Mundoo
Paddock including the windbreak, Shadows Paddock,
Shadows West, The Homestead, the Dredge ...
We were anticipating access to more paddocks in 2015,
particularly those adjacent to Hunters Creek near the
Fishway on Mundoo Channel, but with staff cutbacks and
changes this will not happen quickly. We understand that
very soon there will be a project officer appointed to
develop a revegetation planning document for the whole
property. The property was purchased by the state and
federal governments in 2001, so that’s not bad, almost
15 years to get the planning into place.
Without carefully calculating the numbers of plants we
have planted on Wyndgate, I estimate that it is
somewhere close to 200 000 plants. We are the only
group to have planted on Wyndgate so far.
Some of our planting sites here are looking really good at
present, Grey and Mundoo Paddocks, some of the
channels on Grey, Shadows Paddock, parts of Shadows
West, the Dredge, adjacent to the Denver Road bridge ...
In 2015 almost half of our planting will occur here,
almost 20 000 plants.
A year ago we heard the state was going to declare
Wyndgate a conservation reserve by June 2014.
It hasn’t happened . . . . . . yet, and the anticipated date is
now January 2015.
Still some things are happening. There will be a meeting
of interested parties next week to discuss how to reduce
reed growth in parts of Hunters Creek, and other
channels, so that water flow is encouraged throughout
the property. This will have implications for where we
can plant, as the machinery to be used needs access to
river banks . . . . . so in lieu of a plan, some staff are
continuing to move forward.
Richard Owen
Roadside ‘gardens’
Desert grevillia
Woolly-ball
Mulla-mullas
Nic’s favourite species
Hakea
A view arcoss the northern section of Wyndgate, with
some of our previous plantings in the foreground.
As you can see, there’s still plenty left to do
page 11
Georgina’s BOOK REVIEW
Title:
Invisible Connections: Why Migrating
Shorebirds Need the Yellow Sea
Author: van de Kam, J. Battley, P. McCaffrey, B. Rogers, D
Hong, Jae-Sang, Moores, N. Yung-Ki, j. Lewis, J. Piersma, T.



Publisher: CSIRO Publishing, Vic: 2010
This is an unusual book. Gentle words combined with
stunning photography result in a strong message about
shorebirds and their dependency upon the migratory routes
of the Eastern Asian–Australasian flyways.
The long list of authors of various nationalities and
occupations, heralds the international understanding and
cooperation needed for solving the current dilemma of lost
feeding grounds for the migratory shorebirds, largely in the
Yellow Sea area. The three Forewards, in itself an unusual
feature, were contributed by writers from Australia, China
and South Korea, representing both volunteer and
professional researchers. They each give a strong and
succinct overview of the factors negatively impacting on
these vital yet shrinking feeding grounds. They acknowledge
however, the complexity involved in reaching a solution
which will need to maintain a balance between the refueling
needs of migratory shorebirds, offered in the food supply of
the tidal mud-flats of the Yellow Sea, with the food and
dwelling needs of an increasing human population.
Any one of the following approaches to reading this book will
inevitably influence the way we think about migratory birds
and the dependence upon international cooperation from
governments, economists as well as environmentalists, in
order for these birds to continue to live out their migratory
blueprint:

reading the three Forewords for a quick overview of the
situation.

read one entire chapter only
read only the pages with short pieces of text and
rely on the photographs to give the vivid picture
visit several websites listed on p. 141, such as
http://globalflywaynetwork.com.au which gives
current news on this project
read every chapter and enjoy the brilliant photography,
while digesting the fascinating information on the
spectacle and miracle of migration of shorebirds, that is,
the how, where, when and why.
Whether it is interest in the lifecycle of the shorebirds’
migratory year, or the ‘invisible’ nature of their incredible
journey, this book should inspire the reader to consider the
reasons for maintaining tidal mudflats. The strong portrayal
of the situation delivered by the photographs, with limited
yet powerful accompanying text, is likely to leave the reader
feeling unsettled about the many layers involved in
addressing this dilemma.
The authors emphasise however the importance of
maintaining healthy eco systems.
This not only applies to China and South Korea which
surround the Yellow Sea, but also to places in Australia such
as Broome and parts of Melbourne where it has been found
that human development has negatively impacted on food
sources for migratory shorebirds.
Environmental associations such as Landcare, with the
passion of their volunteers, have the potential to contribute
positively to providing suitable habitat for a range of wildlife,
migratory shorebirds included.
Available through the Goolwa library.
Reviewed by: Georgina Cattley
alternatives to migration - the Wyndgate geese who stay
… and by the look
of all those bales
over there, the food
will certainly last
the whole year !
Look at those
silly buggers
flying north !
… so much
delicious hay
still to eat here
page 12
Southern emu-wren habitat
and the Fleurieu Swamps
At our AGM, guest speaker John Gitsham from the GWLAP
spoke inspiringly about the work being done to restore and
revegetate areas around Fleurieu swamps. Working with
local farmers, they have fenced areas surrounding significant
swamps to protect them from cattle, and have been doing
weed control and fox baiting as well as planting indigenous
species to improve the density and quality of the existing
vegetation.
The long-term aim is to provide a corridor for the
endangered Southern Emu-wren to move freely between
the swamps. In the Fleurieu region the Southern Emu-wren
is just holding on, in small (often isolated) pockets of habitat.
Given that they are such delicate flyers and the genetic gene
pool is critically low for the species to be viable long term
they are at significant risk of becoming extinct.
With our interest spiked by John’s talk at the AGM, some of
our landcare members joined the GWLAP’s annual planting
day at Stipiturus Swamp. Lots of friendly people came to
help plant, of all ages and from near and far. It was
particularly interesting for us to see how a different group
manages the planting process. We were working in an area
of fresh water and mature eucalypt scrub - a pleasant
change from the salty windswept open spaces of Hindmarsh
Island! And it was worth going just for the wonderful lunch
that the GWLAP provided! I can definitely recommend a
visit to ”Stippy” when next year’s planting day happens.
Activities Program
Spring/Summer 2014
Tuesday
7 Oct
propagation / maintenance
Sunday
19 Oct
butterfly day at Lane’s
Tuesday
21 Oct
Tuesday
4 Nov
Tuesday
18 Nov
Tuesday
2 Dec
Tuesday
16 Dec
Tuesday
6 Jan
Unless otherwise indicated, all working bee activities
will be at the HILG Nursery, Ferryman’s Reserve,
from 9.30am until 12 noon.
For further information please contact
Jo McPhee ph 0497 911 419
Stipiturus Conservation Park is near Mt Compass. It protects
the largest remaining intact peat swamp ecosystem on the
Fleurieu. Below are some photos of the planting day, and
one of the southern emu-wren.
Nic
Looking for fox-holes
on Ferryman’s Reserve
Nic assisted Lisa, the council
Environmental Officer, to
locate fox dens on the
reserve. We hope to get rid of
the foxes to give Ferryman’s
birds and wildlife a chance to
flourish.
Thanks to Chris Lane and Konica Minolta
for their generosity in printing
the HILG newsletter
Hindmarsh Island Landcare Group Inc.
PO Box 9, Goolwa, SA, 5214
Registration No. A0024079H

2014 planting - Community Nurseries Network

Transcription

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