Gympie & District Landcare Newsletter

Transcription

1 Gympie & District Landcare Newsletter From the President Back Soon. Ernie is recuperating well from his January operation. He has already been spotted out and about with the bird observers, devouring fish n chips, and visiting the Sunday markets. His greatest challenge, finding the 2km of flat ground he is supposed to walk on each day. Great new projects starting soon.. Gympie and District Landcare Group is delighted to receive valuable additional funding from Gympie Regional Council through its Environment Levy Special Funding Round. Landcare will receive Council support to a) Prepare information materials on emerging environmental weeds Easter Cassia and Yellow Bells, and on Giant Rats Tail Grass. b) Upgrade and print the nursery information sheet on Koala trees. c) Undertake revegetation works at Widgee, where last year MRCCC and Landcare started removing Cats Claw Creeper. d) Host a short course on Significant Habitats and Species in the Gympie Region Landcare has also received notice of additional funding from BMRG for Madeira Vine awareness activities and for collaborative weed control activities with Gympie Regional Council including a Giant Rats Tail Forum. All these activities have to be completed by 30 June, so it will be a busy few months at Landcare. If you are interested to help with any of these activities contact Jenny. Given the success of the new jewel beetle raising system Gympie Landcare expects to harvest 3,000 jewel beetles in the week from 16 March. That s 30 jars with 100 insects in each, and a similar number planned for the following fortnight. The more released into suitable healthy cats claw the more quickly they will reach numbers necessary to have positive impact. Contact Landcare on OR admin@gympielandcare.org.au to order jewel beetles or tingids for the cats claw on your property. BUGS ABOUND 1

2 Hygrophila Hunt Hygrophila costata or Glush weed is a Class 1 pest plant in Queensland. It is semi aquatic and native to Central and South America. Flowers are white and occur just above the stem and leaf junction. The stem is squarish, leaves are opposite and narrowly elliptical. This weed is well established around Lake Macdonald in Upper Six Mile Creek. SEQwater have had an ongoing campaign against Hygrophila there and are having good success. Noosa Landcare is keen to build on their good work by asking landowners to keep an eye out for the weed. Iit is quite possible the weed is also in the Gympie area. If you see a plant that could be this nefarious weed, either take a sample into Noosa Landcare s office in Pomona, bring a sample into Gympie Landcare, or if neither is possible, send a photograph for identification! It is important that we try to contain this plant as it can be a real bully! Your help is appreciated. Phillip Moran nrmanager@noosalandcare.org Thank you to Marija, Annette and Mark (above) for helping with the stall at the Mary River Festival Day, Kandanga and to Kevin (below) for the phenomenal help given to the biocontrol facility. Gympie Garden Expo, the first weekend in May, is the nursery s major event for the year. We welcome 12 volunteers to attend the stall over the two days, rostered for a 3 hour shift each. Leave a message in the office of nursery if you would like to help. Join in one of the upcoming field days or activities. Do you enjoy collecting and sharing information. The current editor is stepping back and so the search is on for new editor for the Landcare newsletter. Occasional help organizing refreshments for meetings, workshops and events is welcome. Speak with Jenny. Assistance for half a day in the office on Tuesday or Wednesday taking phone calls & helping with basic administration tasks is always welcome. 2

3 Cautionary Weed Tales from North Deep Creek Cats Claw Creeper Capers Firstly I should say that I know of no flowering CCC within kilometres of our place although there is one on a nearby creek that I ve cut back every two years or so and tried to establish biocontrol insects a few times. About three years ago I was astounded to find CCC plants under wattles in the middle of a paddock, luckily only about two years old with the tubers still very small and still in the litter layer. I spent a couple of hours bagging vine and tubers and thought I d got the lot. Nevertheless about eighteen months later I found I d missed a few and dug them out too. So far I ve seen no more but shall follow up in a year to make sure. In 2015 I was even more astounded to find four separate plants in the shrubbery near the house where little birds find shelter and whip birds visit but their bulbs were only just forming so I removed them all very easily. However soon after this I was laying waste to woody weeds in an included pasture in the Rider reafforestation when I was devastated to find two examples where a few CCC seeds had germinated probably 2-3 years before and these were harder to remove. Now in 2016 I ve just found and dealt with two new plants above the house under a bottle tree! Vigilance is the only option but the nagging thought is that, what hope does the country have when I who know the enemy so well can be so gulled for so long in such a small area of land being managed and in the home garden. Sparaxis aka Harlequin Flower This is a small, bulbed iris or lily that I thought so charming that I didn t mind the odd one going in with specimen plants around the farm. What I didn t realise was that this species is also a prolific seeder as well as calving off bulbils. This year I was so horrified to see it taking over pasture that I nuked it with glyphosate and even collected seed heads where present. I ve just noticed that I missed a few that did go to seed so I ll have to go hunting again next year armed with a spray bottle. Wattles and other Woody Weeds On my formerly cleared 12ha I am blessed with 13 species of eucalypts and eight species of wattles! Due to former clearing Lophostemon suaveolens and Melaleuca salicifolia have become weeds putatively due to a risen water-table. I now try to restrict these to gully banks and wildlife corridors. As well, I smiled kindly on the wattle too long. Realising my error I determined to allow only the small species to remain in any abundance viz. A. falcata which grows only a few metres tall and soon dies. This was a mistake since it regenerates thickly. I started using black wattle (A. leiocalyx) only as a temporary fill and determined to rid myself of most Maiden s wattle (A. maidenii) since it grew so large and then died making a terrible mess. Brisbane wattle (A. fimbriata) is a good fast gap-filler but doesn t usually live past 8 years so I leave the regenerating specimens in strategic positions. Irish wattle (A. o shanessii) was also deprecated since it became dangerous to handle when dead. So, in the end I leave the two long-lived species, hickory wattle (A. disparrima) and blackwood (A. melanoxylon), but only in strategic spots e.g. windbreaks, shade trees and wildlife corridors. Only the rainforest marblewood (A. bakeri) and the diminutive A. amblygona appear to present no management problems. Ernie Rider BScFor, FIFA Landcare Weed Patrol Date for your diary Gympie and District Landcare Group Annual General Meeting 5.30 pm Tuesday 12 April, Landcare Facility, Corner of Groves Road and Old Maryborough Road All Welcome 3

4 Reef Range and Red Dust 2015 The State landcare conference held at Caloundra in late 2015 was a special treat for me. I grew up visiting my Aunt, Cresswell Walters, at Caloundra in the 70s. She was a founding member of the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland (Caloundra Branch) and passed on her love of wallum wildflowers. The opportunity to present for Gympie Landcare was fantastic, being able to highlight the amazing commitment of our committee, volunteers and members to ensuring the success of biological controls for viney weeds. There were so many highlights at the conference. I will just focus on one... Mycology! Fungi the forgotten Kingdom... Can you name five native Australian Fungi? This was the question posed by Patrick Leonard, along with Sapphire McMullan-Fisher and Frances Guard he co-author Australian Subtropical Fungi (2014). Basically no one in the audience could, and so now I have a new goal. So far I have learnt one species the Yellow-footed Polypore (Microporus xanthopus, Micro means small ; porus means pores ; xantho meaning yellow and pus meaning foot ) thanks to my intrepid partner-photographer Michelle Honey. M. xanthopus is a small to medium funnel shaped fungus with a shiny, banded, brown and cream upper surface, a more or less central stem attached to its substrate by a yellowish disc at the base and with very small whitish pores on the lower surface. Why is it important for us to be able to name Fungi at all? Put simply from a conservation perspective if we can t put a name to a species we can t protect it. With approximately 15,000 species of Australian fungi so far scientifically described of an estimated quarter of a million, there is a great deal of work ahead of the few mycologists working on taxonomy (Pouliot, 2014:16). There are no fungi on the protected species lists for Queensland (McMullan-Fisher, Leonard and Guard, 2014:10), although ninety percent of plant species are suspected to have a symbiotic mycorrhizal association (p.7), which would mean that at least those species associated with Endangered, Vulnerable or Rare plants should be considered for listing. Why are fungi important at all? As just mentioned most plants benefit from fungal associations which provide minerals and water to the plants and food through the plant s association to the mycorrhizal fungi. Fungi are also specialists at decomposing recalcitrant compounds such as lignin and cellulose, this is a pivotal role in terrestrial ecosystems which provides vital and often exclusive services that underpins their persistence and resilience (Pouliot, 2014:16). How can you help? By helping to raise the prominence of this important Kingdom, through fostering a positive attitude toward them. Other marginalised organisms provide examples of how to promote respect for these species References Don Maskall McMullan-Fisher, S, Leonard, P and Guard, F, 2014 Australian Subtropical Fungi Suncoast Fungi, Brisbane, Australia. Pouliot, A 2014 A Forgotten Kingdom, in Wildlife Australia Spring 2014, vol. 51, no. 3, pp

5 Koala Action Group News One year ago MRCCC and Gympie and District Landcare group hosted a Land for Wildlife Day with the theme Spotlight on Koalas. The Koala Action Group evolved from the enthusiasm engendered on the day from our speakers. Much has been achieved over that past year from a wonderful group of locals passionate about koalas and their conservation in our region. To read more about our year, read our contribution to the MRCCC Annual report, available on their website under Information-Reports. Please also check out our facebook page - you do not need to be a facebook user to look at public sites like ours, where we try to give you lots of local content on koalas in our region and issues that affect them will see us contributing to the Koala Conservation Plan the Council will be developing now that their koala mapping is completed (not available to public yet). We will continue to urge the public to report koala sightings to MRCCC (go to MRCCC webpage for more info). To really make a difference in koala conservation, we need a strong focus on habitat, its protection and enhancement (including consideration of climate change), and this is where partnering with Landcare and landcarers will be so important. Like all volunteer groups, we need, and welcome, new members. We do not need position-holders, so no fears there! We would love to welcome you at a meeting in 2016, BUT if that s not possible, and you have some ideas to share, please give me a call. Michelle Daly, Convenor. Koala Action Group Phone Gympie Regional Council News Trees for schools, clubs and community organisations: Deadline 15 March Gympie Regional Council is offering free native plant tubestock for schools, clubs and local community groups to plant within their grounds. The free trees are the second round of a recent Council initiative that aims to promote the use of native plants within our region. Introducing native plants into gardens attracts local wildlife including birds and butterflies. Plants create food and habitat opportunities for a myriad of other kinds of native fauna also. The free plants can be used for a variety of purposes including community tree plantings to revegetate gardens, to create shady areas, plan an educational rainforest walk, extend koala habitat corridors or plant a garden designed specifically to attract native birds or butterflies. Applicants must be a registered community organisation, sporting club, school or not for profit organisation to receive free trees from Council s Free Tree program. A maximum of 200 plants are available for each organisation with a total of 1500 tubestock available to be allocated this round. Applications for free trees are open now and will close on the 15 March Further information on Council s website gympie.qld.gov.au/free-tree-program or from Sarah Compagnoni, Trainnee Environment Planning Officer at Gympie Regional Council. Community Development Strategy Gympie Regional Council has commissioned SGL Consulting Group to prepare a Community Development Strategy for the region. The strategy will help Council make decisions on future policies and funding priorities. Council is keen to understand the community s views and opinions regarding improving residents life and lifestyle.. If you are a member or on the executive of a community organisation you might like your group to contribute to the discussion. An on-line questionnaire has been prepared to obtain information from community based clubs and organisations of the Gympie Region. The survey can be accessed by the hyperlink A second separate questionnaire will be available for individuals wishing to contribute to the Strategy. 5

6 If you have any queries regarding the study or questionnaire, please contact Phillip Gray from SGL Consulting Group via Have you a Landcare tale to tell? The quarterly publication Landcare in Focus magazine is looking for contributors with landcare stories for the coming issues. The publication is distributed through the Fairfax Community News Network and has a wide circulation of 250,000, providing a great opportunity to showcase your story. The forthcoming issues are. Edition Content theme / topic Submission deadline Soil : so much more than dirt What a great workshop! Working soil like plasticine, watching dispersive soils disperse, learning what the different colours and textures told us about a soil s properties. That s what struck me as the best part. However Dave has a little erosion problem and he took more ideas home from the second session that looked at common approaches to addressing erosion. Thank you to Sue and John for engaging presentations, and BMRG for loaning them If only we had all been as smart as Gillian and brought samples of our own soil to test. April (special edition technical supplement) May Drought Resilience Revegetation and integration of biodiversity with food/fibre production 4 March 8 April All article submissions must adhere to the following guidelines: One article of between words saved as a Microsoft Word document or a PDF. At least 1 and no more than 2 or 3 high resolution (must be at least 1MB in size and more than 300dpi) images that clearly illustrate the accompanying article. Full captions for each attached image that explain who is in the photos and/or what they illustrate. Also, please ensure that we have permission to publish from any people appearing in the photos. Contact information and/or weblink for readers seeking more information. Above: John Day comparing the ability of different soil surfaces & types to absorb water. Below: Sue Birt introducing her soil cores Pitch them your idea, or submit an article by ing enquiries@landcareaustralia.com.au 6

7 Myrtle Rust in Oz Nov, 2015 This article was inspired by my attendance at a seminar conducted by my colleague, Dr. David Lee at the USC. I led the initial attack on myrtle rust in Gympie, armed I might add, with what proved to be completely ineffective tools. Myrtle Rust, aka Central American Guava (Psidium spp.) Rust, arrived in Australia probably from Florida in about Despite a credible quarantine defence plan the initial outbreak in Sydney was misdiagnosed as another species and immediate extermination plans, which could probably have stopped its spread, were not put in place. Its true name is Puccinia psidii. Most of our Myrtaceous species, i.e % of the Australian vegetation, are susceptible to myrtle rust. This family includes all the species of Acmena, Angophora, Babingtonia, Backhousia, Baeckia, Corymbia, Eucalyptus, Eugenia, Melaleuca, Gossia, Austromyrtus, Chamelaucium, Lenwebbia, Leptospermum, Lysiphyllum, Rhodamnia, Rhodomyrtus, Syncarpia, Syzygium, Waterhousia, Xanthostemon, etc. Since 2010, this disease has spread from Sydney right up to PNG and across NQ. Rusts are tremendously difficult to prevent spreading which is by spores that can be carried not only on clothes and hair but also in air currents, by birds, flying foxes and even by bees mistaking it for pollen. It arrived on the Sunshine Coast in about 2011 and soon after I observed it on Geraldton wax on the hill above the Normanby Bridge. Its first impact was on (the exotic) Jambos tree and this was the case in Hawaii where Jambos had become a major weed, much to the delight of the locals. Unfortunately our guava weeds do not appear to be affected probably since they had long co-evolved with the rust in America. Fortunately the strain we now have is known to be fairly benign but its devastation gives us warning of what s to come. It is thought to have come via Florida where it was introduce to lessen the affects of tea trees on the Everglades. Also fortunately the sexual part of its life cycle has not been observed here. Rusts normally have a sexual cycle on another host plant species and this enables them to evolve rapidly by genetic recombinations to beat the defences that evolve ever so more slowly in the plant species attacked by the asexual phase i.e. what we have here now. Even so it is still capable, in this vegetative state, of evolving to beat plant defences. To keep special/specimen plants healthy a cocktail of toxic chemical sprays (one of which is systemic) need to be applied religiously every two weeks or so in the warm, humid months. The only long-term solution appears to be the development of resistant strains of ALL native myrtaceous species a big ask! As well, species resistant to other fungi appear to have no resistance to the rust. Those of our species that regenerate by means of a bank of lignotubers may prevail if they have any resistance at all since only less susceptible individuals will shoot away after disturbance such as logging, fire, wind and lightning. Some species will probably become extinct 7

8 within a few years and some will fade from their prevalence in the landscape. It is possible that in some cases weeds will come to occupy the niches vacated by the fallen ones. Its effect on some economically important natives is profound. Both lemon myrtle and tea tree oil can no longer be produced organically until and whether high-yielding resistant strains can be selected and propagated. The beach cherry has been devastated and midjim is suffering. Even if leaves are struck slightly the fruit are often rendered unsightly and inedible. Many rainforest shrubs appear to be totally or highly susceptible and some of these are quite rare plants only recently named by science. Most myrtaceous species appear to be susceptible to varying degrees. A selection of species has been sent to Brazil for testing against their (far more virulent) strain/s of the rust. There over 90% of every eucalypt species grown is killed in infancy and survivors remain affected until the plants grow over about 6m! Since eucalypts are the major timber species planted worldwide this assault is doubly worrying. Understandably the quarantine focus in Australia is now on trying to prevent the other five or six known strains establishing in our continent of myrtles. Ernie Rider BSc(For), FIFA Gympie & District Landcare Group Nursery and Office - Corner Old Maryborough Road & Groves Rd, Gympie Phone: Web: admin@gympielandcare.org.au Postal: PO Box 695, Gympie, 4570 Staff Nursery Manager: Biocontrol Facility Accounts Plus Honorary Office Bearers President: Vice President: Minutes Secretary: Correspondence Secretary: Treasurer: Education: Tony James (Tues to Fri) Peter Wrench, Yvonne Hennell Jenny Whyte (Tues Fri) Ernie Rider Gloria Robertson Barry Lambooy Jenny Whyte David Rowlands Annette Bourke Saturday Nursery Roster Date Core volunteer 5 March Tony James 12 March Tony James 19 March Coral Graham 26 March CLOSED 2 April Bev Kapernick 9 April Ernie Rider 16 April David Rowlands 23 April Tony James 30 April Coral Graham 7 May TBA the Garden Expo Creating Connections Community Meeting Sunday, 13th March :00 am - Walk and Talk at Nils Buchanan Messmate Park 10:00am - Morning tea and discussion at Silky Oak Tea Gardens Following a public meeting at Goomboorian Hall in August 2015 our community was successful with our grant application to the National Landcare 20 Million Tree Program. Now we need to come together again as a community to work out how we will: Build wildlife connective corridors Improve the health of the upper Tinana Creek catchment Manage environmental weeds in areas covered by the project Build community relationships. Every community member is welcome to attend. For enquiries and to RSVP for catering purposes, please contact Mary River Catchment Coordinating Committee on or admin@mrccc.org.au 8

9 Clean up Amama Park, Cut Cats Claw, Enjoy Amamoor State Forest Sunday 6 March, AMAMA PARK 7.15 to 8.15 am Morning bird walk 8.00 to am Working Bee to am Park walk onwards Share a PICNIC in the PARK (a plate to share would be great) Meet: At the Landcare sign at Amama Park When : Come for an hour or spend the day ACDC licensed supervisors. Please bring short handled loppers or secateurs. Gloves may be useful Further information: Gympie & District Landcare Group, (Wed to Fri) OR admin@gympielandcare.org.au Let s FREE a TREE 9

10 Annual General Meeting Gympie and District Landcare Group s Annual General Meeting will be held at 5.30 pm on Tuesday 12 April, The AGM has 3 agenda items 1. Receipt of the President s report and the audited financial report on the affairs of the Group. 2. Election of a Management Committee for the next 12 months. 3. General business. 4. Guest Speaker to be confirmed Written notice of any formal business including nomination of life members, or changes to Constitution will be circulated to members at least 14 days prior to the meeting. If you would like to add to the agenda for the AGM please contact Barry Lambooy or Jenny Whyte by 18th March. Snacks will be provided prior to the meeting and supper afterwards. Guest speaker is to be confirmed. Membership of Management Committee At least 3 persons must be elected to the Management Committee to fill the roles of President, Secretary and Treasurer. However a diverse executive is stronger and members are encouraged to nominate for any of the positions below. With the exception of President, office bearers may also hold secondary positions of Minute Secretary, Publicity Officer or Newsletter Editor in the interests of efficiency and convenience. Jenny Whyte is taking on additional employment with the group and will cover the routine aspects of book keeping, correspondence and oversight of small projects. This allows the Management Committee to have an Executive or advisory role. As a consequence Jenny will not be re-standing for the Executive. Barry Lambooy is also stepping down after several years as minutes secretary. So please consider assisting on the Management Committee. It is one way to become more involved in the diverse activities our Group is involved in. To find out more talk to one of the current members of the Management Committee about their role. Structure of the Management Committee President: The President presides as Chairperson at meetings of the Management Committee; is a signatory on group documents and accounts; and represents the group in the broader community. Vice President: Assists the President and acts as President when the President is absent. Hon Secretary: Receives and signs formal correspondence and legal documents on behalf of the group; brings correspondence to the attention of the management committee; and is a signatory on group accounts. The Secretary benefits from computer skills to prepare formal letters and documents and receive and send s. The Secretary is assisted by Jenny and Yvonne and other volunteers who address routine matters in the office. Minutes Secretary: Records minutes at GROUP meetings and makes them available to members. Helps issue meeting notices and agendas. The Minute Secretary uses computer skills to prepare and circulate minutes. Hon Treasurer: Oversees the keeping of Group financial records and management of the group s financial resources. Is a signatory to accounts and authorises financial transactions. Presents the financial report at the AGM. Financial literacy is beneficial, however routine all invoicing, payments and record keeping is undertaken by Jenny as the group s bookkeeper. Publicity Officer (or officer s): Help to promote the Group and its activities within the local community through the media and other opportunities such as events and displays. Honorary Newsletter Editor (or editors): Oversees preparation of the Group s bimonthly newsletter liaises with contributors and formats the newsletter Education Officer: Assist and advise the group on education programmes. Members may also be elected or volunteered to the Management Committee who do not hold an official role. Written nominations for all positions be lodged with the Secretary (Jenny) by Easter (Thursday 24 March. The list of candidates and the Group s financial statements will be available at Landcare and circulated by prior to the meeting. 10

11 NOMINATION FORM GYMPIE & DISTRICT LANDCARE GROUP INC We nominate (name) for the Management Committee position of.. at the Annual General Meeting being held on 12 April Moved: Seconded:. I accept this nomination Signed Date: PROXY FORM GYMPIE & DISTRICT LANDCARE GROUP INC I.. (Name) of.(address) being a member of Gympie and District Landcare Group appoint (name) of.. address as my Proxy to vote on my behalf at the Annual General Meeting of the Group being held on 12 April Signed Date: 11

12 What s On Sunday 6 March Friday 11 March Friday 11 March Sun 13 March Wed 16 March Sat 19 March Friday 8 April Tues 12 April Fri 15 April or Sat 16 April Sat 16 April Sun 17 April First weekend in May Free a Tree Clean up Day at Amama Park. Bird walk from 7.15 am, working bee from 8.00, share a picnic lunch in the park from A plate to share is welcome. Bring secateurs 9.00 am - Gympie & District Landcare Management Meeting at the Landcare Office. All members welcome to contribute to discussion and decision making am - Gympie & District Landcare Management Meeting at the Landcare Office. All members welcome to contribute to discussion and decision making am. Creating Connections Community Meeting, Messmate Park and Silky Oak Tea Gardens, Kia Ora. Contact MRCCC, for further information am to 2.00 pm. Pasture Forum and Field Walk, Booubyjan Hall. Contact South East Burnett Landcare Group for further information. Ph: or ross.shanks@bigpond.com 8.00 am to am. Bush care working bee at Messmate Park Kia Ora. Contact Landcare on for further information am - Gympie & District Landcare Management Meeting at the Landcare Office. All members welcome to contribute to discussion and decision making pm. Gympie & District Landcare Group Annual General Meeting at the Landcare Office. Light supper and guest speaker. Details available shortly. Giant Rats Tail Workshop. Details available shortly am to am. Bush care working bee at Messmate Park Kia Ora. Contact Landcare on for further information. Community tree planting and fun morning. Gympie. Details available shortly. Gympie Garden Expo. Help with our stall is most welcome. MEMBERSHIP Gympie Landcare values your involvement and support. Membership payments are due each year on the 1 st July. Payments made between April and June will be carried over to the next year. Payments Jan to March have a 50% discount. Members receive 10% discount on nursery plants, newsletters and notices and discounted rates on workshops and bus trips. The cost is $22 for Singles, Family $33, Community Group/Corporate $44 and Life membership is $220 for a full year and half this amount for new members joining from January onwards. Fill out the slip below, cut it out and send in to Landcare with your details and payment. Name/s... Postal address address... Phone..Mobile... Payment $...Single/Family/Community/Corporate/Life ** Please send my newsletter by post 12