The Great Southern Bioblitz event for 2022 will be held from Friday the 28th October until the end of Monday on the 31st, incorporating different communities, areas and regions across the Southern Hemisphere. The platform iNaturalist is a useful identification tool and it benefits communities and professionals to track and store information about species across the world.

At the picnic this year we are using iNaturalist to upload as many observations as we can on this weekend. There will be a crew at the Bushcare Picnic to start you off if you are keen to start but need some help. Or you want to explore the platform.

This is where you will find information on the Blue Mountains project. The dashboard is currently empty as the bioblitz has not started yet. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?project_id=141363

To download iNaturalist to your device https://www.inaturalist.org/ or use the app from wherever you get your apps.

Find out more about the Great Southern Bioblitz on their website
https://greatsouthernbiobl.wixsite.com/website

Damien Cook

Introduction.  Third Reedy Lake is a freshwater wetland in the Kerang region in north central Victoria. It is part of the Kerang Wetlands Ramsar Site, which means that it is recognised as being of international significance for wetland conservation as it supports threatened plant and animal species and ecological communities and rookeries of colonial nesting wetland birds.

Prior to European occupation this wetland, along with Middle Lake and Reedy Lake, would have been inundated only when floodwaters came down the Loddon River and caused the intermittent Wandella and Sheep Wash Creeks to flow. At that time the wetland experienced a natural wetting and drying cycle, filling up from floodwaters and drying out completely between floods, which occurred on average once every 3 to 4 years.

In the 1920s, however, this natural wetting and drying cycle was discontinued. Third Reedy Lake became part of the Torrumbarry Irrigation Scheme. Water was diverted out of the Murray River at Torrumbarry Weir and made to flow through a series of natural wetlands including Kow Swamp, the Reedy Lakes, Little Lake Charm and Kangaroo Lake to deliver water to irrigate farms. The lakes and swamps became permanently inundated.  While this meant farmers had a reliable supply of water it also profoundly altered the ecology of the wetlands.

To read the full article follow the link below:

NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service invites you to provide feedback on the Gardens of Stone
State Conservation Area draft Plan of Management and draft Master Plan. Submissions are open from 6 May to 5 July 2022.
The draft plans provide a framework for the future management of Gardens of Stone State Conservation Area.
To find out more or make a submission, visit www.environment.nsw.gov.au/consult
Submissions close 5 July 2022
environment.nsw.gov.au

We need your help – with just 5 minutes of your time.
Following recent extreme weather events the issues around wildlife conservation have become even more complex especially for species like koalas that inhabit developed areas. Through this survey Science for Wildlife hope to identify & address key issues surrounding our wildlife, but we need your help by telling us your thoughts on koalas!
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Koalashaveyoursay
Support for this survey kindly comes from the NSW Koala Strategy – Koala Research Plan

For all active volunteers you will receive a link to the Community Conservation Program Volunteer Survey from your Bushcare Officer.

Results from survey will inform review and update of the Community Conservation Program Plan (CCP). This is the plan that provides the way forward together for Bushcare and other programs that work towards conservation.

It is a short survey with 11 main questions and takes on average around 8 minutes to complete. By completing this survey it ensures Bushcare is providing the right service to help volunteers to conserve the natural areas of the Blue Mountains.

If you need a paper form to complete please ask your Bushcare Officer and they will get one to you.

Survey will be open until 15th May 2022.

After all the storms and ongoing rain recently, there was a major landslide on Glenraphael Drive, Katoomba.  The landslide is on NPWS land, but quite close to the Council Narrow Neck Bushcare site.  James from the Narrow Neck Bushcare Group took some amazing drone footage of that area, showing the extent of the landslide from a perspective not easily visible from the road.

Photo Credit: James Young

Jill Rattray, who was a long-term and valued member of the Blue Mountains Bushcare Team, passed away after a long illness. Jill leaves a legacy, restoring and protecting our natural environment in the Blue Mountains through her work with our current groups, many from their inception.

Her horticultural expertise and bushland management knowledge, combined with her love of our natural environment, and interest in people, made her a valuable member of our team. Jill was a great educator, teaching many of our bush regenerators and community at the Blue Mountains TAFE, as well as working with the local retail nursery industry in the mountains. The result is that the majority no longer stock environmental weeds.  Her musical interests also extended to the Gang Gangs Bushcare band.  

Jill will be sadly missed by her colleagues, and the volunteers who worked with her, and the community members she had touched.

Jill’s funeral will be held on Monday 21 March at 11am, at the Leura Memorial Gardens.