Category Archives: People

Welcome back to another exciting year of Bushcare!

We hope you have had a wonderful holiday season!  Now, it is January and that time when many of us reassess our busy lives and think about what we want to accomplish or do to balance our lives during the next year. With that in mind, here’s to peaceful days on your Bushcare sites with friends.

Here’s hoping that time off over the holiday season has not had too much impact on your Bushcare site. It is inevitable that with the recent storms and heat across the Blue Mountains that your patch may have undergone significant changes while you were gone.

Bushcarers are doing people and would just love to get in there and get the site cleaned up straight away. Stay safe in the hot weather by taking a few precautions:

  • Schedule your workday by weeding in shaded areas
  • Take regular breaks
  • Drink lots of water
  • Wear light and loose-fitting clothing
  • Pace yourself and rest when you need to
  • Keep an eye on each other for signs of heat exhaustion

We have a fun filled program planned for Blue Mountains Bushcare this year. It is different to previous years with new training courses and workshops in that you will be taking part in to enhance your knowledge of your site and the surrounding catchment, so keep an eye out for these on the Bushcare Website, Gecko and Bulletin.

Looking forward to catching up with you all over the year ahead.

Sandy Benson
Bushcare Team Leader

Mt Wilson Fauna Survey results

Greater Glider found on the Mt Wilson Fauna Survey

Last weekend we had the Mt Wilson Fauna Survey Workshop and Spotlight. We were incredibly lucky to see three greater gliders, a threatened species and the Anabat detector also recorded a threatened species, the Eastern Bentwing Bat!

Despite the cold, we had a great turnout of people and animals…..

Next time you spot an animal in your backyard or local park, record your sighting at www.bluemountainshaveyoursay.com.au/faunaproject or on Facebook www.facebook.com/BMFaunaProject/

We have one more weekend this year of wildlife walks and talks coming up on the 27/28 October in the upper mountains, please let your family and friends know.

Bookings are essential, go to www.bushcarebluemountains.org.au/events/

 

SPECIES SCIENTIFIC NAME 29.9.18
Australian Magpie Cracticus tibicen 4
Australian Raven Corvus coronoides 3
Crimson Rosella Platycercus elegans 6
Eastern Spinebill Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris 2
Fan-tailed Cuckoo Cacomantis flabelliformis 2
Gang-gang Cockatoo Callocephalon fimbriatum 2
Pied Currawong Strepera graculina 1
Red Wattlebird Anthochaera carunculata 2
Satin Bowerbird Ptilonorhynchus violaceus 3
Superb Lyrebird Menura novaehollandiae 1
White-throated Tree-creeper Cormobates leucophaea 2
Yellow-faced Honeyeater Lichenostomus chrysops chrysops 2
Common froglet Crinia signifera 1
Greater Glider Petauroides volans 3
Swamp Wallaby   1
Common Wombat   1
 
White Striped Free tailed Bat Austronomus australis
Large Forest Bat Vespadelus darlingtoni
Eastern Bentwing Bat Miniopterus orianae oceanensis

Swampcare at North Hazelbrook

Do you have a swamp in your backyard or interested in swamp restoration?

Then come join us for this very special event in Hazelbrook, where you will learn the basic principles about swamp restoration whilst giving this swamp a helping hand.

The swamp is located off Rocklea Street, which is the very north end of the urban area and is still in its early stages of being restored, so there is plenty of primary work to be done on a variety of weeds – Erica, buddleia, privet, crofton weed.

A FREE delicious lunch and morning tea has been kindly donated by Hominy Bakery.

Bookings are essential so please RSVP via the link on this page or contact Stephanie at schew@bmcc.nsw.gov.au. by Thursday 20 September.

https://www.bushcarebluemountains.org.au/event/swampcare-at-north-hazelbrook/

Where: Rocklea Street, North Hazelbrook
When: Friday, 28 September @ 9:00 am – 3:00 pm

Be inspired! Come and explore Hazelbrook

Hazelbrook Weed, Walk and Talk – Gloria Park

Come join your local Bushcare Officer for a FREE, fun event for all ages in Gloria Park, Hazelbrook.

Where  you will go on a discovery walk and talk, learn about local plants and animals and give the site a helping hand by doing some weeding at the same time. This is the third ‘Weed, Walk and Talk’ session to be held in Hazelbrook. Bookings are essential so please RSVP via the link on this page or contact Stephanie at schew@bmcc.nsw.gov.au.

https://www.bushcarebluemountains.org.au/event/hazelbrook-weed-walk-and-talk-gloria-park/

Where: Gloria Park, Lester Avenue, Hazelbrook
When: Sunday, September 23, 2pm-5pm

Call out for contributions to the Gecko Newsletter

Bushcare needs your stories!

The Gecko is a newsletter produced by Blue Mountains City Council to keep volunteers up to date with current news, events and information.  If you have any interesting environmental stories, Bushcare moments or successful how to’s that you would love to share and would like to contribute to this newsletter, please contact the Blue Mountains City Council Bushcare Team Leader on (02) 4780 5528, or email sbenson@bmcc.nsw.gov.au

We would love to hear from you!

Farewell to Bushcare legend Bill Webster

Bill Popes Glen legend Bill Webster (left Stephanie Chew Bushcare Officer, second from left Sandy Benson Bushcare Team Leader,  second from right Bill Webster Popes Glen Volunteer, right Alan Lane Popes Glen Volunteer Coordinator)

Popes Glen Bushcare group had a special morning tea to say “Farewell, thank you and good luck” to Bill  Webster, longtime bushcare volunteer with 24 years of service to the Popes Glen Bushcare site. Bill’s commitment to making a difference has helped transform the site from a weed infested swamp to the rehabilitated site it is today. Of course, there will always be weeds but with perseverance it is clear to see from the success in Popes Glen that it is all worth it.

We also remembered Jan, Bill’s wife and a long-time and hard-working supporter until 2011, as famous for her morning teas as for her willingness to get in amongst the willows and mud. Both Bill and Jan’s commitment to Bushcare and in particular to Popes Glen will leave an everlasting impact.

Bill will be dearly missed every month but we wish him all the best for the next chapter in his life.

Bushcare Team News

In the Bushcare Team there have been a number of exciting changes in recent times. We have Tanya Mein joining as the Bushland Projects Officer whilst Erin Hall is on Maternity Leave and due to start at the end of the month will be Mick Owen, the new Bushcare Team Leader. Mick will be keen to catch up with the individual groups once he starts, and we’ll introduce him more fully in the next issue.

Tanya joins the Bushcare team as Bushland Project Officer after spending a year working as the BMCC Waste and Resources Project Officer where she did education and engagement activities. Prior to that, Tanya spent 7 years working at Hornsby Council on Community Gardens, Bushcare and in the Native Nursery. Tanya has also worked at NPWS and Conservation Volunteers Australia. Tanya will be sharing the position with Erin when she returns from parental leave.

Tanya Mein joins the Bushcare Team as Project Officer

– Eric Mahony, Bushland Operations Co-ordinator, for the Bushcare Team

 

Bushcare News: North Katoomba wins Local Government Award for restoring the Minnehaha Falls pool

Minnehaha Falls plunge pool – full of sediment washed into Yosemite Creek from many years of urban development

This year at the annual NSW Local Government Awards, the Blue Mountains City Council  and the local North Katoomba community was recognised for its outstanding work over many years, winning the  Division C and Overall Category Winner of  the Natural Environment Protection and Enhancement: On-Ground Works Award, for the project the Return of the “Bottomless Pool’ in Yosemite Creek, North Katoomba.

The result is the culmination of decades of work addressing urban stormwater runoff and weed invasion, which had previously resulted in sedimentation, erosion and decline of Yosemite Creek’s water quality, as well as loss of habitat and aquatic biodiversity across the Katoomba and Minnehaha Falls Creek.

Local residents lamented the loss of their favourite swimming hole, as the ‘bottomless pool’ at the base of Minnehaha Falls had filled with sediment. A coordinated and collaborative approach with the Blue Mountains City Council, government agencies, businesses and the local community resulted in the successful restoration of Yosemite Creek and the return of the pools including Minnehaha’s ‘bottomless’ plunge pool.

Key to the success of the project has been the long term  involvement of a number of Bushcare and Landcare groups in the broader Katoomba  and Minnehaha Falls Creek both through on ground action and the coordination of annual  sub catchment planning meetings. These groups have, through the leadership of Lyndal Sullivan, provided  a well-coordinated approach to catchment management working closely with Council and NPWS through their yearly planning meetings.

The work of the Minnehaha Falls Bushcare Group needs special mention for its unfailing commitment and the positive results it has been able to achieve in significantly improving the health of the bushland and aquatic habitat of this stream.

The same pool – now clear of sediment and staying that way – thanks to bush regeneration (both paid and unpaid) and improved stormwater management throughout the Yosemite Creek catchment.

The BMCC Bush Regeneration Team

Back row from left: Matthew Steele, Jane Anderson, Matthew Rudge, Aaron McKellar, Sue Cunningham. Front row John Parkinson, Helen Munro, Justine Vella. (Team Leader). Absent: Lynn Godfree, Stephanie Chew, Robert Hajjar.

Did you know that Council has its very own team of bush regenerators quietly beavering away behind the scenes? As there have been some changes to the team we thought it  a good time to shine the spotlight on them!

We are very lucky to have a very capable and experienced crew led by the newly appointed Justine Vella as Team Leader and Matthew Rudge as Bush Regeneration Project Officer.

The team is currently working on a number of high conservation projects restoring the rare forests of the lower Blue Mountains and Blue Mountains Swamps in the upper mountains.

They are often called upon to support our Bushcare program and Council’s new organisational structure is providing more and more opportunity for them to work more closely with the Bushcare Team. We hope you’ll get to meet them in person on site one day soon!