Category Archives: Research

Workshop on Blue Mountains’ Arboreal Mammals

Mountain Brushtail at Mt Irvine photo by Peter Smith

Mountain Brushtail at Mt Irvine photo by Peter Smith

Renowned local ecologists Judy and Peter Smith are inviting you to attend an evening workshop on the arboreal mammals of the Blue Mountains Local Government Area.

Come along if you would like to learn more about the night life of the Blue Mountains – what gliders, possums, quolls and koalas are out and about at night, how to identify them, listen to their calls, find out where they live, and how to find them.

Judy and Peter will also present results of a recent study they have undertaken, thanks to a 25th Anniversary Landcare Grant, investigating how these arboreal mammals are faring in the Blue Mountains.

When: 7:00 – 9:00 pm  Thursday 16 June 2016.

Where: Santa Maria Centre Hall, Lawson (253 Great Western Highway, Lawson, between Somers St and Kitchener Road, next door to Our Lady of the Nativity Church).

Cost: Free! Tea and coffee provided.

If you would like to come please RSVP to Judy and Peter smitheco@ozemail.com.au

Hollows as Homes

With the help of the community Hollows as Homes aims to assess the availability of tree hollows and their use by wildlife across the Sydney region. The Hollows as Homes team wants you to report tree hollow(s) in your backyard, street, park and/or paddock through www.hollowsashomes.com. A description of the information to record is available on the website.

Galah at nest in tree hollow. Photo: J Turbill

Galah at nest in tree hollow. Photo: J Turbill

The information you provide will inform Councils’ management plans. In NSW, hollow-dependent species include at least 46 mammals, 81 birds, 31 reptiles and 16 frogs. Of these, 40 species are listed as threatened with extinction. An aim of Hollows as Homes is to collect data to inform Councils decision-making process when installing supplementary hollows to support biodiversity. Hollows as Homes therefore welcomes reports of nest boxes and cut-in hollows in addition to natural tree hollows

Cut-in Hollow for small bird

Cut-in Hollow for small bird Photo: J Martin

 

Volunteer Survey

The NSW Environmental Trust is planning new initiatives to better support environmental volunteers and volunteer programs, but we need to know what is important to volunteers first. To discover this, the Trust is conducting a survey of environmental volunteers and we would really appreciate your participation so that we can include your views.
Logo Enviro Volunteer
Who should do the survey?…. anyone who has done ANY kind of unpaid work (‘on-ground’, administrative or other support, advocacy, fundraising) that benefits the environment, with an organisation (government or non-government) or group, in the past 12 months.

By completing our survey you are helping volunteer programs AND you can enter our prize draw for a one year NSW National Parks entry pass for one vehicle.

Please click on the link below to start the survey, which should take up to 20 minutes to complete. The survey data is being collected by Quality Online Research. All responses are confidential and no individual will be identified in analysis or reporting.

Please complete the survey

We are looking for a broad range of views, so please pass this email on to the members of your organisation/group and anyone you know who volunteers for the environment.

The survey will close on Monday 7 March 2016.

If you have any questions, please contact Nicole Balodis at the NSW Environmental Trust on 02 8837 6068.

Thank you for your time and your valuable input.

Rare win for habitat protection in Holroyd

Holroyd Local Government Area doesn’t have much habitat left, so when Holroyd Council was alerted by resident complaints that trees were being damaged they took quick action. Council investigators found that 4 remnant Eucalyptus fibrosa trees had holes bored into them around the base using a chainsaw and filled with an unidentified liquid. A resident also provided video footage of a man chain sawing the base of one of the trees.

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chain saw cuts at base of tree

Council wrote to the owners (the property was a rental) seeking an explanation however the owners denied any knowledge of the works occurring.

In the following weeks the trees rapidly discoloured and later died and the owners lodged an Tree Preservation Order (TPO) application to remove them. Council determined the trees were of significant habitat value due to presence of hollows and the future potential of hollows. The TPO application was deferred and a Local Govt Order No 21 served to make safe the trees by removing all but the trunks and portions of the 1st order laterals.

The owners appealed Council’s Order to the LEC however the appeal was dismissed and the Court saw fit to strengthen our original Order.

The above photos were tendered as evidence.

https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/55e68d99e4b0012d84a75877

with thanks to Jason Rothery, Landscape Technical Officer for HolroydCity Council

https://www.facebook.com/urbanhabitatcreation

 

Updated Weed Website

The Bushcare office, Ray Richardson and Hugh Todd have been working quietly away on updating the new platform for the weeds website, and it is now live!

The finished website will have 64 weed profiles, and resources to help with weed control. We have changed the system so the website can intelligently resize to look good on all screens used for web browsing – from phones to desktops.

It can be found at www.weedsbluemountains.org.au, for those who would like to have a look around.

We have retained some of the fantastic features that Barbara Harley and John Penlington worked on, like the weeds brochure and some of the original articles.

Weeds website

Due to the advancements of user friendly web design we (at the office) can add articles and information quickly and easily. If anyone within the bushcare community would like to donate some time to work on the website with me, or photographs that are better than what we have, we would be very grateful.

Pea Tracking Project

Last evening Dr Paul Rymer presented the project that a the Western Sydney University is working on to monitor the flowering times of plants from the pea family across sandstone soils in the Blue Mountains. He discussed the findings of The Waratah Project that Botanical Gardens managed. They found there was three distinctive genetic groups amongst other findings. This lead to this research on the flowering times of Acacia and Pea plants and the interactions with insects and if the flowering times and life cycles of related insects correlate.

This Pea project has a citizen science component that a few Bushcare volunteers are currently involved with. If you are interested in your group participating in this monitoring which involves monitoring once or twice a month on site with a 50 m x 50 m plot recording the life cycle of these plants.

Here is the website that has the site sheets and more information.

peastracker-900

Contact Paul to register a site.

Blue Mountains Water Skink Talk

On a cold winter’s night, 16 people ventured out to hear Sarsha Gorissen present her PhD research on the local and iconic Blue Mountains Water Skink, Eulamprus leuraensis.

Sarsha began with historical research of Dr Dubey: that the two major populations of skinks in the Blue Mountains and Newnes Plateau are genetically distinct; and that these skinks are short-lived.

She followed with her own research, and discussed her major findings to date, which are that the skinks:

  • live exclusively in swamps and thrive in pristine ones;
  • depend on water and high soil moisture levels;
  • have a generalist diet, mainly of insects;
  • have adapted to survive fires; and,
  • that to conserve the species we must protect the habitat.

This data will be expanded on this year, her final year of study, and published in scientific journals. One paper already published by Sarsha — on fire frequency, urbanisation and these lizards — can be found here in Austral Ecology.

Expression of Interest to attend a Cultural Fire Workshop

Kanangra Boyd to Wyangala Link and Central Tablelands Local Land Service area

Expression of Interest – Cultural Fire Workshop Cape York

The Great Eastern Ranges Initiative — Kanangra Boyd to Wyangala Link Partnership (K2W), Upper Lachlan Landcare (ULL) and the Central Tablelands LLS are seeking expressions of interest from Indigenous community wanting to participate in a cultural fire workshop in the Awu-Laya country in Cape York Peninsula.

The Fire Workshop is an annual event designed to bring people together from different locations and communities, to share and learn about Indigenous fire practices and their application to contemporary management (details available here).

It is expected that successful participants will come back to their own local communities and share experiences and knowledge and be part of cultural activities within the K2W, CTLLS and ULL region.

At the fire workshop you walk with the fire, practically learning first hand with traditional owners and fire practitioners on country. To read country, the animals, the trees, the seasons, and the inherited cultural responsibility of looking after country for future generations.

There will also be displays of research and monitoring techniques that have been developed and grown with community Indigenous fire programs over time. These practices have also been developed and continue to address contemporary problems like weeds, climate change and the ongoing practice of rural livelihoods in sustainable ways.

Workshop dates

  • 13 June 2015 travel to Cairns (or 14 June, dependent on flights)
  • 15–17 June 2015 Fire Workshop
  • 18 June 2015 return.

See Itinerary here.

For those receiving funding under the K2W project there may be a option of staying on till 20th June for those wishing to attend the Laura Aboriginal Dance Festival http://www.lauradancefestival.com/

Cost

The K2W Link, CTLLS and Upper Lachlan Landcare will cover registration fees and airfares.

Food is included in the registration fees and camping.

(Cost per person estimate $500 Indigenous community; $1000 non-Indigenous community (registration); $700 (air fare to from Sydney to Cairns return)).

Please note if your expression of interest is successful and you accept you must commit to attending. If you do not attend, you will personally be required to cover the cost of cancelling the registration and air fare.

Successful applicants will need to supply your own camping gear (swag and/or tent).

Submit your expression of interest.

Places are limited and not all EOIs will be successful. EOIs will be assessed against the responses provided for each of the criteria on page 2 and 3. If you are interested in participating, please address all of the following criteria on the form (link to EOI form)

Closing date for Expressions of Interest: 10 May 2015

For more information please call Mary Bonet on 0459 352 892 or email mary@upperlachlanlandcare.org.au, or call Larry Towney on 0438 489 930.

Download EOI application

On the web …

Wombats !

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Check out this is adorable story about wombat re-introductions into western Sydney…

http://newslocal.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/viewer.aspx

The Other Green Army

was screened in two parts on Tuesdays 8th and 15th April on Radio National’s “Earshot”, If you In case you missed it, you can download it from:                                                                                      http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/earshot/.

Our own Nick Franklin, Blue Mountains Bushcare volunteer and professional bush regenerator, tells the story of how the ‘eccentric’ Bradley sisters started bush regeneration – a movement that radicalised the battle against one of the greatest and oldest enemies of the Australian bush – invasive weeds.

Environment Levy Report

The new look Environment Levy Report (6 months July – Dec 2014) is completed. This is a   comprehensive report on Levy-funded programs and achievements and is now up on the BMCC website at:

http://www.bmcc.nsw.gov.au/sustainableliving/environmentalinformation/environmentlevy/environmentlevyreports or go to www.bmcc.nsw.gov.au/environmentlevy and look for the link at the bottom of the page.