The Sublime Point Bushcare Group (SPBG) in Leura celebrated its 20th Birthday on 11 January 2016. Since 1996 the Group has transformed, with the aid of a number of small grants, a six hectare Reserve in south Leura that had previously been seriously degraded over a substantial fraction of the total area. That part of today’s Reserve is now a flourishing native landscape. The whole Reserve is crisscrossed with walking tracks that have been engineered to reduce erosion.

Over the 20 years the Group has eradicated an impressive list of 33 weeds, including Buddleia, Tree Lucerne, Portuguese Heath, Holly, Privet, Monterey Pine, White Poplar, Lombardy Poplar, Pussy Willow, Chinese Elm, Watsonia and Yucca. But we still have difficulty with St John’s Wort, Catsear, Blackberry and a host of imported grasses.

The Group has a vibrant core of half a dozen dedicated bushcarers, augmented from time to time with other local residents. Most of them appear in the accompanying photograph.

From left to right they are: Lyndal Sullivan, Ross Day, Jeremy Townend, Brian Marshall, Anna Marshall, Piercarlo Cuneo, Joan Gahl, Libby Gahl, Rae Druitt, Christine Cuneo.

By David Coleby, Convener SPBG

From left to right: Ross Day, Jeremy Townend, Brian Marshall, Anna Marshall, Piercarlo Cuneo, Joan Gahl, Libby Gahl, Rae Druitt, Christine Cuneo, David Colby.