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Specialising in natural resource and social planning; community consultation and facilitation; values mapping and consensus building, mediation and conflict resolution; policy development; program and organisational diagnosis and development.
Grassy White Box Woodlands |
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project outline |
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Project Update: Winter 2001Financial incentives for protection of Grassy Box WoodlandsThe Grassy Box Woodlands project aims to provide support and incentives to landholders wanting to protect remnant Grassy Box Woodlands (yellow and white) (GBW). A small amount of funding is available to provide support in 2001-2002. The funds can be used to assist with physical works such as fencing and weed control, and/or to enable the development and implementation of a management strategy for a remnant. The GBW project is designed to support landholders in developing and implementing creative management strategies to protect the GBW remnants Application is open to individual landholders, Landcare and other community groups, Local Governments and Rural Land Protection Boards. Applications will be individually and confidentially assessed. For further information and to obtain a copy of the application form, please contact Heather Pearce from Community Solutions on (02) 9818 2684. You can also obtain copies of application forms and information from the Rural Liaison Officers Closing date for applications is 31 August 2001. GBW School Curriculum materialToni McLeish has been working on the GWBW school curriculum material with schools in Manilla. The product Woodlands- A Global Environment Stage 2/3 primary school units is now available on CD. Contact Toni (details on back) for more details. It is also available in draft form on the Web at www.manillacentralschool.nsw.edu.au If you would like to be part of the Email Woodland Management Group, please contact Geoff Tonkin Woody Weed Removal from Grassy Box WoodlandsArticle by Ray Dowling - RLO in the south During May, Erica Higginson and I were involved in work in some of the best Grassy Box Woodland sites in the south of NSW. A problem common to all these sites is the growth of exotic trees and shrubs. The seeds of these non-native trees have been carried in by birds from nearby domestic gardens. We have been very careful not to disturb the soil when we remove the offending trees and shrubs, as any soil disturbance will create a seed bed for the germination of other exotic plants. The Woodstock cemetery near Cowra has now been cleared of all the Box thorn, Pepper trees, Briars, Cotoneasters and Blackberries. Work done last year was very successful with very little re-emergence of the trees cut off & painted over with Roundup. The cut-and-paint method, whilst taking time is the preferred method of removal of these weeds. The Blackberries however were sprayed, as the thorns make the cut-and-paint very difficult. A different problem has been occurring at the Monteagle cemetery, near Young. The germination of Yellow Box, & Blakelyi red gum seedlings is creating a very thick stand of trees which is beginning to choke out the understory plants. So a very careful clearing of these trees has been undertaken to try and keep the open woodland appearance and to allow the grasses and forbs to grow without being crowded out. At the Humula cemetery the main problem is the seedling growth of Radiata Pines. The original plantings were made over 100 years ago so these old trees are now very large and the seeds coming from them are invading the rest of this very significant site. The local community and the Wagga Wagga City Council who manage the Humula cemetery, have found a saw mill to take the mature trees and the smaller seedlings will be sold as Christmas trees. The removal of the trees will take away the wood, which would create nutrients as it breaks down, this will help with the control of exotic grasses and weeds. At the Muttama cemetery the local Landcare group have been doing some burning and spraying to remove the exotic weeds. This site is now almost clear of the thistles that were growing around the grave area. Some of the Yellow Box trees have been damaged by the fire and have not recovered, which further stresses the importance of only using a cold burn. These cold burns can be achieved during the cool months of the year when the grass is not so volatile. 
Humula Cemetery community group 
Ray clearing Box thorn at Koorawatha St John's WortFrom Geoff Tonkin RLO Central West in consultation with Gerry Hennessy District Agronomist NSW Agriculture Mudgee At a glance
Control Biological
Herbicides
Limiting the spread It has now become evident that light stocking or slow rotational grazing encourages St. John's Wort to spread. Under these grazing systems livestock avoid eating the wort and hammer the more desirable pasture species. As a result the weed continues to thrive at the expense of the more desirable plant species. St. John's wort is very sensitive to competition from other plants when young, after a set back from spraying and/or insect attack so this is a good time for control grazing which encourage competition from other species. To best achieve this consider these options
It looks like St. John's Wort is a weed that we have to learn to live with but it may be possible to limit its impact using some of these techniques. Stepping outside the comfort zoneMollie Whitehorn worked as an Action Liaison Officer for this project for two years. She writes from her new position in the Phillipines. In February I deserted the comfortable life of "Murrabar" and my job with the GWBW project to spend 2 years as a Volunteer with Australian Volunteers International in the Philippines, a nation of 80 million people on 7000 islands just north of the equator. My placement is with ICRAF (International Centre for Research in Agroforestry) at their site office in Claveria. Claveria is an agricultural municipality, 42 kilometres northeast of Cagayan de Oro City located in the north of Mindanao, the large southern island. It is an upland volcanic plateau with elevation ranging from 450 to 1200 m and a complex topography from almost flat to undulating, dissected by steep valleys. In a process that characterised most of the upland ecosystems in the entire Philippine archipelago, foreign loggers harvested substantial portions of the primary growth timber, reducing the natural forest to only 14% of the land area by 1949. Further clearing for agriculture by a steady influx of new settlers, saw this reduced to only 1% by 1988. There are about 44,000 people living in Claveria (112,000 ha) and about 80% rely on agriculture as livelihood and main source of income. Farm sizes average 3 ha per household which usually supports 6 to 8 people. The majority of people in Claveria are poor with about sixty percent (60%) of the total number of households earning less than 3,000 Pesos per month (Aus$120). The increasing population of the nation, the dwindling of agricultural crops in the lowlands and the migration of lowland farmers into the uplands have created great pressure on the land. Farming families are forced to convert hilly areas (some slopes greater than 30%) into agricultural land to grow annual crops for subsistence. In 1996, the Landcare movement in the Philippines began in Claveria with 384 groups now formed in Claveria as well as central and southern Mindanao. I have 2 main roles in my work. The first is managing the Landcare Trust Fund. This trust fund originates from the donation of US$200,000 from the Spanish Government. My role as manager is to facilitate group brainstorming to develop innovative projects; as part of the management committee, approve suitable projects; develop contracts and monitoring and evaluation for approved projects. Secondly, I am involved in developing a training program in response to the increasing interest of the Landcare approach in upland communities that is shown by the NRM institutions and agencies in the Philippines and SE Asia. The program is aimed at the orientation and training of candidate landcare facilitators within these organisations Life as a Volunteer has many rewarding and challenging moments. I receive a local wage of P11,000 (Aus$440) per month; pay P2,500 month for rent which leaves me with adequate to live Filipino style but does not allow foreign luxuries ie cheese and wine. My accommodation is comfortable except that water doesn't come out of the taps very often (hot water systems don't exist) and blackouts are nearly a daily event (sometimes lasting for 24 hrs). I do have a frig and fan (when there's electricity) and I read plenty of books. Learning the local language, Cebuano, is hard going but will eventually be worth the effort. Most people have some words of English but misunderstandings are a daily event causing me many frustrations. This is just a brief taste of my experiences. Email correspondence would be gladly received (and hopefully answered between blackouts). Mollewh@cdo.weblinq.com See you in 2 years, Mollie. The NSW Farmers' Association has a new website called a "Guide to Farm Conservation" which can be found at Toni McLeish asks why we need native vegetationI decided to ask a range of people why we need native vegetation, and what would happen if we removed it all! Their responses gave me a range of great reasons for continuing on with our GBW work! Thanks to everyone from the Department of Land and Water Conservation, National Parks and Wildlife Service, Citizen Wildlife Corridors, Landcare, the North West Vegetation Forum and my 10 year old daughter.
Toni McLeish - RLO in the north Getting informationRural Liaison Officers (ALOs)
Toni McLeish
Geoff Tonkin
Ray Dowling
Team Leaders for the Rural Liaison Program and Heather Pearce: ph/fax (02) 9818 2684 and email: heather@sydney.net
Erica Higginson - contact in NPWS This project is funded by the Natural Heritage Trust |
CONTENTS:Financial incentives for protection of Grassy Box Woodlands Woody Weed Removal from Grassy Box Woodlands Stepping outside the comfort zone |