News Item - Restoring Corridors 2007-2012

In October 2007 the Kedron Brook Catchment Branch launched the Restoring Corridors (RC) program. Landholders and community groups in the upper reaches of the catchment were invited to participate in this program which engaged landholders directly in restoring waterway and habitat corridors on their property by providing them with advice and financial assistance.

Once the grants were allocated in early 2008, landholders set about organising contractors, ordering plants, and purchasing materials to implement the restoration plans developed by them and Nathan Kirby, the then Catchment Coordinator. The plans included a variety of weed control, revegetation, regeneration and erosion control measures.

One of my first projects as the new Kedron Brook Creek Ranger is to wrap up the RC program. This has involved talking with and visiting (lucky me!) all the landholders involved in the program. To date, most landholders have completed the works outlined in the original plan, while others are in the final stages and are finishing off the Project Reports.

The stories of success, heart break, frustration, enthusiasm and learning emerging from the RC’s partners backyard’s are moving, and I feel fortunate to be sharing in these final stages of this, overall, very successful program.

In early March I visited Ross and Catherine Purdon of Ferny Grove. They seized the opportunity presented by the RC grant money to address the erosion issue on the steep slopes of their block and to create a buffer edge between their garden and the neighbouring bushland. They mulched and planted an area of over 800 m² ! As Ross commented, the RC grant made it possible for them to carry out this restoration works in a time frame much shorter than would have otherwise been the case.

Ross enjoyed being directly involved in managing and implementing the restoration works on his property, but admits that spreading mulch lost its appeal after the first few wheelbarrow loads!! The storms of October last year put the erosion control measures to the test…and to Ross’s delight, the mulched and planted area stood the test and today the plants are growing well and there are no patches of washed out bare earth (as there otherwise would have been).

A visit to the Ledger family’s property, also in Ferny Hills, revealed a story of enthusiasm, enjoyment and learning for Debbie and John who moved to the property over 22 years ago. With funds from their RC grant, Debbie enlisted the support of a local bush regeneration contractor to successfully remove an outbreak of fishbone fern and an “ochna thicket”.

Debbie thoroughly enjoyed working alongside a professional (matching her hours of course!) and she is looking forward to addressing other weedy areas on their 10 acre property, which includes a regionally significant waterway corridor.

Since moving to Ferny Grove, Debbie has learnt much about caring for the health of her property and the wider catchment. She has developed a sense of stewardship not only for her bushland, but for alleviating the negative impacts on properties further downstream in Kedron Brook. She is particularly passionate about ensuring that new developments do not become a source of weeds in the future.

The headwaters of Cedar Creek pass through Lyn Farrels property in Upper Kedron. With a RC grant, Lyn and a bush regenerator contractor, undertook a large project to hand remove a dense infestation of lantana from the ephemeral creek bed and then revegetated the creek banks with over 300 plants. Unfortunately, following the massive rainfall event in November last year, the creek flash flooded and much of the revegetated creek bank was washed away.

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Lyn is now seeking advice for how to best stabilise the bank. Despite the loss of much of the plantings, Lyn’s spirit certainly wasn’t washed away... Inspired by the beauty of the rainforest nearby, she is continuing to restore the biodiversity and habitat vales of the creek bank using some clever rainforest restoration principles to guide her.

Whether or not the RC partners were previously passionate about backyard bushcare, all landholders involved in the RC program have had significant learnings about the value and beauty of their backyard bush, but also about the techniques and principles of natural area restoration and the ‘whole catchment’ approach required to achieve successful nature conservation.

The repeated message I’ve heard is that the funding support provided by the RC grant was a great incentive to address that expanding thicket of lantana, that creeping madeira vine, that bare earth, that opening canopy… Indeed, Joan Hall of Mitchelton commented that the RC grant made it possible for her to feel motivated and inspired to tackle that ever growing and seemingly overwhelming task of removing an ochna thicket in her bushland backyard.

For all, the results have been tremendous – from the perspective of “on the ground” habitat restoration; environmental education; enjoyment; motivation; and exercise (!). I would like to thank and congratulate the RC partners for their efforts and energy to date in restoring the health of the Kedron Brook catchment.

Emma Maltby
Catchment Coordinator - Kedron Brook (2009-2010)

A second phase of Restoring Corridors along Kedron Brook

Following the successful achievements by our previous Creek Rangers, Emma Maltby (2009-2010) and Anna Bourke (2012), Kedron Brook Catchment Branch has been successful in acquiring a small grant to extend the Restoring Corridors project into a second phase. This funding was obtained through the Federal Governments Caring for Our Country Community Action Grants. The funds will be used to extend the efforts of several landowners that demonstrated a substantial commitment to the initial Restoring Corridors project in terms of their own time, money and on-going maintenance. New participants are also to be approached in order to create linkages between properties and further increase the ecological corridor in Upper Kedron.

An aspect of the project in 2011 was the greater opportunities for participants to share and increase their knowledge and skills. This was achieved through

• two workshops being run for participants on weed management and other relevant issues,
• “working-bees” arranged for neighbours to provide support for each other's efforts, and
• a field day arranged to share experiences and reflect on the work that has been undertaken.

Jacinta.Hamilton,
Acting Creek Ranger - Kedron Brook (2012)

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If KBCB had been able to obtain suitable funding, this successful project could have been continued in a third stage. However, changes in systems of funding and with Creek Ranger support have made this unlikely in the forseeable future. (CI, 07/03/2013)