Landcare Agony Aunt: some seasonal advice for your Landcaring questions
Dear Agony Aunt,
I’m leading our working bees, but not trained in ecology or anything like that. Where do I find out the best ways to do bush regen?
Yours, Curious in Claro
Dear Reader,
Firstly, thank you for stepping up to help your group. You have started on a great adventure! Landcare is a grass-roots, volunteer-led movement and Hunter Region Landcare is a network of groups like yours, so there are lots of people to reach out to with experience and knowledge of bush regen. Find your nearest neighbour groups here and get in touch for a yarn.
I assume you’ve done the basics – made sure you have permission to work on the site and let the neighbours know you’re starting some Landcare work.
There is always something new to learn about caring for the bush. Reflect on your goals with your team. These might include restoring native vegetation that would have been present prior to clearing or other disturbance, improving the quality of habitat or providing corridors for particular threatened species, connecting water sources to native habitat, introducing shelter-belts to aid stock or providing climate refugia for native wildlife. Your goals will guide what you need to learn.
Applying minimal disturbance techniques and working with nature’s regeneration processes are the foundation principles. The Australian Association of Bush Regeneration is a great source of best practice advice. I like to grab some popcorn and watch their Regen TV on a Friday night. General Principles – AABR.
Before you leap in, it’s important to observe the land, see what plants are present and what wildlife is using the site. Identify pest and weed problems and make a map, either a mud map you can photocopy or take a photo of to share with your group, or a digital map (see Stacy’s recent webinar on this in our Members Hub). What are the historical land uses on your site? This can influence whether there is a viable seed bank present in the soil. What sort of soil have you got? What are the fire regimes and weather patterns? What other significant changes occur (erosion, flooding, drought, human impacts).
Plan your working bee sequence. Certain jobs are best done in the cooler months and certain weeds are best tackled at particular times of the year (see Meg’s recent webinar on researching weed management using Terry Inkson’s weed guide). Paul recommends the “Traffic Light” method. Green for good. Work to maintain or improve good areas of native habitat first. Orange for moderate. Slowly work into the moderately healthy areas when you have capacity. Red for worst. Move on to tackle your most degraded zones once you’ve got the rest under control. If you’re struggling to pick the weeds from the native plants, start with one or two easily recognised weeds that are hard to confuse. Then build everyone’s knowledge from there one species at a time. Your local Weeds Officer can help confirm plant ID.
High quality habitat means the endemic plant community is present, plants are strong and healthy, water courses are unpolluted, there is good vegetation cover to protect riverbanks or wetland margins. This also provides cover for platypus, turtles and small birds. Other habitat features add to the value for wildlife. If rocks, fallen logs, decorticating bark and mulch or leaf litter is present, this supports insect life, birds, bats, frogs and reptiles. Obviously, the desirable features will depend on your habitat type.
For other new leaders on coastal sites, your plan will probably focus on weed management, dune stabilisation and protection of any new plantings from wind, sun, desiccation and vandalism.
Our Local Landcare Coordinators are a good port of call for advice, and can let you know about relevant local events or resources to support your bush regen activities. We also work with Local Land Services and other partners to run events to support Landcarers where there is a common need, so let us know what particular topics you need help with. We also have a wealth of tips and tricks on our website.
If there are bigger jobs, beyond the current scope or skills of your group, you may need to call in the help of specialist contractors. This could be organised with your council or Land Manager Trust on public land, or through a grant-assisted project on private land.
If you enjoy learning the analogue way, we have copies of the guidebook Restoring Natural Areas in Australia by Robin Buchanan (2017). Pick up from our office at The Hunter Wetlands Centre ($40). Please call first, as we may be in the field.
Your site is unique, so you will be learning and adapting the techniques along the way, as your site responds. Share the info provided here with your group so you all have a common understanding of best practice in bush regeneration.