Big Scrub Landcare would like to acknowledge the NSW Environmental Trust for supporting our project Restoring Critically Endangered Lowland Subtropical Rainforest over the past 2 years. This funding has built on Big Scrub Landcare’s long term program to restore critically endangered lowland rainforest. This involves rehabilitating remnants of critically endangered lowland subtropical rainforest and restoring...
Our President and Co-Founder Dr Tony Parkes presented an update on our Science Saving Rainforests program at the Australian Association of Bush Regenerators AGM a few weeks back. The program has been expanded from a total of 23 species to now incorporate 60 species – 30 key canopy and other structural species and 30 threatened...
Early historical accounts of settlement in the Northern Rivers make for a fascinating read and give us insight into what the Big Scrub was originally like. That the landscape was irrevocably changed is well documented, but what’s less well known is the role of flooding in timber transport and the changes made to the waterways...
By Mark Dunphy and Joe Harvey Jones People are always asking whether they should use water crystals with opinions on their effectiveness varying greatly. Some regenerators swear by them, including them in plantings of tens of thousands of trees, while others think their effectiveness is limited. With tree planting numbers ramping up by the tens...
Much like a dry forest regenerating from fire, the Big Scrub is showing signs of recovery from last month’s devastating floods. Our team has been out inspecting remnants to begin the task of assisting recovery and planning for future impact from these extraordinary flooding events. While plenty of evidence of adaptation to floodwaters was observed,...
Photography and insights from Big Scub Landcare member Stephanie and Leo Lymburner. In 1968 Di Mercer acquired a piece of ‘rubbish land’ on the Far North Coast of New South Wales, a block deemed ‘useless’ by its dairy farming owner due to its steep, rocky slopes. Di, who had been a keen conservationist for some...
A contribution from Big Scrub Landcare Projects Manager, Renee Borrow. It had been on my wish-list to do for a while, but getting out to our critically endangered lowland subtropical rainforest remnant, Davis Scrub Nature Reserve, near Alstonville, finally became a reality when I decided to ditch the family and go on a solo adventure....
A contribution from Big Scrub Landcare member Ken Dorey. I’ve always been a little disappointed that European settlers didn’t come up with a better name than ‘Big Scrub’. But with so much being unfamiliar to them, it’s understandable that many descriptive, rather than imaginative, names – like red bean, iron bark or bleeding heart –...
Along the Byron Bay-facing ridge of St Helena escarpment – the steep hillside which timbergetters once used to launch giant logs to ships waiting in the Bay – a hidden rainforest is emerging. For around 15 years, private landowners have taken it upon themselves to fund extensive replanting of rainforest, creating 250 acres of reborn...
As another turbulent year draws to a close, Big Scrub Landcare paused to hold its AGM on Sunday, reflecting on a period where progress returned despite continuing uncertainties in the broader community. In his President’s report, Dr Tony Parkes described 2020-21 as a continuation of a succession of excellent years for our Landcare group. Throughout...
