BSL participated in a Big Scrub Interest Day on Thursday 21st March. 180 students from grades 3 and 4 from 14 schools across the Big Scrub region came to Rocky Creek Dam to participate in environmental education activities including tree planting, bush walking and learning about drinking water catchments. The students took part in planting...
Contributed by Robert Kooyman National Herbarium of NSW Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney You might ask why we need to use cutting edge science in restoration, and just what issues are so pressing that they require resolution using genomic tools to maximise the benefits of tree planting. After all, the trees seem to be growing just...
Big Scrub Landcare have appeared in the Journal of Australasian Science: Australia’s authority on science since 1938. Professor Ian Lowe’s article looks at the loss of biodiversity globally and highlights the positive impact that groups like Big Scrub Landcare are making. The article also refers to the Australian Science Policy Fellowship Program available for mid-career...
Contributed by Justin Mallee First the discovery. Marcel Proust wrote “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” While the eyes in this story are not new, they have had a renewed focus as part of the Saving our Species (SoS) Onion Cedar project. The result …...
Contributed by Jeremy Jones Image: Naskrecki’s bush katydid, Ozphyllum naskreckii, Minyon Falls. (Copyright Jeremy Jones, Instagram:@jeremycology). The fauna of the Big Scrub is often heard but rarely seen — this is especially so for its most diverse group of inhabitants — the insects. A summer bushwalk in a Big Scrub remnant can be a deafening experience. Thousands...
Contributed by Stephanie Lymburner In February 1968, Di Mercer drove her trusty Mini-Moke up the rutted Coolgardie Road. On impulse she parked and scrambled through a barbed wire fence. She walked through the tangle of Kikuyu and lantana to the crest of the hill. She gasped with delight at the vista that opened up before...
Shannon Greenfields of Big Scrub Landcare talks with Georgie Jones of Envite Environment about camphor conversion. Shannon: What are the options for landholders that want to get rid of camphor laurel on their property? Georgie: I would first advise that you get a suitably qualified and experienced bush regenerator to come and asses your site. ...
2019 sees Big Scrub Landcare (BSL) enter its 26th year of operation. We look ahead to a busy year as we undertake projects to the value of $1million over the next four years that promote, facilitate and undertake long term restoration and ongoing care of critically endangered lowland subtropical rainforests. Funding for these projects has...
Contributed by Joy Window, Member – Big Scrub Landcare Photo by Andrew Mercer (www.baldwhiteguy.co.nz) Grey-headed flying foxes (Pteropus poliocephalus) are familiar to many of us who have gardens – they eat pollen, nectar and fruit there when their wild sources of food are scarce. Because most of their wild habitat (including the Big Scrub) has been...
Contributed by Sally Cooper Where do the seedlings you use in your revegetation projects come from? I’m not talking about which nursery they were purchased from; I am talking about where they were collected from as seed or cuttings. Where were the seedlings’ parents located? Was the seed sourced locally or from further afield or...
