Volunteers to the rescue

Rehabilitation

Planning included a five year re-vegetation plan which commenced in 2009 to re-establish the indigenous vegetation on the slopes above the fern gully. This was preceded by propagation of plants with the correct provenance.

 

 

  • 2008 seed was collected from the 2 dominant over storey plants Eucalyptus viminalis viminalis and Eucalyptus obliqua as well as Acacia melanoxylon. With the assistance of The Tree project team volunteers propagated 4500 plants in the first year.
  • A new pasture lease was negotiated to enable re vegetation to proceed in stages
  • A grant from the Guerrierre foundation enabled fencing of the western paddock to exclude cattle from the area to be re-vegetated
  • 2009:  Friends of Endeavour Fern Gully and students from Red Hill Consolidated School planted 4500 trees using plastic tree guards
  • 2010:  Survival rate was about 30% plants so improvement to planting technique was the spraying of herbicide circles to decrease competition for the 4000 new plants
  • 2011:  Hedycarya angustifolia planted along the edge of the bush in the egret paddock
  • 2012: Students from Franklin Scholar joined the team and 3500 plants were planted in Peppermint and Egret paddocks
  • 2013:  Toorak College students added to the workforce which planted another 3500 plants including over storey and mid storey species completing the 5 year re-vegetation plan.
  • 2014: Re-vegetation continues filling in the gaps in the western area and replacing any plants not surviving.

planting08.09

Re-vegetation by EFG volunteers and Red Hill Consolidated School 2009

 

This buffer of plants, some of which are now over 10m tall, will protect the fragment of native vegetation in the gully from the invasion of pasture weeds. Initial planting on the western side consisted of over-storey plants:Blackwood (Acacia melanoxylon), Manna gum (Eucalyptus viminalis viminalis)  and Messmate (Eucalyptus obliqua).

 

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