We picked up two awards

A little late, but ...thank you to all of you who have shown concern for the damage done to our effort to restore the river on our place ...after the first stint of cleaning up the mess (we still have a lot to go) we went to a Forum in Sydney where we also were presented with an award for our work from the Greater Sydney Regional Local Land Services for our efforts in the category of "individual Landowner". There were four categories in all and we also picked up an award for "Community Group" on behalf of the Macdonald Valley Association. Vera is the Secretary of the MVA and Project Manager (on a voluntary basis) for their Arundo Project. She also formally established and convened the St Albans' Weed Wackers - the local Bush regeneration group. The Association does heaps of great restoration work along the Macdonald River and its great that it too was acknowledged for its efforts.

Community tour of our riverbank on 1 August

Dirty Work ...after 400 muddy tree guards you stop counting

First cattle up the new ramp

Assessing the damage when water retreated

what a mess!

 Not all the water has receded yet but 

a bag is in the tree and its not the one we put in it!

 A huge amount of sand was dumped on trees we planted

and had already grown well over 2 meters

and were standing on a grassy river bank last week

 David's new  fence went down

 Another of the 2,250 healthy trees we planted bites the sand.

 very sad

 we spent all of last week preparing this site and planted out another 200+ trees.

These were submerged but stragely enough the bags did not float away.

These are stuck in the mud. The bags are 68cm long.

Unless we wash them soon they will die.

Another 200 trees in the ground

 Last autumn's plantings have grown taller than Vera

 A  mound of Arundo rhizomes ready to be burnt

 David makes a new track 

Small pile burns to stimulate native seeds in the soil

and prepare site for plantings

One site cleared of blackberry, Arundo and other weeds.

First Anniversary of the local bushcare group

Willow Warriors slay Black Willows

 Paddled from our place to St Albans in search of Black Willows

 

 

First tree spotted and slayed by Jeff and his helpers

A break for lunch ... still sunny just before a huge storm
check out the photos ...
MacDonald River Black willow monitoring paddle 2015-02-01 - willowwarriors.org.au

First rain for yonks on 26th July - day we held the Educational Field Day

 Good turn out

Good tucker

We planted close to 1,500 trees & shrubs

Got the attention of local authorities

Representatives from local Council and Regional Land Services visited the project site and agreed to fund an educational day on techniques we have used to treat Arundo donax and the bio-waste produced.

We have been busy getting rid of one of the fastest growing plants on earth

 Hard work getting rid of this weed - Arundo donax, also known as Giant Reed and False Bamboo.

The smoke on the righ side of frame is shown in close up below

 Get the scale?

 

Fire to germinate any seed from native trees in the soil

The Morrison brothers are top Arundo slayers!

Vera organised community workshop in May to encourage othersto eradicate our worst weed, Arundio donax, from the river

Rehabilitating the river banks

Bringing life back to the Macdonald River and getting rid of unwanted weeds will keep us busy for a long time.









Tree of Heaven and False Bamboo are our greatest enemies. Since the 2007 flood they have been spreading like wild fire along the riparian area at the expense of native vegetation. Moth Vine and Wild Tobacco are also some of the weeds we have declared war on.

If you want to come and help us just let us know. More hands make light work and the river is magical place to be.
.