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Landcare Expo 2012 Stalls . More photos page s 4 & 5
E nvirowise Issue 21June 2012
Inside this Issue:
Landcare Legends 2
In Brief 3
Expo Pics 4,5
Planting Days 6,7
Burning Off 7
Taxonomy 8
In Season 9
You said 9
Events 10
Workshops 11
Meeting Dates 12
News from the Chittering Landcare Centre incorporating the Ellen Brockman Integrated CatchmentGroup, Chittering Landcare Group, North Swan Landcare Group and
Wannamal Lakes Catchment Group.
Saturdays in July:14th, 21st, & 28th.
COMMUNITYPLANTING DAYS
More info on pages 6,7.
EXPOEXTRAVAGANZA!
What a day! The Landcare Expo was a jam-packed extravaganza. Landholders had a choiceof six mini workshops and demonstrations andover 20 stalls to browse. Attendees heard aboutfrogs, insects, animal husbandry and fencing ba-sics in workshops, and browsed stalls with infor-mation about Carnaby’s Cockatoos, fire manage-ment, aquatic macroinvertebrates and best man-agement practices to name just a few.
The Chittering Landcare team would like to thank everyone who helped to make theExpo a success. It really was a collaborative effort, and we are fortunate to have so manyfriends to offer their time, energy and expertise.
Landcare Legends
Gary HarleyWe first met Gary when we contractedhim to fence a revegetation projectarea. Gary told us about his familyproperty, which has 300 + acres and ismainly bushland containing the head-waters of a tributary of LennardsBrook. Eager to protect the specialpatch of bush, funding from the SwanRiver Trust helped him to fence it off.Later, Gary placed a covenant on thebushland to provide extra protectioninto the future.Gary is also involved with the GinginVermin Action Group, and has had agreat impact on the numbers of feral
animals in the Gingin area. The grouphas culled over 1100 foxes and cats, inthe last two years, 360 of those in justthe last two months. It has been esti-mated that 95% of the fox populationhas been wiped out. The group is work-ing with Murdoch University to monitorthe diet of feral animals including cats.The culling has had a noticeable im-pact. Ground dwelling birds such as theBustard (Wild-turkey) and Owlet Night-jar have been sighted in the Ginginarea, where they have not been seenfor many years. Other changes includeincreased sightings of Brush Wallaby,increased numbers of waterbird young
surviving and of course happyfarmers.The Chittering Invasive SpeciesGroup has also been put into mo-tion, and Gary is among the half adozen men undertaking a Certifi-cate III in Rural Operations to ac-credit local residents. Feral pigswill be their first focus.While there is lot of activity hap-pening to reduce the numbers offeral animals in the state, Garybelieves a bounty will cause foxnumbers to drastically reduce.
“We need to dosomething quickly, abounty of $30 canknock down 95% ofthe fox population”.
In Br i ef
2013 Grant Applications
Seed Packing Day
The majority of the 2013 Grant Applica-tions have been submitted, and are sum-marised below:
Swan River Trust Alcoa Landcare Program:
Bullsbrook Landcare Group: $72 563(mostly revegetation projects)
Chittering Landcare Group: $29 656(mostly revegetation projects)
Ellen Brockman Integrated CatchmentGroup: $103 911(mostly revegetation projects)
DEC Community Environment Grants:
Bullsbrook Landcare Group: $31 510(Fauna Survey)
Chittering Landcare Group: $27 369(Dieback Treatment)
Ellen Brockman Integrated CatchmentGroup: $13 650(weed control)
Fingers crossed that we are successful inour funding applications!
The GreatCocky Countwas held onthe 15thApril 2012.Two sites( G r a n v i l l ePark, andBridle Trailin Bulls-brook) in thelocal areawere moni-
tored for this annual event. Many thanksgo to Sue Pedrick for coordinating thecount in Gingin, and continuing to moni-tor the site every month. The records con-tinue to be interesting and tell us a littleabout the seasonal movements of thecockatoos. The full report from 2011’scount can be found here:http://www.dec.wa.gov.au/content/view/6955/1560/
The Landcare Centre gives away smallpacks of Everlasting seeds at variousevents. Numbers were running low, so manyvolunteers raised their hands to bag somemore. Over 1000 seed packs were pro-duced in a fun mornings work! Manythanks!
Great Cocky Count
Seed Packing Day 16th April 2012
Water Quality Reports
The reports detailing the findings fromthe 2011 Water Quality data will beavailable from our website soon.
Landcare Expo 2012
Landcare Expo 2012
Planting Days
The Chittering Landcare Centre would like to invite anybody who enjoysbeing outdoors and assisting a great group of people making a real dif-ference to the beauty of our rural environment to join us at one of ourcommunity planting days.
Please wear covered footwear, pref-erably waterproof as some sites can
be muddy!
Protect yourself from the weather, with a rain jacketor hat and sunscreen dependent on the day.
To RSVP or for more details please [email protected] or call 9571 0400.
Free
SausageSizzl
e!
Planting Days
Pros: The fire is typically low in intensity
and spreads slowly. Generally eas-ier to manage. More chance of burning into rain to
help contain and put fire out. Fauna has the greatest chance to
survive the fire. It is very patchy
Pros & Cons of burning off in Winter:Cons:
It is not very effective for trig-gering regeneration
More beneficial to promotinggrass weed growth and spreadinto burned areas.
Generally not a natural time for fires. Not very effective in having a major
impact on reducing fuel loads.
The Burning Quest ion
Dates:Saturday, 14th July 2012 9.30am -West Rd (off Neaves rd), Bullsbrook
Saturday, 21st July 2012 9.30am -Chequers Golf Club, Morrisey Rd,Bullsbrook
Saturday, 28th July 2012, 9.30am -Carty Reserve, Grt Northern Hwy,(just south of Hart Dve) Chittering
Artic l es of Interes t
Why do the scientific names of plants keep changing?
Changes in organism names are not new. They have been occurring throughout the his-tory of taxonomy for a variety of reasons but recently changes have been more widelyreported and there has been public concern about the changes of names. Kevin Thiele,Curator of the WA Herbarium, recently spoke on the topic in relation to WA native floraspecies. The scientific name of a plant (or animal) isn’t just a means of identifying a par-ticular plant but also indicates the relationship of one plant to another. That is, MelaleucaA is more closely related to Melaleuca B than either of them is to, say, a Beaufortia or aCalothamnus. Traditionally these groupings, and therefore the names which plants weregiven, were determined on the basis of morphological features i.e. what a plant lookedlike.
DNA testing, which people most often hear about in the news in relation to crime solvingor medical discoveries, is widely used in many areas of science including in taxonomy.These new tests mean that the genetic relationship between organisms can be determinedand this has revealed that some plants which were once grouped together on the basis ofsimilar morphology are not genetically closely related. In the WA flora many of the oldgroupings match the new genetic groupings but there are some groups where there is amismatch between these two systems of grouping. For example, there are species of Me-laleuca which are more closely related to species of Beaufortia than they are to the rest ofthe Melaleuca genus. Some of the major mismatches occur in groups of plants which arewell known to the general public and this has brought the issue to public attention, thechange of name from Dryandra to Banksia being an example.
Which groups of WA plants which are most affected?
1. The pea family - there is a group of closely related plants including Pultenaea, Jack-sonia, Dillwynia, Gastrolobium and Mirbelia which are scattered throughout the peafamily.
2. Melaleuca - Beaufortia, Regelia, Lamarchea, Callistemon and Calothamnus are allwithin the Melaleuca group. (Calothamnus is thought to be a Melaleuca which hasevolved to be pollinated by birds). Melaleuca could be divided up but it is difficult tothen find morphological characteristics which seem logical.
3. Verticordia – Chamelaucium, Darwinia, Pileanthus are all within Verticordia. Verti-cordia may be divided up.
4. Grevillea and Hakea – genetically they are all mixed up. Currently the characteristicwhich is used to divide them is whether their fruit is hard and woody or thinner and itis often difficult to identify plants if there is no fruit available. These would mostlikely be merged – the name which would be retained would need to be investigated.
5. Callitris and Actinostrobus – these were found to be genetically the same and havealready been merged under the name Callitris.
You sa id
In Season
Acacia Squamata: This small shrub can be seenflowering along roadsides in the local area, as wellas in Mooliabeenie Reserve and Burraloo Well Re-serve. It usually occurs on lateritic soils, in areas ofEucalypt woodland. It is remarkable in that the pet-als are absent.
Hovea pungens: “Devil’s Pins” Asmall shrub with eye-catching blue-purple flowers. It is well named asit has sharp needle like leaves pro-truding from behind the flowers. Itis common, and has been seenalong Tea Tree Rd.
“Yeah, I admit, I put a little bit of phos-phates here up on the hill very, very care-fully and it has certainly improved thepastures and I haven’t used anythingthat I haven't tested for.
I did a soil test and again, what I havedone is encouraged the clovers. Is just toencourage the good so the bad will,that’ll automatically adjust itself. In twoyears the change has been huge. EvenI’ve been surprised myself sort of follow-ing good advice, that I do. There’s cloverup on top of the hills here where I justdidn't think it would ever, I can’t seewhere anything would grow because it’sjust so rugged and of course it does, it’sjust flourished, it’s flourishing.
You’ve really got to think about whatyou’re doing and all the help and exper-tise is there. I think you’ve just got ot findout, it’s knowledge really, it’s just educa-tion isn’t it?
It’s ignorance thatdoes all the damage.So just find out and go carefully. “
Events
Sensor Camera Workshop - The Secret Life of Wildlife
A team of nearly twenty gathered nearLennard Brook last month to try andcapture some of our fabulous fauna oncamera. “Camera Trapping” is notnearly as menacing as it sounds. In factit allows wildlife enthusiasts to get upclose and personal without the intru-sion of being there in person. Motionsensor cameras, which were originallydeveloped in the USA for deer hunting,are being used more and more to learnabout the wildlife in an area, as they arenon-intrusive and becoming more andmore affordable.
WWF teamed up with the ChitteringLandcare Centre to hold the ‘CameraWorkshop” on the 14th and 15th ofMarch. Landholders from Chittering andToodyay learnt about the aims of sensorcameras, different camera models, andtechniques to maximise the chances ofgood results. Attendees set up camerason Gary Harley’s property in Gingin, andleft them there overnight. Cameras arenormally left out for a minimum of aweek, but in just one night we still cap-tured pictures of possums and a nativemouse. Just think of the possibilities ifthey were left out longer.
Hopefully our attendees can capturesome interesting images of wildlife ontheir own properties, making the secretlife of wildlife, not so secret.
Workshops
Grab a copyof our2012
CommunityWorkshop
Booklet
David Pike presented ‘The Little Things that Count’ at theLandcare Expo on the 5th of May 2012. David is a natu-ralist and photographer and is president of the northernbranch of the Wildflower Society of WA. It is obvious thatDavid is passionate about insects and their role in theecosystem, the photos and stories that go with them aretruly amazing!
The Little Things that Count
An example of David Pike’s insect photography
Chi t tering Landcare Centre
Chairman:Robert Hawes
Chairman:Ann Graham
@ Chittering Landcare CentreMondays 9am—12noon
30th JulyAGM 24th September
26th November
@ Chittering Landcare CentreWednesdays 7:30pm—9:30pm
25th JulyAGM 26th September
28th November
C o n t a c t U s :
175 Old Gingin Rd, MucheaPO Box 62, MUCHEA WA 6501
Ph: 9571 0400 Fax: 9571 4350
S t a f f :
Toshiba CommunityGroup AwardWinner 2011
Rosanna HindmarshSue MetcalfSue Pedrick
Bonny Dunlop-HeagueMegan O’Grady
Kay ReidBeverly Paton
Group meet ings to be he ld in 2012
Chairman:Judith Beer
@ Lowery Park, BullsbrookThursdays 7pm—9:30pm
26th JulyAGM 27th September
22nd November
