NEWS

Great work team!

Our September working bee at Enders Bridge was well attended - 9 of us! That may be a record. Big thanks to regulars Shirley, Heidi, Nola and newcomers Paula, John and Annie who joined committee members Deb, Jane and Nat for a successful session of weeding, mulching, and removing a few guards (while crossing fingers that the wallabies go easy on the foliage!)

Macropod Awareness

If you missed Helen Round's talk that was held on Sept 4, you can read all about it here. Many thanks to Helen for sharing her knowledge, and for all the work she does rescuing native fauna.

A huge thanks to Jane Orton for her work to facilitate our free trees program.

Around 30 members ordered plants for their properties, sharing approximately 1300 tube stock.

How wonderful that we have so many members keen to boost biodiversity on their properties with native species.

Three events coming up in September:

Sept 4: Kangaroo Rescue and Rehab with Helen Round from Trentham Wildlife Shelter. Helen will be discussing the shelter’s work in rescuing kangaroos and preparing them for a life back in the wild. 7pm at The Pig and Whistle - East Trentham. More details here.

Sept 11: Trentham Sustainability Group and Trentham Activities Club present evening with Craig Caster on creating healthy soil and your own edible garden. 7pm at the Trentham Sportsground Reserve. More details here.

Sept 14: Working bee at Enders Bridge from 9.30am. More details here.

We hope to see you at some or all!

THE TREE PROJECT - Trees for Landcare

Landcare members are invited to place orders for up to 100 tube stock plants for revegetation projects, windbreaks and other projects on your property. The number of seedlings available to each member will ultimately depend on the supply numbers and the demand.

The Tree Project is supported by many volunteers who each year grow thousands of seedlings for purchase by landcare organisations. Trentham Landcare contributes to the collection and cost of seeds and materials allowing members to source plants indigenous to their area (www.treeproject.org.au).

This year the species to choose from are:

Acacia dealbata - Silver Wattle
Acacia verticillata -Prickly Moses
Eucalyptus dairympleana - Mountain Gum
Eucalyptus radiata - Narrow -leafed Peppermint
Eucalyptus ovata - Swamp Gum
Leptospermum obovatum - River Tea-tree
Pultenaea daphnoides - Large leaf Bush pea
Clematis aristat - Mountain Clematis
Indigofera australis - Austral Indigo

Order details will be emailed to members.

We had a super-productive couple of hours working along the Little Coliban River on Carolyn and Simon’s property last Saturday. We planted, guarded and watered in around 50 plants, mostly Acacia melanoxylon (Blackwood) and Eucalyptus ovata (Swamp Gum). Fingers crossed the wallabies take it easy!

A great turn out too with Heidi, Shirley, Nik, Greg, Deb, Jane, Steve and Nat under Carolyn’s focused direction.

We had a great session and turn out at our recent working bee at Enders Bridge in March, followed by a committee meeting on site! We thank our ‘mowing fairy’ (AKA Steve!) for being so proactive. It was great to see so many of our shrubs, grasses and sedges getting so tall. Big thanks to Heidi, Nola and Melinda who joined committee members Greg, Deb, Jane, Steve and Nat. There’s always room for more!

We hope to see members at our next working be - April 20 in East Trentham - as part of our Residents for Riparian Rehab program.

End of Year Celebration

Our joint working-bee /end of year gathering was held on 13 December at Enders Bridge. With beautiful mild weather and a good turn out, it was great to actually use our revegetation area for a BBQ picnic.

Big shout out to Steve for all the mowing and Greg for bringing the brush-cutter.

Our plants are growing well and there was plenty of Devil’s Finger fungus to marvel at!

Newbury Reserve - seedling donation

Late last year Trentham Landcare member Nik Round donated some of his left over native seedlings, stakes and tree guards to the Newbury Reserve to replace removed pine trees. Nik even helped out by planting some himself. Species planted were Blackwood (Acacia melanoxylon), Narrow-leaf peppermint (Eucalyptus radiata) Manna Gum (Eucalyptus viminalis).

Spray trailer in use!

A number of members have been utilising the spray trailer recently to deal with gorse , broom and blackberry on their properties. The weather has been suitably warm and windless on many days in the last couple of months, so it has been a good time to attend to weeds! If you wish to use the trailer please make contact via the website. The cost of hire is $20 per day.

Weed control on the Domino Trail:

Assisting Friends of Trentham Creeks and Reserves to secure funding from Hepburn Shire

In June 2022, one year on from the devastating storm that impacted Hepburn Shire on 9 June 2021, Bushfire Recovery Victoria (BRV) announced additional funding to assist with work on community assets and public land including works on key public assets like heritage railways, tourist walking trails, fire access tracks and recreation reserves.

Some of the community assets selected to be funded for works in the Hepburn Shire are the Daylesford Spa Country Railway, Domino Trail, Wombat Trail, Stony Creek Reserve and Lyonville to Bullarto Reserve.

Trentham District Landcare Group (TDLG) was approached in August by the Friends of Trentham Creeks and Reserves (FTC&R) to help with progressing and facilitating signage and weed control (particularly for gorse and broom) on the Domino Trail between Falls Road Trentham and Lyonville.

Our committee decided that it would be beneficial to the goals of Landcare to collaborate with FTC&R as this group has similar environmental goals to TDLG, especially seeing our group undertook weed control works on the Domino Trail many years ago when the Trail was first developed along the course of the old Trentham to Daylesford railway line.

A grant application was submitted and has been successful, with $10,000 allocated to cover works undertaken by contractors on behalf of Landcare. Thanks to Michael Keaney and Andy Robertson for your work on getting this project happening!

Residents for Riparian Rehab

On May 27 we were lucky enough to spend a couple of hours planting trees, shrubs and grasses in Newbury as part of our Residents for Riparian Rehab program. Stoney Creek which runs through Trentham, actually arises at this property. Again, a great turn out with Sue, Nola, Rob joining property owners Melinda and Pascale and committee members Deb and Nat. An added bonus was the morning tea that was served up afterwards. Jealous?!