Art competition information delivered to schools

This week, information about the Love Mary day competition is being delivered to schools in the Tiaro District and surrounds. Congratulation to Glenda and Juanita for all the work they have done to prepare these info packs.

Each schools is also receiving an image for a colouring in competition, a set of facts sheets about species of the Mary River, a "Something about Mary" book, and an A3 Mary River Characters poster.

Mary River characters poster from the Mary River Catchment Coordination Committee (www.mrccc.org.au)

Schools receiving the info packs are:

• Tiaro
• Bauple
• Gunalda
• Tinana
• Gundiah
• Tin Can Bay
• Glenwood
• Theebine
• Brooweena
• Mungar

Entries into the competition will be on display on Love Mary day - 17 February 2012.

To find out more, email greatermary@gmail.com

Another planning walk for Love Mary day

The Mary River Koala corridor project has been progressing steadily - the trees we planted in September are also going well, weed control has been ongoing and planning for our community event is in full swing.

Our community event is called Love Mary Day and it will take place on Sunday 17 February 2013. The event includes stalls, speakers on many things to do with the river and biodiversity and an interpretive walk along the riparian zone.

Juanita and Glenda had already done some work on planning the interpretive walk. Yesterday a few more of us joined them to further map out some of the features that we will highlight on the walk. Glenda also collected seeds for inclusion in seed balls that will be made on the day.

On our walk we saw turtles, stormbirds, water dragons and loads of interesting features. We also collected some Cats Claw for weaving baskets.

Pollinators homes created for Love Mary Day

Glenda and Juanita have experimented with some Bamboo donated by Steve Walked to create prototypes for the pollinators homes.

 

"We used garden saws to cut the bamboo to size, and secateurs for the smaller pieces.  We used an electric drill to make holes in either end of the large bamboo, to take wire threaded through to make a hanger.  We found a chisel worked well to remove the internal 'wall' of the bamboo to make it an open tube, and smoothed off the inside with a large file.  Then simply cut smaller pieces to length and fitted them into the tube until no more would fit, and they didn't fall out. 

We did another type, using plumbers pipe, and although I'm sure the insects and solitary bees wouldn't mind them, we feel they look a bit less wonderful than our first one." 

 

We've invited local school, Glendyne, to be part of this project and Love Mary day.

First trees planted in the Koala Corridor on World Rivers Day

On Sunday 30th September, 81 trees including six different koala food species were planted in the Koala Corridor.Thanks to everyone who came along to lend a hand.

Arriving in the corridor - this area will soon be fenced off

Planting in some preprepared ground

A family affair

A momentous occassion! The wire is cut between two neighbouring koala corridor properties to join up the corridor. Notice the new fence on the other side.

The whole gang getting stuck into the planting

Planting on the second property. 

Each tree was marked with a bamboo stick

 and mulched with some cardboard

We also planted blackbean seeds within the riparian zone

Out of this first batch of 150 koala trees, we still have to plant another 19 trees for the second corridor property and 50 trees for the third corridor property. Fingers crossed for some rain so that we can plant these trees and also to give a boost to the trees we planted next year.

At our GMA meeting we also proposed at date for our community event as part of the koala corridor - we are calling it Love Mary day which will take place on 16 February 2013. More detail to come. If you'd like to help us organise the event, please let us know!

New riparian fence

Fencing commenced for the tree planting area along the Mary River at Tiaro. 

A 360 m fence has been constructed that creates a riparian corridor approximately 40-50m in width. That makes a continuous fenced riparian zone of over 1.5km.

Fencing and species lists decisions

At our GMA meeting on 12 June, we made decisions about the fencing and species lists for our project.

The current species lists are based on the trees that Koalas in our region prefer. It's based on advice from local koala expert Natalie Richardson.

The species list will be further refined with the by  consulting the lists of species that are associated with the regional ecosystems found within the Koala Corridor. We'll also refer to expert advice from Greg Smyrell after his visit to the site this year, and previous expert advice from Marilyn Connell.

We will also be getting some quotes for weed control contractors in the near future.

Meeting of Corridor Landholders held to agree on share of funds

On Thursday 17 May, three of the landholders involved in the Mary River Koala corridor met to discuss how the funds for fencing, revegetation and weed control would be shared across their properties.

Based on the decisions made, progress can now be made on installation of fencing - a combination of electric and permanent as well as protection of regenerating trees outside the fenced area.

Agreement was also reached about how to approach the weed control and revegetation.

Koalas now listed as vulnerable in Qld

Today the Federal Government announced that the Koala has been listed as a vulnerable species under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

It therefore has the same status as lungfish.

This listing makes our Mary River Koala corridor project even more significant.

BMRG site visit brings project one step closer

On 3rd April, Kate Lyons from BMRG was shown some of our project site and Tingid Breeding facility by our secretary Glenda Pitman.

Kate's visit means that the contract for the weed and pest grant is one step closer. At the GMA meeting last week, expenditure on the tunnel house was approved. We are aiming to erect the house in late May and have a working bee prior to then to pot up some new cats claw to be infected.

How rivers work and the implications for riparian restoration

On 11 March 2012, we had Peter McAdam, stream geomorphologist and Healthy Habitats/Land for Wildlife Officer at the Mary River Catchment Coordination Committee join us for our outdoor meeting. Peter gave a very informative presentation about "How Rivers work and the implications for Riparian Restoration".

You can watch excerpts from his presentation below.

Part 1 is about how to defining a river. 

Part 2 follows directly from Part 1 and in this, Peter focuses on the way rivers change. In particular he identifies some of the changes that have occurred as a result of European settlement.

You can view higher resolution images of these videos on GMA's Youtube Channel.

We hope to follow up with some surveys of the river bed to get a better understanding of what is happening in this section of the Mary River.

New injection of funds to assist with weed control and biocontrol of Cat's Claw

This week we found out we were successful in obtaining some more funds from a BMRG Weed and Pest Grant that we will use to do extra weed control and also upgrade the tingid breeding facility in Tiaro.

The Tingids are a biological control for Cat's Claw. A viney weed that takes over canopy trees and smothers the forest floor.

Gympie and District Landcare have a well established Tingid Breeding Facility and we are working with them to establish a satellite facility in Tiaro that will service the Fraser Coast. 

Cat's Claw is one of many viney weeds that are a problem in the Koala Corridor. The others include Balloon Vine, Mile a Minute and Coastal morning glory.

Second planning walk for the Mary River Koala Corridor

On Sunday March 11, we were lucky enough to have both Greg Smyrell, landscape ecologist, and Peter McAdam, stream geomorphologist and Healthy Habitats Officer from the Mary River Catchment Coordination Committee (MRCCC) give advice on the Mary River Koala Corridor project.

Greg walked through all three properties to produce a detailed plant list for the riparian zone. Based on this we will develop recommended planting lists that reflect the current species.

Peter also visited all three properties, giving advice about overall land management and participation in the Land for Wildlife program. All three properties are now participants in Land for Wildlife.

We were also treated to a presentation by Peter about stream geomorphology. What we learned in this session will help us understand the likely future behaviour of this section of river. This is the subject of it's own post, that is available here. This post includes a video of Peter's presentation.

First planning walk for the corridor

A weedy vine taking over a canopy tree

On Sunday 11 December 2011, a few of us braved the weather and did a walk along two of the properties in the Koala Corridor with Juliet Musgrave and Tina Ravenau from Fraser Coast Regional Council. 


We identified weeds and plants. Juliet has since provided us with templates for the weed management plan and lists of weed species. Tina has provided some advice on planting strategies. 


There is an almost continuous, but slightly fragmented riparian zone on the properties involved in the project. During our walk, the impact that vine weeds, particularly Cats Claw and Balloon vine are having on existing canopy trees was evident. Also, being on the main trunk of the river, and in the pondage of the barrage, the riverbank suffers the pressure of boat wash, artificial maintained water height and high erosive flows during floods. Another factor contributing to the instability of the banks is the sodic soil, which when wet, has very little structure to hold it together, and therefore erodes easily. In this video below, one of the landholders talks about the erosion he has experienced on his river bank and the measures he has taken to try to prevent it. 

We noticed that even though the properties are very close together, they have different vegetation and different weed issues. The one has a lot of eucalypts whereas the other has more rainforest type trees, particularly a tree called the Native Elm.

The walk was topped off by the siting of a koala on one of the properties. 

The koala was in one of the gums right on the river bank. 

Can you spot it?