December working bee - tree planting and cats claw tuber collection

Another 70 trees were planted and about 150 plus Cats Claw tubers were collected at our working bee today. We also protected a number of trees with tree guards. The she oaks in particular have been very popular food for some of the local critters and many have been eaten off.

Well done everyone for persisting in the hot conditions!

Potting up Cats claw tubers to feed the biological controls - jewel beetles and tingids

Sand paper fig that has established itself since cattle have been removed from this part of the corridor.

Maintenance on trees in the corridor - a mixture of methods are being used.

 Some pictures of the working bee held by GMA members on Sunday 7th July to clear the debris from one of the landholders riparian fence which had been damaged and covered with lots of sticks, grass and other rubbish. This will allow new plantings to take place on river to enhance the koala corridor.

A pedestrian crossing the Koala Corridor

Some of the team in action

Some damage to the river bank

 (with an infestation of cat's claw in the background)

Piles of debris like this were common in this area

Restanding a washed out fence post

Treating a "mature" Cat's Claw infestation on the Koala Corridor

One of the landholders on the Koala Corridor has an advanced infestation of Cat's Claw Creeper and while they are not prepared at this stage to increase their riparian fencing area they have allowed us to treat the infestation of CCC. These photos show just how massive cat's claw vines can get, unfortunately we can't get any images of the damage they are doing in the canopy.

I am sure these trees are very grateful for the Federal DAFF  and BMRG funding which make the Cat's Claw control efforts of GMA much more effective.

A bare sandy area covered with Cat's Claw pods from above

A small native tree with four cats claw vines climbing up it and it was still alive ! (Felt marker for scale)

 

A treated CCC stump

Some more vines treated by our contractor

Walk along the corridor with MRCCC

Friday 19 April 2013 Brad Wedlock from MRCCC walked along the corridor with two of the landholders and other GMA members.

We surveyed the erosion, looked at species diversity and visited biological control release sites.

Unfortunately it got too dark and we had to head back early before we reached the end of the corridor.

It was a great afternoon!

Wonderful Working Bee

We had a fantastic working bee on Sunday 24th March

Over 100 koala food trees planted, about 20 Cats Claw tubers potted up, background of the banner for Love Mary Day planted and lids made for tingid boxes!

Thanks everyone for your hard work.

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.