You are currently viewing Progress at Biddabah Creek Landcare, Feel-good with friends, Planting trees good for people and planet

Progress at Biddabah Creek Landcare, Feel-good with friends, Planting trees good for people and planet

Progress at Biddabah Creek Landcare

By Vina Chubb, Team Leader

Biddabah Creek Landcare Group have just finished planting new plants on the cleared roadway front of our site. As the site has clay soil in parts and surrounds a waterway, plants such as Lomandra, Dianella, Blady Grass, Raspwort and Pomax were chosen as well as ground covers such as Kidney Weed.

In a patch at the back of our site where we first started weeding 18 months ago, we removed a large clump of Crofton Weed and Morning Glory. Today it is pleasing to see the Kidney Weed Dichondra repens doing its stuff covering the cleared area.

Kidney Weed is a beautiful creeping plant that spreads widely from underground stolons. It thrives in lightly shaded spots but can tolerate the morning sun. It likes consistent moisture but not saturated soils. We have also noticed Kidney Weed appearing in other areas we have weeded.

Source: Lake Macquarie Landcare e-newsletter, August 2024 Vol. 2

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Feel-good with Friends of Munibung Hill Landcare
Fridays in the Field with Wendy and the Green Team, 30 August 2024.

IF YOU’RE AFTER A FEEL GOOD FIX, take a look at this impromptu interview (it’ll only take a minute), showcasing the stunning regeneration at Munibung Hill. Team Leader Gavin shares insights into the best-practice approaches he and fellow Team Leader Andrew have been using, with advice and support from LMCC Landcare staff, to achieve these amazing results. Wendy and the Green Team also dropped in recently to lend a hand and recharge their spirits in this green refuge.

Source: Story courtesy Lake Macquarie Landcare e-newsletter, September 2024 Vol.3

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Planting trees is good for the planet and people
It is not an either or, it is a two-way street, with the land benefiting from the planting of trees and people benefiting from the trees planted and the process of planting. 

THERE’S A CERTAIN SENSE OF SATISFACTION that comes from caring for the land. Rehabilitating that which is degraded or left to be taken over by the invasive species; spread around by the thoughtless acts of those who didn’t care about the consequences of their actions. Perhaps even claiming ignorance; all the while knowing that ignorance is no excuse for bad behaviour. Picking up the pieces, or in these cases, working on righting the wrongs, is what many of those working in the Landcare space are on about.

Four groups are actively engaged in this work:
.. Farm Street Landcare, the elders, operating for over 25 years, within the Hawkins Creek catchment,
.. Biddabah Creek Landcare, working at the Biddabah Creek Wetland,
.. Lucilla Ridge Landcare, at two sites, within the Munibung Creek catchment,
.. Friends of Munibung Hill Landcare, located in the Parkstone Close / Quarry Road, Speers Point area, working within the Hawkins Creek riparian zone.

They are all committed to the social ethic of community service, that is practical and visible, expressing values that cross generations.  It would come as no surprise to them, what Myles Sergeant is writing about in this article posted at The Conversation. If ever there was any need for arguing about or needing to justify why they do what they do, then the science is in. A short extract follows, and the full story can be accessed HERE.

KEEPING PEOPLE IN CITIES HEALTHY, especially in poorer neighbourhoods, is challenging. One simple, effective and scientifically proven prescription for better health is planting more trees.

Bringing forests to the city: 10 ways planting trees improves health in urban centres, by Myles David Sergeant, Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Family Medicine, McMaster University, writing in The Conversation , July 21, 2024, says that:

The idea of planting more trees in urban environments is so simple, affordable and effective that it’s hard to understand why we aren’t applying it more urgently, especially with mountains of evidence to show how much good trees can do.

Environmental epidemiologist Mark J. Nieuwenhuijsen provided an easy way to remember how important they are: the 3-30-300 rule, which suggests that for optimal health, everyone should be able to see at least three trees from home, live under a neighbourhood canopy of at least 30 per cent tree cover and within 300 metres of a green space of at least one hectare.

To be part of the Landcare program, get in touch.
Join an existing group or start a new one.
Munibung Hill is big enough and there is sufficient need.

In support of this research comes these findings from: Rachel Standish, Murdoch University; Tina Parkhurst, The University of Melbourne, in Humans can work with nature to solve big environmental problems – but there’s no quick fix, The Conversation, August 20, 2024

‘Nature-based solutions’ are gaining momentum in environmental policy, including in Australia. They involve working with nature to protect, restore or manage ecosystems in a way that benefits both people and the environment.

The two take home points are:
1. The best nature-based solutions mimic what is already there by conserving existing ecosystems,
and 2. Controlling invasive species by protecting pockets of native species from these threats.

… From MMM Issue #46, Oct-Nov. 2024