Winter 2010 Mt Rogers update

PLANTING  On 8^th May ten little plants were offered a new home to the north of Schwarz Place. I think there’s only one Bursaria left on the edge of a garden in Spence’s Jordan or McNolty places. These slightly prickly shrubs provide ideal shelter for small birds and the white/cream flowers attract insect pollinators in late summer … also good for birds! Judging by other locals ‘hills’ and nature reserves these plants would have been common on Mt Rogers. Perhaps sheep nibbled new shoots in the grazing days. Or perhaps the shepherds took them along with other shrubs which might have competed with the needed grasses.

            We’ve found that Acacia buxifolia, Box-leafed wattles, do well in re-planting situations. Several planted 4-5 years ago are now budding-up again for spring. Five planted not far from the Wickens Place car-park have also enjoyed the recent rainfall. We kept water up to them, weekly, during the summer.

WEEDING Our ten volunteers then went on to cut & dab woody weeds on either side of the gully that drains down to the 2008-9 “Frogmouths’ tree”. It’s been a while since these areas had their environmental, woody weeds removed so there was no shortage of targets for loppers. Chris and Margaret carried this technique over the ridgeline, working in the north to cut out more cotoneaster, privet, hawthorn and Chinese pistachio. Anne and Kirsty removed a large pine seedling with Anne going on to collect bags-full of privet berries. Peter and Sue came to work having already exercised their dogs. “The Wynn Trio” are adopting the idea of working on their own ‘patch’ closer to the Fraser side.

SERRATED TUSSOCK     Aisha, Claire and William have returned several times to the Serrated Tussock growing near what I call the Benchmark tree. Sally co-coordinated their efforts and the noxious weed’s tussocks have been taken off the ‘hill’ and taken away by Parks Conservation & Lands’ Jenny Conolly to be buried six-feet-deep. We’ll be scattering some New Holland Daisy seeds in the mattocked area before long.

ROSES Just before winter set-in I made an attempt to cut off berries from large Briar rose bushes. Remind me to put up signs next summer inviting folk to come and harvest the rose hips because they make excellent, vitamin C-rich jelly. Do you know of anyone who’d be interested in reviving the ancient art of jam-making! When I was working near one outcrop of boulders several striped skinks kept me company. Delightful little reptiles.

THE PATH As a result of Mt Rogers walkers alerting them to the problem TAMS* organised for the circling path to be re-surfaced so that it’s much more functional for us, especially those using wheels. Would it be interesting to have statistics to show how many pairs of feet had trodden the path? They’d helped the rain wear away looser material exposing rocks and stones. Footwear with chunky-grips is still advisable.

EROSION      The narrower tracks and literal footpaths that are uphill from the main path haven’t had the same attention so the challenges of variable and rough terrain remain for the cross-country walkers and those going to the summit. Where vegetation has been worn away these paths are also eroding. At various times an enterprising person has laid branches across the paths. At first this seemed to be to deter trail-bikers but they probably enjoyed the extra challenge of jumping their bikes over the impediments.

            More recently the twigs and debris crossing the paths from the trig-point were accompanied by a notice to “please avoid using the path” whilst erosion-control repairs were in place. Determined walkers have, instead, walked beside the path and widened the way to and from the summit.Will this, over time, increase the area that’s eroded? Would it be best to leave the narrow path bare and to accept that it’ll become a waterway during heavy rain? Should a request be made to TAMS to put retaining logs on the path as a form of stepped access? This was done on the way down to Jacob place, Flynn but that area needs maintenance now.

            The erosion process is also happening quite spectacularly in the gully that leads up from near the “newsletter seat”. It’s another track that’s been widened as agile walkers avoid the erosion-exposed rocks, stones, roots and debris. If you study the damaged areas you’ll see how water-borne debris and silt is trapped against tree roots and larger stones. The debris, in turn, traps seeds which may germinate and grow into plants which could stabilise the material. On a more gentle slope re-vegetation might happen naturally from these “leaky-weirs” and water would be deflected off to the side to benefit trees, shrubs and grasses rather than rushing off to the streets’ storm water drains.

AN INSPECTION On Friday last I was driven around the main path by John. I was asked to contact him about suitable places for planting. I think he’s the closest we’d be to having a Ranger as he said he often patrols the area and was a point of contact when Mt Roger queries go through from Canberra Connect. He’d recently handled several comments about the new path.

“BMX” John also deals with reports of “BMX” tracks built in areas he patrols. One of his solutions is to send in bobcats to destroy the youths’ work. Whilst this should cure erosion problems the builders cause I doubt whether this is the best answer when the BMX-ers have damaged quality vegetation and habitats. If only specific areas could be set-aside for the BMX-builders that would suit their needs but not damage the habitats we are trying to preserve, observe and enhance.

PLANTING  A Leader from the local Guides group has contacted us to ask if the Guides could have a planting session on Mt Rogers as part of Anniversary celebrations and National Tree Day. This will be feasible as long as the guides and their families are prepared to keep the water up to the young plants until they are well established. John suggested places where planting would be suitable and Kim came along to ensure we knew which species to plant. We will be obtaining the plants propagated from local seed by Greening Australia’s volunteers in Aranda.

            Sunday August 1^st is the planned PLANTING DAY. So come & join in and lend your expertise and friendship! Obviously winter isn’t really ideal but at least the soil is a damper than it’s been for some time and we can use weedy branches to partly shelter the new plants from frost or break them in gently.

BIRDS I did hear Double-barred finches the other day and I’ve seen a few honeyeaters but a rather quiet period for birds is probably due to less frequent visits and the fact that several species have moved away from the ACT for the cool months. Golden whistlers are about though so watch for the male’s glorious yellow breast feathers. There are Scarlet robins, Grey fantails and wrens to watch for also. No sign of the Frogmouths in their 2010 nesting tree. If you’re out and about elsewhere and remember their call, the COG email-line has had reports suggesting some Superb parrots are over-wintering. Three flew through Flynn about a month ago. Observers in Scullin and Cook have noticed between 21 – 30 recently. Where are they roosting and feeding?

FLOWERS    The warm end of autumn tricked quite a few spring flowers into blooming and the native Guinea flowers, native St Johns wort, everlasting daisies and Bluebells were no exception on Mt Rogers. Most of these have now capitulated to winter but there are many fungi bearing their spores in colourful toadstool-shaped or ‘bracket’ fruiting-bodies.

A SIGN?        At one stage during the drive-round with John he mentioned the large rocks that are used to make vehicle entrance more difficult. I wondered whether a large rock could be used in the carpark area as a Mt Rogers sign if the rock were sculpturable or engravable. Does anyone know a sculptor or stonemason we could ask? Obviously we’d have to clear the idea with the authorities but it might be a way of achieving a sign before the government has funds for a real replacement.

WORKING BEE      There will be another working-bee on Sunday 11^th July from 9.30am and from the Wickens Place car-park in Fraser. Please wear clothes suggested by the expected weather, sturdy footwear & hats. Some of the work will involve cutting off African Lovegrass heads & bagging them. Then we’ll grub out the tussocks. Winter’s not ideal for cutting & dabbing (using herbicides) as the plants’ sap needs to be flowing for the chemicals to work but there are always briar roses lurking amongst the better vegetation.

Rosemary Blemings Mt Rogers Landcare Group Co-ordinator

* TAMS Territory & Municipal Services