As another misty start to our daylight creates jewelled cobwebs on the bushes and dew-dropped branches here’s a June gathering of news for Mt Rogers.
The other day I came across an article showing that 2 hours of connection with nature each week keeps people healthier….which confirms that Mt Rogers folk are ahead of health “discoveries” by two+ decades!!
There’s a new and appealing exhibition at Belconnen Arts Centre: Barka the Forgotten River. Badger Bates' and Justine Muller’s evocative images speak for the plight of the Darling River and the diverse communities that depend on its health and water cycles. The exhibition is on until 21st July. (10am Tuesdays to and including Sundays).
I had a look at the new wetlands structure created below Lake Ginninderra’s dam wall recently. It’s at Evatt, accessible by parking at Croke Place off William Webb Drive and by walking past on the footpath to and from Belconnen beside Ginninderra Creek.
Also nearby are the Native Grassland plots that are part of Ken Hodgkinson’s decades-long grassland restoration experimental projects. These studies show effective ways to restore the natural grasslands on which Canberra was built.
There’s another new wetlands project off Copland Drive with links to stormwater management works at Florey…and ALL AFFECT THE WATER GOING INTO GINNINDERRA CREEK and thus the Murrumbidgee and Murray-Darling Basin system.
These welcome works are part of a Federally funded initiative for urban waterways: The Healthy Waterways project has a public education H20K (H two O) component that tries to prevent pollutants from entering waterways from households. And that includes excess garden fertilisers that encourage blue-green algae under increasingly regular conditions. If anyone wants to help volunteer to stencil drains as part of this awareness campaigns please contact Waterwatch and GInninderra Catchment Group on 6278 3309.
Ann and I helped introduce CIT horticultural students to grassland management by showing them how to identify and manage African Lovegrass near the inspiring creekside Landcare site cared for by North Belconnen Landcare Group.
Lenore initiated Landcare for Littlies there at Evatt with landcarers from babes-in-arms to ninety year olds. Check out their Facebook site for regular creek-side activities.
The next Mt Rogers working bees are scheduled for:
- Sunday 23rd June starting from 09.30 and meeting at the Wickens Place carpark. We’ll take out a few saplings so the mowers can cut a deeper swathe of African Lovegrass beside the Wickens Place entry road.
- Monday 1st July starting from 09.30 and meeting near the Notice Box north of Rechner Place, Flynn. We’ll continue the work on seedlings and saplings that have germinated after the Hazard Reduction Burn of April 2018.
