Mt Rogers Landcare: NOTICES on the 8 seats around Mt Rogers, December 2017

FLYNN DRAIN BEND: seat faces SOUTH
FRASER-SPENCE PLAYGROUND VIEW: seat faces NORTH-EAST
MOCK-TUDOR HOUSE SEAT: seat faces SOUTH-EAST
NOTICE-BOX SEAT: Faces West
AVERY-WOODGER SEAT: Faces WEST
BELCONNEN VIEW SEAT: Faces SOUTH
SNOW GUM SEAT. Faces SOUTH
ABOVE MAGRATH SEAT: Faces NORTH-EAST

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FLYNN DRAIN BEND: seat faces SOUTH

The 300-year old eucalypt where the Schwarz Pl. entry meets the main gravel path is famous for Tawny Frogmouths having nested in its fork for several springs. Sharing observations & photos of the family transformed the Mt Rogers community into observant naturalists.

The drain channels rainwater from the reserve down towards Ginninderra Creek through & under Flynn. There’s a damp patch in the grass that dogs love to investigate. Peewees use the mud in spring to make their nests.

The eucalypt species around the playground & others up behind the seat were planted to restore the grazed land in the 70’s. Original eucalypts might be 300–400 years old.

Some wattles were planted & others have regenerated. Wattles benefit other plants by restoring nitrogen to the soil. At all stages of their lives wattles, like shrubs, are essential habitat & sources of food for small birds.

The gully off to the left is often good for bird-watching.

The steep track behind the No Motorbikes notice shows how erosion occurs on people-made straight up-hill tracks. Gravity speeds up water which gouges out soil loosened by many feet. Mt Rogers’ soil is thin & often rocky. Deeper into the reserve areas of vegetation are freer of introduced grasses & weeds. Lilies, other wildflowers, mosses, lichens and fungi can be spectacular, in miniature, in good seasons.

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FRASER-SPENCE PLAYGROUND VIEW SEAT: Faces NORTH EAST

At a 5–6 way junction the Blue-metalled track leads up to utilities near the 704 m Mt Rogers summit & right to the reservoirs. 16 cul-de-sacs give access to the reserve from the 4 suburbs & 6 locked gates for the authorities’ vehicles. TAMS personnel are the area’s land managers (TAMS is now called TCCS, i.e. Transport Canberra and City Services).

Apart from the gravel track circling the edge of the vegetation there are numerous informal tracks going cross-country from the main track. Kangaroos make their own pathways as they graze or move through the woodland sections.

New kangaroos may be scared up to Mt Rogers via easements through Flynn and Fraser.

To the right & on the mown zone there’s an old eucalypt sprouting new vertical branches after it fell.

Behind to the left is an ancient eucalypt that has a maze of branches & hollows. It’s probably been a vital habitat tree for birds & arboreal mammals for more than 300 years.

It’s surrounded by the complexity and, some say, the untidiness of the bush. Wattles, when dead, still provide shelter from predators for small birds. Under their bark, as the whole tree decays, there’s a diversity of borers, larvae & bugs that provide food for insectivorous birds.

Some of the dead trees & fallen timber will become ash in the next Hazard Reduction Burn with the ash returning nutrients to the soil for other plants to utilise.

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MOCK-TUDOR HOUSE SEAT: Faces SOUTH-EAST

CAREY - HAMMETT SEAT: Faces SOUTH-EAST

The easement between Hammett and Carey Places is a busy entry to Mt Rogers from Spence. The Landcaring family now in the Tudor house have cut the Photinia hedge right back. It won’t produce as many berries now. Photinia is now a garden escapee & volunteers find its seedlings when removing weeds like privet, cotoneaster & ivy. The opposite garden shows how to trim back weed species whilst retaining the plants as a screen or hedge.

Closer to the main track are a few Melaleucas. These tall shrubs were planted in the 1970s to revegetate what sheep had grazed.

Behind the seat there are several steep tracks leading up to the 704m summit & its 360 degree views.

Most of the trees along this edge of the hill were also planted or are the offspring of planted eucalypts & wattles, including Cootamundra wattle.

The Mt Rogers Landcare Group checks through the reserve regularly and removes privet, cotoneaster, hawthorn, firethorn plants that grew from berries brought in by birds.

To the distant left, Crace is visible. Being a modern development there is little space for trees or shrubs.

How will the lack of greenery affect the residents?

Will there be varied surfaces for walkers to use?

Will the suburb be hotter & need more electricity to cool houses? Will there be populations of the birds we enjoy?

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NOTICE-BOX SEAT: Faces West

Views towards the distant Brindabella Ranges & north towards the Wallaroo area in NSW are especially colourful at sunset. Moving clouds indicate influential changes in the weather.

From the 1980s Dunlop was built into paddocks. It’s no longer possible to see where Ginninderra Creek turns west towards its confluence with the Murrumbidgee River.

From here we are able to appreciate the importance of green spaces for connectivity as birds move to and from the ranges in spring and autumn. Suburban trees play their part for migrating birds. Un-harvested fruit is important for some species in summer.

Boulders provide wattles with a refuge from the mowers.

Behind the seat there’s a huge Apple Box (Eucalyptus bridgesiana). It’s surrounded by the natural untidiness of the bush with grasses, wildflowers, shrubs and small trees all contributing to the nutrient-rich leaf-litter of Mt Rogers’ grassy woodland habitats. Beetles, termites, native cockroaches & moth larvae feed on the litter releasing nutrients, regardless of leaves having phenols, tannins, oils & toxic chemicals.

The track beside the gum tree shows the effect of rainwater eroding the thin soils and exposing rocks and roots.

Simple run-offs now divert water into the bush to restore the groundwater. Water rushing downhill reaches & erodes the main gravel path, affecting all walkers when rocks are exposed.

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AVERY-WOODGER SEAT: Faces WEST

The eucalypts here used to benefit from nitrogen from wattles growing near them. Many wattles & shrubs in the Fire Abatement Zone have been cleared to protect homes & infrastructure.

The bush to the right represents the species that comprise a healthy Grassy Woodland ecosystem in the ACT region. There’s a mix of ancient eucalypts & their younger offspring. There are wattles, Cassinias & other shrubs which provide insect prey, nectar, seeds and shelter for a range of birds through the seasons.

In spring there are species of wildflowers that bring blushes of colour to the ground & leaf-litter.

These natives are testimony to the extraordinary tenacity of some species & their seed dispersal methods. They’ve survived 4 decades of being surrounded by very different garden habitats. Huge changes in soil structure & fire regimes have altered soil chemistry & consistency.

Birds from the 80+ species on Mt Rogers’ bird species list, including Superb Parrots, Common Bronzewing Pigeons, Butcherbirds, Honeyeaters regularly visit this good quality, natural woodland remnant.

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BELCONNEN VIEW SEAT: Faces SOUTH

With Black Mountain and Bruce Ridge in the distance this might be a view to celebrate human achievement. The light towers for the AIS are clearly visible as is Belconnen.

As suburban trees have grown taller the line of Ginninderra Creek has become less obvious.

To the left the sprawl of suburbs over grazing land is seen.

The Natural Temperate Grasslands reserve to the north of the Lawson development has the creek as its western boundary. The Ginninderra Peppercress grows amongst the native grasses and wildflowers. It’s a small plant only found on the site of the ex-transmission station. The rare Golden Sun Moth is also found there. Both are species unique to Australia.

The Grasslands are protected but the land taken by the development means less grazing-space for mobs of kangaroos.

Native Grassland habitats are as special in the ACT as rainforests are in the tropics.

The eastern third of Mt Rogers was Hazard Reduction Burnt in August 2011. The area was patch burnt with care being taken not to damage the existing trees. Between the trees are quite extensive swathes of Weeping Grass (Microlaena stipoides). This native grass remains green during the summer as it prepares to flower. Mt Rogers’ small mob of kangaroos likes Microlaena.

Downhill from the main path the introduced grasses are mown to reduce fire risk to homes and power-lines. Earthworks 45 years ago were made to prevent water flowing downhill towards houses.

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SNOW GUM SEAT. Faces SOUTH

This corner is named for the planted Snow Gums (Eucalyptus pauciflora) clustered with Cassinia shrubs behind the seat. 6–7 Snow Gum clusters were planted in Mt Rogers’ 60 hectares, with other eucalypts & native species, as the suburbs were built.

Hidden by the gums & shrubs are several large boulders. There are native wildflowers and grasses here with rank introduced grasses from the grazing days usually hiding a narrow track up to more boulders by the Second Summit.

Mt Rogers’ boulders are of volcanic origin & were once buried deep underground. More can be seen by taking the track to the left & looking out from the 704 m summit.

In the distance, over Bainton Cres, are Mounts Majura & Ainslie. Black Mountain & Mt Painter are backdrops to treed Belconnen suburbs, Belconnen & Lake Ginninderra.

From the seat, the scale of the mowing maintenance task can be appreciated. Wide expanses of grass need mowing or slashing between the gravel path & residences to reduce likelihood of fire reaching houses & infrastructure. Over 50 reserves need this mowing protection in the ACT.

Shrubs are not welcome in these Fire Abatement Zones.

The bush one mower-width ‘above’ the gravel path is retained as wildlife habitat. Mt Rogers Landcare Group removes environmental weeds & invasive grasses from amongst the native vegetation.

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ABOVE MAGRATH SEAT: Faces NORTH-EAST

Beyond the Spence houses & into the distance is open grazing-land in NSW. The ridgelines beyond Hall might entice walkers to try the section of the Centennial Trail from Hall to One Tree Hill. The view here doesn’t show how new Gungahlin suburbs continue to encroach on the paddocks that surround some of the headwaters of Ginninderra Creek.

Rainwater draining off Mt Rogers has caused problems under the four suburbs’ gardens when it reaches them underground rather than flowing overland into the embanked drains as planned in the seventies.

The mown zone shows many that eucalypt saplings have grown from epicormic buds aiming to become trees.

Behind the seat the soils may be thin and dry. Only native grasses can survive. They grow in clumps with leaf-litter and bark from the trees surrounding them. There are at least 15 different species of native grasses on Mt Rogers. In the settlement days native grasses were despised as being useless for European-style agriculture. Pasture improvement species & the use of artificial fertilisers destroyed both the structure and biological diversity of hectares of natural vegetation. Weeping Grass is green through summer & is among those Australian grasses that are now considered to be valuable & drought resistant.

Towards the summit the dried-off introduced grasses & oats show their persistence through generations of seeds stored in the reserve’s soils.