'Doing' at Barung - Barung Landcare

The Changing Balances
REVEG IN PROGRESS by Greg Smyrell
A number of years ago a friend told me a parable about a peasant
farmer in times gone by. I’ve forgotten most of this story but it
started something like this.
One day a beautiful wild stallion turned up at the farm and the old
farmer and his son quickly yarded the animal. Later that day the
farmer’s neighbour came over and looked at the horse and said to
the farmer, ‘What good luck you have gaining this magnificent
beast!’
‘Good luck, bad luck, who knows?’ replied the old farmer.
The next day the farmers son, a healthy young man, decided to
see if he could ride the new horse. The young man was thrown
awkwardly and broke his leg. Later that day the farmer’s neighbour
came over and said, ‘What bad luck, now you have to do the
harvest by yourself.’ The old farmer replied, ‘Bad luck, good luck,
who knows?’
A week later the king decided to wage war on one of his
neighbours. The king’s army went through the regions taking all
the fit and healthy young men to help fight his war. The farmer’s
neighbour had his two sons taken. Later that day he visited the
old farmer and saw his son still there with his broken leg and he
said to the farmer, ‘What good luck you have, not having your
son risk his life at war.’
‘Good luck, bad luck, who knows?’ said the old farmer.
The story goes on and on, twist after twist, good luck, bad luck,
bad luck, good luck – who knows?
After nearly thirty years of bush regeneration I’ve gained a strong
dislike for foes such as camphor laurels and privets, but recently
I’ve been told a story and made some observations that made me
recall that old ‘good luck, bad luck’ parable.
On a seed walk at Ted McCosker’s at Mapleton, Ted remarked
that he believes most of our native pigeons would have become
extinct if it wasn’t for the camphor laurels. My immediate thought
was, ‘What rubbish!’, thinking of the dozens of native laurels and
many other fruiting plants our native pigeons eat.
However I was on the wrong tack! Ted went on to tell about how
it was when he was younger. Getting to the butcher and affording
meat wasn’t like it is today. Many families would go down to the
scrub and shoot a dozen or so pigeons for dinner. The numbers of
birds were dropping and it was getting harder to get a feed, when
along came the camphor laurel trees and the pigeons started eating
their berries. The meat of the birds became strongly tainted and
wasn’t palatable anymore, so people stopped shooting them and
the birds were able to build up their numbers again.
Recently we’ve been working on a number of regeneration projects
in thick privet areas. Whereas the small-leaved privet Ligustrum
sinense hardly allows anything to regenerate under it, the largeleaved
privet Ligustrum lucidum will allow a certain amount of
indigenous plants to germinate underneath. Selectively poisoning
large-leaved privet over a number of years and opening up the
heavy canopy allows the naturally occurring species underneath
to take off and for some to find their place in the canopy. If this is
done too fast the weather can get in – too much sun or frost may
burn these tender, unhardened plants, so the privet works as a
pioneer or nursery species.
Very few of our naturally occurring plants have the ability that
privet has to reclaim pasture/open areas, particularly along our
major waterways which, through clearing, have become too cold
for many local species to establish themselves. So without this
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privet, would we be able to regenerate major areas as quickly and
cost effectively as we can where privet now occurs?
Lastly on this theme, on our most recent revegetation plantings
we have had major damage from hares chewing off our plants.
Most of these plants will recover but may be malformed and miss
the great growth opportunities of this summer, so they may require
an extra year or two of costly maintenance. So why the increase
in hares? Simple: less predators. Why less predators? Major wild
dog baitings. So good luck, bad luck – who knows.
On the subject of hares, I was told many years ago to use blood
and bone or urine because hares dislike the odour of these materials
and leave the plants alone. I’ve had reasonable success with these
methods, but was wondering if anyone else has methods for
protecting their small plants from hares or other pests.
Green Corps: Keeping
youth in the environment
A TRAINEE’S TALE by Jake Smith-Moloney
Well, we have reached the tail end of the year and everyone seems
to be going a bit silly from the heat and the looming chaos of
Christmas. Who would have thought that a time for relaxing and
catching up with family and friends results in crazy Christmas
shopping and spending hours in the kitchen preparing Christmas
lunch? What scares me the most is that while we are occupied
with festive activities, both garden and environmental weeds are
growing like crazy, making the job all that much bigger when we
all head back to work. I am drifting off topic here, oops.
Back to the topic: the current Green Corps team based out of the
Maleny Neighbourhood Centre. These environmentally minded
individuals have been spending most of their time removing
lantana out at the Genesis site. I have been spending one day a
fortnight assisting in on-ground revegetation and regeneration
works and helping with training and education. I have found this
work very rewarding because I get to spend time with and teach
people my age who are just as passionate about local
environmental issues as I am.
Green Corps is a great way of introducing younger members of
society to environmental industries, but the viable opportunities
available to participants after Green Corps are limited. The job
may be ethically rewarding and enjoyable, but if you can’t afford
to feed yourself or keep a roof over your head then you will
probably end up in serious financial trouble and mentally
distraught.
Without contracting work to supplement my income I found it
extremely difficult to cover the costs of living. Many Green Corps
team members gave up previous employment to get into this
project; they have an amazing amount of enthusiasm and are keen
workers and students. It would be a shame if there was no followon
employment for these eco-passionate, hard-working youth.
Hope you all have a safe and merry holiday period – but remember
weeds don’t go on holidays so keep on top of your reveg plot/
garden. As always I am contactable (most of the time) at Barung
during the week. Emails on this or other related topics can be sent
to Ze_Bacon@hotmail.com
Found at AGM Treeplant
Pair of garden gloves and a lady’s cloth hat