Tranmere Clarence Plains Land and Coast Care | Community organisation

Tranmere Clarence Plains Land and Coast Care

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23.01.2022 Excursion to Tasmanian Bushland Garden at Buckland. On 6 June we took a break from regular working bees and 10 hardy souls ventured to Buckland to view the native plants there. Now waiting for rain so that we can start winter planting at the sites we have prepared in the last few months.

18.01.2022 Tranmere- Clarence Plains - one of 3 groups which gave presentations at 25 years of Landcare celebration in Clarence. Presentation is on our web site - tacplaci.org.au https://www.easternshoresun.com.au/25-years-of-landcare-hi/

18.01.2022 When we started working bees again after the Covid lockdown, we were joined by Tracey, a visiting Chinese citizen who happened to be living in Howrah when the lockdown began. In 4 short weeks she has become a valued member of our team. She is due to catch a flight next week and we look forward to one more working bee with her. We are happy she can return home, but will be sad to see her go.

17.01.2022 Yellow-winged black cockatoos - foretelling bad weather. While we were planting the first seedlings of the season last week, we were watched over by a yellow-winged black cockatoo who announced its presence with its unique squark. This reminded me of Donald Knowler's column last weekend about the cockatoos on Mt Wellington.... Here is an excerpt from the column about the theories of why they fly down from the mountains in bad weather. "Hobart myth says the sight of yellow-tailed black cockatoos in the city always foretells adverse weather on the mountain and, watching the cockatoos over the years, I have to agree they seem to find the high country an unsuitable environment in the snow. I pondered the theory as I walked the trail with members of my literary group, the Hobart Bushcare Walking Book Club one Sunday in May, and then expounded the view to my fellow walkers that it was not snow the cockies feared in winter, but the mists. These made flying amid the stark skeletons of trees that remain on the mountain from the 1967 bushfires hazardous for fragile avian wings." http://donaldknowler.com//black-cockie-song-of-the-mounta/

16.01.2022 List of fire resistant plants - for the urban fringe and rural areas - from Tasmanian Fire Service. During a bush fire, the type, amount and arrangement of vegetation is critically important for the survival of your house. The fuel for bush fires is the main danger factor that people can control. Hazard reduction activities such as clearing and fuel reduction burning, aim to lower the vegetation hazard to a safe level. ... Because some plants have a higher resistance to burning than others, we can use low flammability plants for added protection in addition to normal maintenance and hazard reduction activities. http://www.fire.tas.gov.au//170572_tfs_fire_resisting_plan

14.01.2022 Landcare Funding - misaligned and inaccessible. Despite an investment of $1.1B over 5 years, current funding for Landcare is at its lowest level since 2002. The Program is also misaligned with the needs and aspirations of Australia's community Landcare movement, and is largely inaccessible to them. ... To Landcare Tasmania, this is a wasted opportunity to generate much greater benefit from investment in community Landcare. Changes to the current NLP will be needed to realise its potential. Essential to the success of sustainable environmental programs are: 1. Increased base funding of Landcare Tasmania to support and empower community Landcare organisation (est. $200k / year for 5 years); 2. Employment of part-time community facilitators to work out of Community Landcare Hubs (existing buildings) to be managed by Landcare Tasmania and hosted in community Landcare organisations (est. $280k / year for 5 years); 3. A carbon credits program enabling landowners to access private funding for increases in carbon storage through restoration of native vegetation and changes to soil management ($TBA); 4. A well-funded, community Landcare-based feral cat trapping and control program to continue highly successful work funded by the Threatened Species Commissioner (est. $1m / year for 5 years); 5. Reinstatement of the best elements of past programs to deliver synergies around environment and sustainable land management, including funding for (est. $5 m / year for 5 years): 6. Biodiversity, particularly on private land, and secured under a Stewardship Program; 7. Corridors to restore ecological function of landscapes and to complement land management and production; 8. A community water monitoring, planning and implementation program covering governance, supply, quality, use and management of important freshwater areas; 9. Sustainable land management practices emphasising community Landcare to build resilience and maintain outcomes over time; and, 10. Reinstatement of the National Reserve Program, to address gaps on private land through voluntary participation by owners and managers and long-term access to resources for ongoing management. https://www.landcaretas.org.au/landcare_and_the_2019_federa

12.01.2022 Constructive landscaping; thwarted by firewood collectors? In a current project in Carella Gully, we aim to revegetate an embankment by: removing the weeds, placing wood chip mulch on top of the bank and planting ground cover plants to creep down the embankment. In readiness for this we placed some fallen branches to hold the mulch on top of the embankment. Before we could return to complete the project, some of the branches were removed. ... We have now replaced those branches and placed this self explanatory sign. See more

10.01.2022 Working bees during school holidays. We get extra assistance from willing volunteers. Today we said goodbye to Tracey. She is very hopeful of catching a flight home next week.

09.01.2022 Clarence Plains Rivulet Saltmarsh in bloom - from bank on south side. Look carefully in first photo to find white wading bird with neck out-stretched.

04.01.2022 Vandalism at Carella Gully Reserve. This morning we discovered that a blackwood which was planted by the group 10 years or more ago had been snapped off. There were also some tree guards snapped off and strewn around the area. This is an area which we have been caring for, for over 20 years. As can be seen from the photo, we are currently extending the area of mulch and planting native species.... It is most disappointing to see our work end up like this.

03.01.2022 Saving Derwent estuary salt marshes This group looks after the salt marsh at the mouth of the Clarence Plains Rivulet at Rokeby. The Derwent Estuary Program has recently posted the following about all salt marshes in the Derwent estuary on their website. ... Saltmarshes are one of the Derwent’s gems and these tide-dependent wetland communities are important ecological assets. They are critical for feeding and breeding fish and birds; act as filters to improve water quality; are buffers against storm surges and sea level rise; and attenuate global warming by sequestering (or storing) carbon. Here in the Derwent estuary we have lost about half of our saltmarshes, and what we have left rates poorly in terms of future retreat options, and patch size. The summer of 201819 saw the DEP, together with UTAS and local wetland expert volunteers, conduct 32 surveys across 19 saltmarsh sites between the Jordan River and South Arm. Plants, birds and human impacts were surveyed, old aerial photos were studied, as was modelling of where saltmarshes may move to (if land is available) as the sea levels rise. Weeds, litter and informal tracks were the main issues at most sites, with lack of signage and buffer plantings also being common. Survey recommendations include several local saltmarsh rehabilitation projects, including saltmarsh expansion, and work has begun on their implementation in cooperation with government and private land owners. A report with land management recommendations will be finalised for each of the 19 sites later in 2019 and will be available on the Derwent Estuary Program website. Photo: Lauderdale Racecourse Flat: Image, Derwent Estuary Program

01.01.2022 Plovers show an aggressive streak in Spring - Don Knowler While we were planting at the Clarence Plains Rivulet salt marsh this morning, we were confronted by plovers. This brought to mind the article on plovers by Don Knowler published a few weeks ago. "We have created the plover problem by designing our cities with parks and sports grounds, and traffic verges, which are to their liking. The plover or masked lapwing to give it its proper name was before European settleme...nt an uncommon species, inhabiting the fringes of forest and wetlands where grass was wet and short. It is a bird of wide open spaces, feeding, nesting and even sleeping amid tussocks of grass. The distinctive alarm call which Sarah played at the start of the interview is designed to not only frighten people from getting too close to eggs or chicks, but to also alert the chicks of danger, and warn them to keep low. As I discovered from calls from listeners during the interview, Tasmanians love their plovers. And it’s worth noting the birds are not dangerous, even if they are armed with a lethal-looking spike at the join of their wings. This gives them the alternative name of spur-winged plover. There was once a suggestion that the spike carried venom like the spurs on platypus rear feet but this is a furphy. The plovers are wary of actually making contact with their swooping and dive-bombing. It’s all threat and bluster and they are merely trying to drive people away. " See more