Bush-it newsletter

August 2011 Special points of interest:

Tarban Creek Estuary Vegetation Rehabilitation Management Plan project Interesting contracts and outcomes! reporting and website improvements Changes to the company and staff

Greetings from Bush-it!

Over the last financial year weve undertaken a wide variety of projects. There have been new staff come onboard, and former staff moving onward and upward to new positions in the industry. A big achievement for us was c omple ti ng the E stuary Vegetation Rehabilitation Action Plan for Tarban Creek and Riverglade Reserve (for Hunters Hill Council) which became a very comprehensive 120-page report, plus Appendices. Quadrat surveys were carried out for this and we were invaluably assisted by various industry folk including Mark Walters, (the late) Anders Boefeldt, Ian Perkins, Bev Debrincat, Sally Gaunt, and Rosanna Luca. We worked on this project as a team over twelve months.

Inside this issue:

Dixon Sands Soil Translocation project Working at the Zoo Farewell Anders Boefeldt Website & reporting progress Other site successes Training and workshops Staff arrivals and departures

Were very grateful to Jacqui Vollmer, Hunters Hill Council Bushland Officer, for allowing us this opportunity and for the assistance she gave us with the project. Bush-it staff who contributed to this Plan were Tim Baker, Neridah Davies, Tegan Northwood and Gemma Cannon.

Brush Farm contract, Eastwood

Bush-it were fortunate to be awarded the contract for remnant gallery rainforest restoration at Brush Farm in December 2010. This site features rainforest species not found anywhere else in Sydney, being a steep rainforest gully on shale soils with high rainfall. Hard- working, long- term volunteers are heavily invested in this site, which is a testament to their ongoing dedication and commitment. We are supporting their efforts in establishing and diversifying an understorey layer with maintenance and secondary weeding. Powerful owls and ring-tail possums are regularly seen here. Jumping Ants and Bullants also love this site so that always makes the day a bit more interesting for the team...

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Bush-it newsletter

Soil Translocation at Dixon Sands, Maroota

This was Bush-its first soil translocation project, near Wisemans Ferry (north of Sydney). Both the donor and recipient sites were part of a mining site belonging to the mining company Dixon Sand. The recipient site was first prepared with crushed sandstone to control weeds. The donor site vegetation was cut down and brush-cut to remove vegetation. The topsoil was then scraped and loaded from the donor site and spread out onto the recipient site. The rhizomes in the top soil were righted. Brushmatting and supplementary planting of canopy species then took place, plus installation of fencing to prevent grazing of new growth by wallabies. The plantings were all provenance species grown from seed collected by Bush-it the previous year. Regeneration has successfully occurred from the top soil, rhizomes and the brushmatting. Many lessons were learned along the way on this project, which involved working with mining employees who helped with the loading and spreading of topsoil and sandstone. The necessity of using a skilled heavy machinery operator who could work to precise depths (without diluting topsoil with subsoil) became evident on this project, as did clear agreed upon start dates for works between the companies. Control of common couch, both before and after the works were complete, was undertaken. This site includes another offset area managed by Bushit. Three other Dixon Sand mine rehabilitation areas are also managed by Bush-it.

Taronga Zoo!
Bush-it began work at Taronga Zoo earlier this month, doing landscaping, revegetation and weeding work along a number of p ath way s, sur ro undin g bushland areas and animal enclosures. The team has just finished working on a path and boardwalk in the area adjacent to the Barbary sheep, leading up to the chimpanzee enclosure. The planting of high-altitude conifers has been consistently monitored leopards. by the snow

Native grasses such as Kangaroo grass and barbedwire grass are also being planted above this in a savannah area. Surrounding bushland will also be worked outside of the animal areas. Led by Terry Hile, only our hardiest staff are working on this project, but an upside of their work is being able to visit the elephants during lunch breaks.

Anders Boefeldt: 11th December 196530th June 2011

Many of you will know that Anders passed away on 30th June in hospital following an infection. His funeral, held in Wollongong, was attended by hundreds. Obviously this is an emormous loss to his partner Natalie and family. We were fortunate to have Anders assistance recently on our native and exotic vegetation surveys for the EVRAP for Hunters Hill Council. This may have been the last project he was involved in. Although Anders specialized in rainforest restoration, his understanding of ecology and plant physiology in sandstone c omm uni ti es w a s a l so outstanding. His passing is a great loss to the Natural Area Restoration industry and will be missed not only by our staff who worked with him but friends, family, and industry colleagues. One insight this event has brought to light is how much undocumented knowledge and understanding attained by one person has been now been irretrievably lost. This seems to underscore the need for a better way to knowledge-share within the industrygiven the shift toward storing knowledge in the cloud, could an official online respository or wiki be developed to collect and share individuals professional experience, knowledge and observations? Just a thought.

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Website and Reporting Improvements

This year, Bush-it has continued to expand and develop our online reporting system. This allows us to speed up and streamline data collection, making our reporting system more transparent, so you can see exactly where and how your money is being spent, in our reports or online. We have automated our data outputs for various aspects of work across sites, such as herbicide use, plantings, weeds controlled, work activity, etc. This means more accurate and c om pre hen siv e Ann u al Reports that are easier to create. We are now also able to show multiple Purchase Orders on our website and monthly reports for a truer overall picture of the status of sites / contracts. We have just implemented the further stage of incorporating Zone areas into Work Activity and Planting records. Client logins allow the client to see our site reports as they are added, giving an on-the-fly picture of where a contract is at. In the coming year we hope to implement more functions with mapping outputs to further streamline the reporting process. The public area of our website is also undergoing gradual changes. We hope to streamline the look and feel of the front page and content over the next six months. Special thanks to our administrator (and resident sculptor) Dave McGuiness for steering the ship with this. work in Tims absence. work on terracing and planting out this site. Another different contract for us this year was landscaping work at the frontage of residential units for Lend Lease in Pyrmont. We p lan te d in to c ru she d sandstone, having first craned in our plants access was difficult due to OH&S restrictions of building contractors on the site, so thi s w as obv iou sly a challenging contract to organize. Joe Kielniacz and Neridah Davies managed this Dibble Avenue Waterhole in Marrickville is another site moving forward in leaps and boundsmuch weed removal, rubbish removal and planting work has been done here, in conjunction with Marrickville Councils pipe reconstruction and proposed construction of floating reed beds in the wetland. This site has been transformed in a short space of time from being a weedy overgrown neglected pool frequented by drug users, to a waterhole with flowering shrubs and groundcovers frequented by water birds...success!
top: Lend Lease site at Pyrmont above: Dibble Avenue waterhole

Other site successes

One of our success stories during the last year has been our work at Brightmore Reserve in Cremorne. We turned a hazardous denuded clifftop into a prairie clifftop of bladey grass, against all odds! We terraced on extremely steep slopes and planted groundcovers (as well as maintaining the surrounding core bushland by removing much trad and Ehrharta, privet and ochna). Andrew Scott, Paul Kucera, Joe Kielniacz, Terry Hile, and Mritunjay Singh are to be congratulated for their hard and robust

Recent training, workshops and events

Recently Tim, Mritunjay and Neridah attended the Weed Society of NSWs seminar on Environmental Weeds Current Policies and Practices. One of the most insightful presentations given was by T o n y C o o k , Technical Specialist Weeds with the NSW Department of Primary Industries. Tony has undertaken comprehensive research into the effectiveness of various herbicide applications in controlling Madeira vine tubers and vegetative material. His research discovered Picloram/ triclopyr +/- aminopyralid formulation were highly effective on controlling Madeira vine. Grazon Extra was found to be the most effective registered herbicide, followed by Starane, however Grazon was found to translocate more effectively. Jeff and Vilashin will shortly be doing the Aboriginal Heritage Site Awareness course through Willoughby Council. Jeff finished his degree in Environmental Science last year. Mritunjay also completed his Masters of Applied Science in Wildlife Health & Population Management earlier this year and has just started the Certificate III NAR course at Ryde TAFE. Congratulations Jeff and Mritunjay. Tegan attended a Soil Fundamentals Workshop in Bungendore on Biologyfriendly Farming with Nicole Masters and Dr Christine Jones, and also an Urban Wildlife workshop on Ku-ring
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plantings on previously bare slope at Brightmore Reserve

Bush regeneration - landscape rehabilitation - environmental assessments - bushland surveys

Bush-it is six years old this year. We work in bushland management and indigenous landscape rehabilitation within the Sydney basin. Founded and managed by Tim Baker, our aim is to provide quality rehabilitation and regeneration work, with the skills, knowledge and flexibility to employ a range of techniques to suit a wide range of sites. We pride ourselves on having an inclusive company culture and a proactive, supportive attitude to staff training and development, and realisation of employee goals.
16 Susan Street Annandale NSW 2038 info@bush-it.com.au

We are also committed to reducing our carbon emissions by providing transport for teams to our sites in vehicles. Thanks for working with us!
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www.bush-it.com.au

-gais WildThings program in June with Neridah. Tegan, Neridah and Tony attended the AABR-organized Van Klaphke Eucalypt identification workshop a month ago, with Tony and Neridah attending Vans grasses and sedges workshop also. The entire team have been working with a business coaching organisation over June and July to refine and clarify Bush-its direction, systems, projects and work methods.
Some of us at Duck River, ParramattaL-R Vilashin, Terry, Pete, Jeff, Mritunjay

Managing Director, Project Management:: Tim Baker: 0414 908 396 Administration and website: Dave McGuiness: 0433 462 364 admin@bush-it.com.au Tenders and quotes: Terry Hile 0451 669 557 sales@bush-it.com.au Project Assistance: Tegan Northwood 0410 769 144 projects@bush-it.com.au Logistics Manager: PeteTimmins 0449 253 396

Bush-it Team arrivals and departures

In the last financial year weve gained a number of new staff members, Vilashin Webber (acting as full-time Supervisor), and Tegan Northwood (Bush Regenerator, Project Assistant). Vilashin worked as Bush Regenerator and Supervisor with Bankstown Council for many years, and has great ID skills and wide plant knowledge across various communities. He also runs and plays guitar, and is obsessed with the Beatles. Tegan Northwood has previously worked in the music industry and as a singersongwriter releasing her own music. Shes had experience as a bush regenerator working with the National Trust and casually for contractors along the south coast and Illawarra, as well as a volunteer. (She hates the Beatles.) Andrew Scott left us late last year to move to North Sydney Council, followed earlier this year by Joe Kielniacz. Gemma Cannon moved to Queensland early in the year to begin a degree in Environmental Science at James Cook University. Tom Kennedy also left us early this year to finish his Science degree majoring in botany. We miss them all, and value their contributions, but wish them well in their new lives and roles. This year we also gained two casual part-time trainees, Tom Downes and Monica Fahey. Monica is in her second year of an Environmental Science degree at Sydney University. This makes us now a team of sixteen: Tim Baker Dave McGuiness Neridah Davies Terry Hile Jeff Culleton Pete Timmins Mark Gardiner Vilashin Webber Tegan Northwood Paul Kucera Mritunjay Singh Tony Dagg Dave Denny Morenti Paulson Mokenti Tom Downes Monica Fahey
This newsletter authored by Tim Baker and Tegan Northwood

Dave McGuiness working on his fossil sculpture for forthcoming n a t io n a l e x h ib it io n a n d competition in Brisbane in the Bush-it shed...good luck Dave!