Lord Mayor’s Community Sustainability & Environmental Grants Projects
These two projects were made possible by the excellent cooperation and guidance of Habitat Brisbane. The objective of one is to protect a 200 square metre section of lower Moggill Creek from erosion and the second project aims to remove invasive weeds from the rehabilitated corridor along Upper Gold Creek Road.
Both projects were funded through the Brisbane City Council Community Grants Program in the second half of 2014 and both were ably led by two of our Section Leaders, Judy Petroeschevsky and Gordon Grigg.
Lower Moggill Project (Judy Petroeschevsky)
This project focused on the preparation of a 200 square metre section of erodible creek bank and then rehabilitating the area with appropriate native grasses, shrubs and trees. This was intended to lessen the strength of flood waters that flow through this area, thus reducing the risk of considerable damage to creek banks and vegetation.
The area was prepared by brushcutting and spraying and subsequently covered with weed matting or a thick layer of mulch plus a web style matting to see which type of matting preparation was best suited to this area.
The area has since had a strong flow of water over it following recent heavy rains. The weed matting tended to be lifted by the water but was put back into place by our workers. The mulched area with webbed matting survived the flood flow without too much movement of the mulch and matting. Most of the plants survived and were aided by the stakes placed behind them, which served to give them some protection of flood debris. We have also observed that the weed matting is very much more effective in limiting weed growth than the mulch and web matting.
When completed, this area will serve to enhance the local park called Fortrose Green and serve to raise awareness of our group’s activities in the catchment.
Upper Gold Creek Bushcare Project (Gordon Grigg)
The grant was used to employ contractors to undertake weed control along a 3 kilometre stretch of Gold Creek Rd, Brookfield. This has been the focus of our Habitat Brisbane/MCCG group since 1997 with the result that the vegetation on this section of the road, through bushland and rural properties, is in strikingly better condition than along many other roads in the Moggill Creek catchment.
Since 2013, however, with our group’s and MCCG’s focus shifting more towards control of Cat’s Claw, the group has diverted much of its attention in that direction, working on private properties in particular because that is where the major infestations are, from which seeds infest both public and other private land. This meant that, with limited manpower, the road section was getting less attention, and an infestation of Palm Grass, probably introduced as a result of a roadside mowing program, was causing us considerable concern. This and the rest of the section became the focus of work supported by the grant and undertaken on the group’s behalf by contractors.
The benefits to the community are that the upper stretch of Gold Creek Road is less under threat from introduced weeds, particularly the quick spreading and difficult to control Palm Grass. An additional benefit is that our MCCG group was able to devote a lot more time to controlling Cat’s Claw, as part of the ongoing MCCG blitz on this nasty smothering weed.
