Activities

Friends of Sturt Gorge

kooka.jpg (30793 bytes)

Activities...

Friends of Sturt Gorge are involved in:

Regular Working Bees and Meetings
Removing and suppressing weeds
Seed Collection and propagation
Planting of indigenous species
Recovery Programs for rare local plants

Meetings:

Meetings will now be held monthly on the third Tuesday of every month at 7:30. Meetings will be alternated between business meetings and guest speaker meetings.

Business Meetings are held by committee members and other interested members for discussion of group business.

Guest Speaker Meetings are of a more casual nature to allow members more time to discuss topics of interest.

Meetings are located at the Activity Room in the Bellevue Heights Primary School.

Please note that these times and dates may change occasionally. Our Calendar of Events is now included in our regular newsletters available on the News page.

Working Bees:

Times and locations, are available in our Newsletter.

Please confirm dates and times with a member of Friends of Sturt Gorge on our contact page.

Can't make it to these working bees? There's no need to miss out! Members often hold informal working bees at other times, so please contact Lorraine on 8278 6623 for more details

Interested in walking trails? Bob Grant leads intermittent working bees to maintain walking trails within the Park. Please contact him on 8278 6724 for more details.

Click here for details of Working Bee sites

Guidelines for Working Bees:

Do not work alone

Always take water and sun protection

Wear sturdy footwear

Carry a First Aid kit for the group

Take care in steep areas

Do not work on cliff faces

Smoking is not permitted in the park

Total Fire Ban days - working bee is cancelled

If you are working in the Park outside of a formal working bee, let someone know where you will be working

NOTE: If you leave early from a working bee, PLEASE let the working bee coordinator know, or else we may send out a search party for you. It was agreed that we will have a break at a set time that people must attend, as members often spread out while working. We will try using whistles

Top of Page

Work Sites:

Work sites have been re-aligned to reflect priorities of the Vegetation Management Plan and now refer to the Management Units in the plan as the primary reference.

MU1 Bonneyview Rd
MU8 Lovely Valley Drive
MU9 Broadmeadow Drive
MU9 Site 2/3 gate 10 opp 106 Broadmeadow Drive
MU9 Opposite Gorge Street
MU:10 Gorge Rd
MU13 Magpie Ck / Sturt River
MU17 opp 21 Bushland Drive
MU21 Gate 9 End of Broadmeadow Drive
MU28 Gate 6 Yorke Drive

MU1 Bonneyview Rd:

opposite 22 Bonneyview Rd, Flagstaff Hill

Top of Page

MU8 Lovely Valley Drive:

Opp 12 Lovely Valley Drive Flagstaff Hill

Top of Page

MU9 Broadmeadow Drive:

Location of site on Map

Pictures and description of site

The Friends of Sturt gorge have been removing weeds in a direct line west from the car park with the intent of joining up to a cleared area on the other side of the gully. The area near the car park is very clean but further westerly, down the gully the area becomes increasingly populated by very large olives.

The weed removal was boosted by a UFBP grant which allowed us to organise contractors for removal of the large olives.

Removing seedlings from around a poisoned Olive:

Cutting down mature Boneseed:

Cutting down large multi-stemmed Olive. This Olive was isolated in an area where disturbance to surroundings was not a problem which meant it could be chopped down and the roots grubbed up.

January 2004:

January 8^th saw a group of 11 tackling site 3 of management unit 9 off of Parrinna Track on Broadmeadow Drive. Olive and boneseed were the main pest plants and also plenty of Pentaschistis (a pesty grass!) was discovered and removed.

Saturday January 17^th saw the Southside group joining the Northside working bee again in Broadmeadow Drive. This time it was priority site 1 which was tackled – again plenty of olive and boneseed and also quite a few thorn bushes were dealt with. Scabiosa was abundant and grubbed out by enthusiastic members.

September 2004: Newsletter article by Pat Glazier

SA great amount of work has been achieved in the Broadmeadow Drive area. Thanks to last year’s successful grant from the Onkaparinga Council we were able to employ Better Bushcare to remove substantial outcrops of olives leaving the group to do follow up removal of seedlings which were growing up underneath the main canopy.

The good news is we have again been successful in 2004 round of grants from Onkaparinga and hopefully will be able to employ Better Bushcare later in the year to continue the ongoing olive removal.

Good progress has also been made on the removal of boneseed – what was once a forest has now been substantially removed and the improved visual impact is quite evident – you can begin to get the impression of what the Gorge originally looked like.

We have had good turnouts for working bees, even on some of the most inhospitable days, the camaraderie of the group is great to see and I think everyone enjoys getting out in the open air and swinging those axes! Keep up the good work everyone.

Top of Page

MU10 Gorge Rd

Meet at opp34 Gorge Rd, Bellevue Heights

Gorge Rd Ridge track
Gorge Rd Creek track

MU10a Gorge Rd Ridge track

Location of site on Map
Pictures and description of site
The top north end of the ridge has a variety local native vegetation self seeding including Acacia paradoxa, Lomandra, Hardenbergia violacea, Acaena ovina, Astraloma humifusum, Eutaxia, Hibertia stricta, Oxalis corniculata, Ceilanthes tenuifolia and Stackhousia monogyna. The friends removed all remaining Olive seedlings from this area.
Removing olives around mature E. microcarpii. These seedlings grew from seeds dropped by birds roosting in the tree.

Removing Boneseed (handpulling):

Top of Page

MU10b Gorge Rd Creek track

Location of site on Map
Pictures and description of site
This area has large quantities of Allocasuarina verticullata and Eucalyptus microcarpa seedlings at various stages of growth, evidence that the E. microcarpa (Gray Box) / A. verticillata (drooping she-oak) Low Woodland association is re-generating.

Recently there were several Allocasaurina verticullata which showed signs of intensive bark stripping of trunk and branches which we suspect is due to black cockatoos.

Removing olive from a stand of Kangaroo Grass Themeda australis - before and after shot.

Removed this stand of Piptatherium (Millet Grass)

Top of Page

MU13 Magpie Ck / Sturt River:

Meet at E&WS station on Gorge Rd, Bellevue Heights
Location of site on Map
Pictures and description of site
Work at this site consisted weed removal and plantings.
Dead ash trees poisoned by Friends surrounding young Redgum:

Top of Page

MU21 Gate 9 End of Broadmeadow Drive

Top of Page

MU28 Gate 6 Yorke Drive

Location of site on Map
Pictures and description of site
York Drive is Eucalyptus microcarpa woodland and was identified as one of the spots with the highest plant diversity by the Vegetation Mnagament Plan and is one of the highest priorities.

The site shows some evidence of phytophthora due to dieback of several Xanthorrhoea. Presence has not been confirmed in this area but It may be present but not show up positive when tested for. Wetter times of the year are more likely times for transmittal of the fungus. Better Bushland are taking all precautions with sterilisation each visit and the Friends will also be taking precautions at working bees.
The Friends team had received a grant of $4410 by the Natural Heritage Trust in 2003 to restore this site. Contractors (Better Bushland) removed weeds and the Friends commenced follow up activities. A large patch of boneseed was completely removed with only follow up work and some Bridal Creeper removal remaining.
This work has now ceased due to prescribed burns in the area.

September 2004:
Newsletter article by Amy Blaylock

Following the prescribed burns for asset protection carried out off York Drive (Management Unit 28) and the eastern end of Broadmeadow Driver (Management Unit 22) in May, the blackened landscape may be quite confronting to visitors in these sections of the Park.

The Friends have spent a considerable amount of time and grant money tackling weeds such as bridal creeper, olives and boneseed in these areas, particularly off York Drive . We do not want these efforts to protect the biodiversity of the Park to go to waste with the post-fire germination of weed species. We are waiting to hear from NPW SA about the follow-up work that they will provide in these areas and feel it is vital to know of future plans for prescribed burns so that we can direct our resources to those areas that will benefit most.

Top of Page