Education, Conservation and Participation

Introducing Ered Fox 2

Chairman’s Report

Management Committee / Staff

3

Members’ Bits and Pieces

Staff Profile

4

Waterwatch 5

Advertisements 6

From Ship to Shore 7

Noosa Landcare’s

Services 8

Inside this issue:

Conservation

&

Sustainability

Noosa & District

Landcare Group

Summer Issue March 2015 Autumn Issue

Eucalyptus robusta

PO Box 278

Pomona Qld 4568

Station Street

Pomona Qld 4568

Phone: 07 5485 2468

Fax: 07 5485 0413

E: admin@noosalandcare.org

W: www.noosalandcare.org

Newsletter compiled and edited by Margie Cosgrave

AFTER enjoying the privilege of living in

the Noosa hinterland for much of my adult

life and observing changes in land use,

vegetation cover and presence of fauna in

the landscape over the last 35 or so years,

it has gradually dawned on me that Nature

works to a different time scale to humans

and is remarkably resilient.

Human influence on the Australian

environment of say 50,000 years seems a

long time, especially to those of us who

only arrived in the last waves that started

rolling in two hundred and something

years ago. Yet change ancient land

management practices such as burning and

what happens? Species that have been

suppressed for ages soon reappear. In

time, the boundaries between ecosystems

change and the species mix within those

ecosystems changes. What seems in our

short term view to be a piece of bush in a

stable situation, if left alone by humans will

continue to respond to subtle and

complex influences.

These influences on biodiversity come

from a variety of origins such as

regenerative sources within the site itself

(seeds, plant suckering, spores, fauna),

regenerative sources that come in from

outside, weather events (rainfall, flooding,

fire, landslips, strong wind), exotic species

and now climate change. Until recently

temperature rise, changes to rainfall

patterns, frequency and severity of

extreme weather events and other

manifestations of climate change were

hardly a consideration. How to work with

these influences and come to terms with

new challenges to maintain and restore

biodiversity?

A generation ago in this area we were

faced with the prospect of changing rural

land use patterns as old settler lifestyles,

where a living could be made off the land

by timber getting, farming and grazing,

became unviable. Right from the initial

clearing of forested land, around 1,900

weeds and native pioneer species began to

appear in the landscape and soil washed off

the steep, bare slopes. Much of the

cleared land was maintained in that state

by hard working farmers who continually

battled plants such as groundsel bush,

lantana and wild tobacco in an effort to

reclaim the soil. Fertility declined rapidly.

Eventually most farmers could not keep up

the effort as returns diminished.

Since then the changes in rural land use

have included an increase in grazing of beef

cattle as opposed to dairying, semi-rural

small lot acreages, allowing natural

regeneration, private forestry, active

revegetation with native species and new

primary production activities. A picture of

the vegetation of rural Noosa today shows

a vast increase in tree cover compared to

say 50 years ago. We would generally

agree that this is a good thing and that the

landscape is today better managed.

Biodiversity is recovering in places. Less

soil erosion means farming and forestry

are more likely to be able to continue in

the long term. But it is a work in progress

and will not become a stable ecosystem in

any of our lifetimes.

Towards a sustainable landscape

in our own backyard:

the wonder of natural regeneration

and meeting human needs

by Geoff Black

Continued on page 2 ...

Noosa & District Landcare Group Page 2

Still, I am encouraged that change is moving in the right

direction. I enjoy seeing signs of that trend. When a

wattle tree falls down at the end of its 30 year lifespan I

am not disappointed, but am happy to see the several

other species that have germinated at its base. Or else

it has been brought down by the weight of a vigorous

native vine that has helped to smother the lantana also

climbing up it. Without any further human intervention

some sort of ‘natural’ balance would result. It would

include a proportion of exotic species and no one can

be sure what the eventual outcome would be. Would

no control of foxes and feral cats mean that the fauna

balance would be fewer bush birds and small reptiles

and many half-starved cats and foxes? Or would

dingoes and spotted tailed quolls become the apex

predators? Would the former rainforests of Kin Kin

become forests of cat’s claw creeper, camphor laurel,

lantana and corky passion vine? Or would it become

bio-diverse rainforest again, but with naturalised

introduced species?

I’m a product of our society, too impatient and

outcomes-driven to wait for the result of that

experiment, which may not become evident for some

300 years. A level of intervention and action to

encourage the best outcome is needed and in fact is

our responsibility. We need to manage our population

density, choose the most suitable pieces of land to

undertake sustainable rural activities, identify, protect

and assist recovery of natural systems on land that is

most valuable or environmentally sensitive and become

comfortable in living close to nature. All this requires

careful planning and dedicated action.

My assumption was and still is, even in the era of

climate change, that our best course of action is to

minimise our impact by only taking what we need to be

able to live in this beautiful place, do it with sensitivity

and thankfulness and try to allow and assist Nature to

heal and repair the best way she knows how. That’s

why I’m a member of Noosa Landcare. ■

NOOSA & District Landcare (NDLG) has engaged Ered Fox as our

new Nurseries Manager. When you are as old as I am, things have a

way of going full circle. Ered was a Trainee at NDLG in 2002. He

was part of an illustrious group that included current Noosa

Council employees Leah Tearle and Michael Lyons, and Joel

Bolzenius who is now with SEQ Catchments. This was a really

great group of young people and it is fulfilling to see them in

meaningful employment. They all worked at our Riparian Nursery

during their traineeships at NDLG. So it was interesting to

introduce Ered to the trusty band of volunteers working at this

nursery last Tuesday.

Ered went on to work for the then Department of Primary

Industries doing Wollemi pine work. He then worked with current

NDLG Management Committee member Geoff Black at Noosa

Council’s environment section. He then did some work for our

conservation services crew. Ered has always had a fascination with

local native plants, is an accomplished guitar player and, with his

wife and daughter, has just bought a block of land at Pinbarren. I

would like to re-welcome Ered to the Landcare family.

Towards a sustainable landscape in our own backyard

Introducing (re-introducing) Ered Fox - Phil Moran

… continued from page 1

Geoff is the current Secretary of the Noosa Landcare Management Committee.

March 2015 Page 3

I WOULD like to take the opportunity to thank all of

the staff, volunteers and members that contributed so

openly and positively at the recent workshop organised

by the management team, providing valuable input to our

strategy development process.

In setting our strategy for the future it is important for

us as the Management Committee to ensure the

founding aims of the organisation are expressed through

programs and services that meet the evolving needs of

the membership and are adapted to respond to the

evolving social, political and economic environment

within which we operate.

The workshop was a lively and interactive affair where

the participants constructively discussed and

documented the internal strengths and weaknesses of

the organisation; the emerging external opportunities for

us to consolidate, and hopefully increase, the scope and

reach of our services offerings; and the threats we might

face in achieving our objectives and goals in the coming

years.

The main purpose of the workshop and subsequent

analysis is to provide input to the Management

Committee in charting a clear strategy for the future and

serve as a roadmap to guide the management team and

staff in carrying out the aims and objectives of the

organisation.

The challenge now for myself and the Management

Committee is to take this welcome input and distil it

into a coherent strategy and plan for the future.

I will keep you posted on the progress of our efforts …

John Cronin

Management Committee

Dr John Cronin Chair

Dick Barnes Treasurer

Geoff Black Secretary

Paul Steels Committee

Kim Barnes Committee

Luke Barrowcliffe Committee

Phil Moran Committee (Operational)

Staff

Management Team:

Phil Moran General Manager

Rachel Lyons Business Development Manager

Paul Sprecher Contracts Manager

Aaron Brunton Contracts Manager

Kim Maddison Administration Manager

Projects Team:

Anita Russell Waterwatch Co-ordinator & Program Support Officer

Rae O’Flynn Project Support Officer

Wendy May Project Support Officer

Administration Team:

Trish Bignall Administration Officer

Margie Cosgrave Administration Assistant

Nursery Team:

Ered Fox Nurseries Manager

Lyn Harm Greenhouse (Retail Nursery)

Melvina Osborne Futures Centre Nursery

Catrina Samson Futures Centre Nursery

Field Operations Team:

Darrin Barden NRM Crew Supervisor

Charlie Sparks NRM Crew Supervisor

Geoff Haack NRM Crew Supervisor

Ann Biasol NRM Crew

Jason Davies NRM Crew

Tom Delfatti NRM Crew

Rohan Fisher NRM Crew

Peter Hewston NRM Crew

Darrel Hinson NRM Crew

Benjamin Hoekstra NRM Crew

Dean Juzeliunas NRM Crew

Heather North NRM Crew

Shawn Palise NRM Crew

Lucas Reid NRM Crew

Kyle Sanderson NRM Crew

Neil Scherer NRM Crew

Nikkita Schonknecht NRM Crew

Jonathan Smith NRM Crew

JesseTelford NRM Crew

From the Chairman

Page 4 March 2015

Members’ Bits and Pieces

Robin Yates for delivering Hoop

Pine seed

Pete Dorney for delivering a bag

of seed

Matthew Green for delivering

Bunya Pine seed

Joan Heavey for providing more

seed

Brian Cosgrave for building an

A-Board for our retail nursery

Natives R Us Wholesale

Nursery for lots of nursery pots

Anonymous donation of

Davidson’s Plums - the seeds will be

propagated in our nursery

Welcome to new members

Staff profile – Anita Russell

Thank you for your donations

Members’ Bits and Pieces

Spud Garbacz

Liz Edols

Ian Webster & Dianne Lanskey

Anne Biasol

Heather North

Philip Robinson

Linda Curson

Catrina Samson

Jamie Bell

Rohan Fisher

Rae Boulter

Melinda Lumb

Lyn Robinson

Ron & Jillian Kelly

Ered Fox

Marion Brown

Bruce Thompson

Carly Garner

Heather Bell

Peter Davidson

Linda Mahoney

Trish Bignall

Trish Fox

Bruce & Jeanette Glasby

Lisa Berry & Fiona Martyn

Lynette Siecker

Den Lalor

Darren Knowles

John & Nikole Olds

AFTER completing a Bachelor of Science in

Marine Biology at James Cook University in

2002, I began a Master of Environmental

Management through the University of

NSW. Tired of studying, I spent the next four

and a half years in Nagoya in Japan working full-

time teaching English and doing my Masters

through online distance education.

Just before I left Japan I volunteered to help

spot pink dolphins in the Amazon, just outside

of Manaus in Brazil. Afraid that I hadn’t done

enough travelling and that Australia was too

expensive for me to return and live, I then moved to Ao Luk, Krabi in

Thailand, where I taught TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other

Languages) to volunteers who used their teaching practice to put on free

English classes for the local community. I was paid a stipend of $100 a

week which covered my flights and travel insurance for the 15 months I

was there. I was provided with free food and board too.

After more than five years abroad, with a full passport and only one

subject to complete my Masters, I returned to Australia. It took a year

of volunteering at Noosa Landcare, Coolum Coast Care, part-time

cleaning and finishing my Masters before I was employed at Noosa

Landcare. Over the last five years I’ve worn many hats including

Coordinator for Bushcare volunteers, Coordinator

for Waterwatch volunteers, Bush Regenerator in the

field crew, grant writer, workplace health and safety

officer, mapping person, Project Officer Support; the

list goes on.

It’s possible that I have a finger in every pie here at

the Rural Futures Centre office of Noosa Landcare,

but I love being part of the solution and the bigger

picture.

Workshop Fever!

2015 Workshop Series (our monthly workshop program)

As many of our Members know, Noosa Landcare’s 2015 Workshop Series is well under sail …

Attendance has been great and feedback very positive, including

constructive suggestions for us to incorporate for future workshops.

For details, follow these links:

2015 Workshop Series Calendar

Planning Environmental Works on Your Property: 16 April

Short Workshop Series ‘Native Plants for Your Garden’

This three by one-hour short series is being run by Shaun Walsh,

landscape architect and Noosa Landcare member, assisted by Lyn Harm,

Noosa Landcare nursery staff member.

Click here for information on this mini-series.

■

Page 5 Page 5 March 2015

Waterwatch - Anita Russell

WHILE enjoying

the cool of

Maroochy River at

North Shore in

early January, I

found a starfish or

sea star. I’ve

never seen a

starfish in the river

or ocean around

here before, but

I’ve seen masses of

t h e m a t

T a n g a l o o m a

w r e c k s o f f

Moreton Island.

In January last year I found a Pygmy Squid in the same

area. It made me wonder about the weather, ocean

currents and the mass of seaweed washing ashore,

possibly resulting in the increase of sea creatures at this

time of year. Or perhaps because it was hot and I was

on holidays, it was my habits changing, not the animals’.

I sent the pictures to my local expert Josh Jensen of

Undersea Productions. Josh identified it as the

Southern Sea Star - Luidia australiae. Josh is good. I

’Googled’ it and sure enough, the one I found looked

exactly like the pictures on the internet.

Sea stars belong to the phylum Echinodermata.

Echinoderms are characterised by:

Five-sided symmetry as adults (although they are

only bilateral during their free-swimming

planktonic larval stage)

Calcareous plates which form an endoskeleton

Water vascular system, which is the main

exchange of food and oxygen and the main

function of movement

Skin and connective tissue which is controlled by

the nervous system and which can fluctuate

between rigid and fluid. This is extremely useful

when being preyed upon.

These characteristics make starfish related to sand

dollars, sea urchins, sea apples and even sea cucumbers.

Most echinoderms are benthic (ie, live on, in or near

the seabed) and most can regenerate at least part of

their body.

Sometimes the arms and legs of starfish are confused.

The five to 15 arms that starfish have aren’t primarily

involved in their movement. Each arm has an opening

containing lots of tiny feet each, often with a suction

pad controlled by the water vascular system. The tube

feet move in wave-like motions which push the starfish

in the direction it wants to go.

Sea stars are predators and scavengers. They are quite

powerful and are able to open shells. Once they have a

gap in the shell they push their stomach into the shell

and secrete digestive enzymes, liquefying the animal and

engulfing the liquefied food.

Luidia australiae is found in the Pacific Ocean off

Australia and New Zealand. They have a varying

number of arms, seven being the most common. They

are a dull yellow with irregular green or black patches

and grow up to 40cm. They live in reefs and sea grass,

usually burying in sand for camouflage. Josh tells me he

hasn’t come across a Luidia australiae in the Noosa

River yet. He has quite a few dives under his belt and is

endeavouring to catalogue every species in the Noosa

River through the NUBA (Noosa Underwater

Biodiversity Assessment) project. However he hasn’t

had the time or resources to get to the sea grass beds

yet!

If you’re interested to see what’s in Noosa River or

would like to help Josh with the NUBA project, visit

http://www.underseaproductions.com/. To see a video

clip, type ‘Noosa’ or ‘NUBA’ into the search button,

which is on the top right hand side of the home page.

Star of the Day

IN February Noosa Landcare staff participated in their annual review of cardiopulmonary

resuscitation (CPR) and First Aid. Staff all participated in incident, accident and scene

management, anaphylaxis management and CPR. Those who were due to review their

First Aid treatment reviewed burns, bites, breaks and bandaging.

All Noosa Landcare vehicles carry First Aid kits and all supervisors carry snake bite kits.

To ensure the most immediate response and best care possible, all our staff are required

to be First Aid and CPR trained.

We recommend that everyone does a First Aid course and if you regularly work or walk

alone in bushland or paddocks, carry a snake bandage and a mobile phone. You can get

small kits which slip onto your belt or hook onto your belt loops.

You’ll never know when you need to help someone or they may need to help you.

Work place Health and Safety Priority

■

■

Our Partners Page 6 March 2015

Noosa Landcare has partnerships with many organisations.

Go to www.noosalandcare.org to view a comprehensive list of our many supporters and partners.

Mary Valley Timber

Buy direct from the sawmill.

Hardwood timber specialists

Farm, fencing and

landscaping.

Delivered to Gympie,

Noosa and Hinterland

Dagun Rd, Dagun via

Gympie - 5484 3337

NOOSA COUNCIL

NATURAL HERITAGE TRUST

LAND FOR FORESTS

NOOSA LANDCARE FARM FORESTRY PROGRAM

THIS LAND SUPPORTS THE ESTABLISHMENT

OF SUSTAINABLE FORESTS

NOOSA & DISTRICT

Email:

info@pomonavet.com.au

By Appointment Only

This quarterly newsletter goes out to over 350 readers for each issue, covering natural resource

management industry groups, local, state and federal government departments, members,

stakeholders and regional businesses.

Please contact our office on (07) 5485 2468 for more details or to arrange your advertisement.

Advertise with us!

Page 7 March 2015

From Ship to Shore - Terrie Ridgway

Terrie is a very active and

valued member of Noosa

Landcare.

I ran away to sea when I was

about 18. Dad had a job that

kept the family moving with

each rung of the corporate

ladder that he achieved and,

when he was near the top

and in one place longer than one year, I had well and

truly developed itchy feet and just kept moving.

When I think about it now I realise how utterly

horrified and scared they were for me – but they never

let me know and off I went. First as a barmaid on

Heron Island where I was ‘Miss Underwater’ 1965 or

1966. I can’t remember now. Then living alone on

Nor’ West Island in the Capricorn Bunker Group, with

the intention of learning to identify every fish on the

reef and illustrating them all. What a glorious time.

Then the press found me. Dubbed me ‘Tarzan Terrie’

and destroyed the dream, so I moved on and became a

diver and crew member on a 90 foot Alden schooner

called “Dante Deo”, travelling on the reef doing Marine

research. I did eventually marry the American skipper/

owner of this utterly beautiful sailing ship, but he had

to find me out in South Africa a couple of years later.

So the sea was my first love. I sailed and dove every

ocean on the planet and crossed most of them under

sail. I was a specimen collector for the Smithsonian

and The Royal Society in the southern Indian Ocean in

the late 60’s, at the beginning of the fight to save

Aldabra Island – now a world heritage site in the

southern Seychelles. I was a go-go dancer in a club on

the docks of Durban for a short very lucrative while.

Then Tom, the Skipper/owner of the Dante Deo,

tracked me down and invited me to join him in the

Bahamas, which I did. We built a 55 ft ferro-cement

Chinese junk in a back lot in an industrial part of Miami.

We lived and sailed and adventured on this truly

glorious sailing ship for the next 10 years. In that time

we sailed down through the Caribbean, through the

Panama Canal and out into the vast and beautiful

Pacific. We crossed the Pacific Ocean, spending about

one year in each island group including the Galapagos

(a book in itself) until we were shipwrecked in Bishops

Bay on Bougainville Island in the late 70s. From there

we moved to a small island called Agho off the coast of

Iloilo in the Philippines. Then, when the political

situation became dangerous, we moved to a property

in French Polynesia.

I was nearly 40 when I came home. Alone. I had never

had a bank account, owned a car or lived anywhere on

land except small islands. My first job was as Bosun

and Dive Master on the “Golden Plover”, an old square

rigger that sailed out of Airlie Beach on week-long

tourist packages. What a learning curve.

When I found this property in 1988 I knew I was

home, and another adventure began.

It did take me a long time to stop being a recluse, to

find my way back to living as part of the human family.

My love affair with the living planet had always been

enough for me. Now, a quarter of a century later, I

have found my human village in the people who love

this planet as I do, and Landcare is full to the brim with

such inspiring people.

Bringing this property back from the results of the bare

earth policy of landholders of previous generations has

been an amazing journey – and one that is never over.

I made all the usual mistakes but kept on planting. In

1993 I did my first major tree planting project with the

Queensland Forest Service Tree Assistance Scheme.

That plot is now a forest of 60 to 80 ft trees, brimming

with life. Since then I have been planting trees from

Noosa Landcare’s great nursery. With their advice and

support I now have to search out spots to plant more

trees. It’s understory time - another world of wonder

and discovery. Continued on page 8 ...

From Ship to Shore

If undeliverable please return to:

NOOSA & DISTRICT LANDCARE GROUP INC.

PO BOX 278, POMONA Q 4568

Print Post Approved PP437974/00010

POSTAGE

PAID

AUSTRALIA

“Together we

can repair the

environment”

www.noosalandcare.org

PO Box 278

Pomona Qld 4568

Station Street

Pomona Qld 4568

Phone: 07 5485 2468

Fax: 07 5485 0413

Let us help you repair

the environment:

Environmental Offsets

Plantation Establishment

Coastal rehabilitation

Program & Project

Management

Water Quality Assessment

Property Management

Plans & mapping

Weed Control

Bushland Regeneration

Revegetation

Training & Education

Native Tube stock

For competitive prices,

personalised service and

over 20 years’

experience in natural

resource management

call (07) 5485 2468

Printed on 100% recycled paper

… continued from page 7

I have found that one of life’s great joys

is being in one place long enough to

watch a forest grow from seedlings to

maturity. One of the side effects of all

this tree planting is, of course, the

degree to which you will go to protect

them. I have Land for Wildlife,

Volunteer Conservation Agreement

and Wildlife Land Trust protection in

place now. I often go out and hug one

of my beautiful

gum trees and tell

it that it is safe, as

safe as I can make

it. If there is more

I can do, I will do

it.

Another journey I

have been on is

the wildlife rescue

and rehabilitation

world. As well as

being a long time

Greenpeace, Sea

Shepherd and

Greens supporter,

I am also an active

member of Bat

Rescue Inc., Wildlife Volunteers

Association Inc. and Noosa Parks

Association. This is my ninth year

working with the Flying-foxes and I

must say, the people in the world of

Flying-fox protection are truly amazing.

So for five months of the year I have a

house full of Flying-fox orphans. The

privilege of getting to know these

amazing creatures up close and

personal is truly humbling. I am also a

part of the recently formed Heat Stress

Event Response team for the Gympie

colony – instigated by Rachel Lyons.

None of us ever again wants to see the

horror of the ground littered with

thousands of dead and dying adults and

babies that happened during the

heatwave that hit the Gympie colony

during the first week of January 2014.

The work that has been done in the last

12 months to prevent that ghastly loss

from ever happening again is extensive

and very impressive.

My most recent

project is building

my own next

boxes. Great fun. I

found the book at a

Noosa Landcare

workshop this last

year. I am also

trying to chart the

extinction events in

Australia since we

first hit the beaches.

Not good reading.

We have been the

tenants from hell

since we first

blundered ashore.

I don’t know if there is such a thing as

sin or evil, but if there is, it lies in the

damage we have done to this planet.

To her oceans and rivers, her forests

and air. To the flora and fauna that

took millions of years for this amazing

blue dot to create. The damage we

have done has curtailed for all eternity

the amazing potential this planet had.

We have forever damaged this planet’s

ability to be the best that it could be.

That is evil. ■

Baby bat