The Annual MCCG Kids Day at the Cottage on Sunday 7th June 2015 was a great success, with attendance of over 400!

Presenters were busy the whole time with popular attractions and activities for enthusiastic youngsters, watched by equally enthusiastic family.

The Presenters, all with popular activities, were:

• John Stanisic, The Snail Whisperer;
• Geoff Monteith, insect expert;
• Jan Blok, expert on native plant ID using a key;
• Gordon Grigg and his Random Curiosities;
• Melissa Ballantyne, standing in for Tony Goodrich, with native stingless bees;
• Andrew Wilson with native seedling potting;
• Deborah Craig with pottery, leather and seed jewellery making;
• Carolyn Parsons with possum finger-puppet making;
• Martin Fingland with his great collection of native animals and reptiles.

MCCG is grateful to all our presenters who give so freely of their time, and thanks them all for agreeing to present again next year (They are booked for Sunday 29th May 2016).
Martin Fingland was almost overwhelmed by the size and spread of the audience which exceeded the ability of our sound system to reach the edges.  Next year we’ve booked him for the whole time from 10am -12.30pm so that he can present smaller shows in a marquee. (He has never seen so many kids at once.)
Then there was our wonderful team of sausage sizzlers, Warren and Julie Hoey, Richard Woodhead and John Crowley trying manfully to keep up with demand.

A great day was had by all, and we look forward to seeing everyone again next year …

Are you one of the people using the trail through Deerhurst Park to walk or ride on? If so, you might be interested in helping to maintain the path, which is under threat. Recent attempts to address the erosion problems have been stymied by vandalism.
If you’d like to help, please contact Mike Humphrey on 3374 1467.

MCCG has a new Facebook page!  We invite you to view it…

If you would like to use Facebook to follow the activities of MCCG and learn interesting information on the conservation and improvement of your Moggill Creek catchment,  please ‘like’ the page and ‘subscribe’ to our event notifications.

Click here to take a look! 

We also welcome your suggestions and contributions on the page.

In a recent article in the Australian Association of Bush Regenerators Newsletter (Number 125, June 2015), Bryan Hacker introduces the Moggill Creek Catchment Group and its activities,  and discusses particularly  what MCCG is doing to deal with the major environmental threat posed by Cats Claw.

You can read Bryan’s article here (Reproduced with permission).

Advice and help is at hand for removing invasive weeds and restoring habitat. The Moggill Creek Catchment Group’s Landcare Adviser, Bryan Hacker, writes on the available assistance.

This article is reproduced from The Local Bulletin, June 2015 with kind permission

Many of the readers of The Local Bulletin own acreage properties and there are few which are not weedy to some degree. With the current emphasis on weed control in peri-urban areas, there is increasing need for skilled commercial operators to diminish the impact of the major environmental weeds which so frequently take over. Most of our district was, in the past, covered by eucalypt woodland or scrub, most of which was cleared for growing fruit and vegetables and dairying early last century.

Scrub is the traditional term used in much of Queensland for rainforest and, to many of us, it is a goal to restore rainforests to what they were before European settlement. We want to restore the scrub from its current situation of infestation with exotic vines and lantana to – as near as we can – its initial state.

Many of us who live on acreage properties in the western suburbs do so because we appreciate the scrub on our land, especially the native species which are habitat for a wide range of native wildlife. The Council often serves notices requiring removal of lantana, but clearing lantana regrowth with excavators or other heavy machinery, particularly along gullies and on steeply sloping land, can lead to disaster. What happens when it rains? Without plant cover much of the soil will be washed away. Further, removal of lantana using scrub cutters needs to be done with extreme caution as there is a Council requirement that regenerating native species not be harmed. I have been shown instances where mechanical clearing of lantana has damaged small native trees leading to the landholders being served with a Direction Notice, which required restoration to be undertaken.

Clearing of lantana and other exotic weeds needs to be carried out with caution, conserving the natives and augmenting them with plantings of natives to restore the habitat value.

It also should be realised that regrowth wattle trees are part of a natural progression towards restoring native forest and they should not therefore be considered to be a serious problem. Land currently dominated by wattle trees would probably have been farmed for bananas or pawpaws or cleared for grazing before being abandoned and with careful management is likely to progress towards a ‘scrub'(native vine forest) ecosystem. Wholesale removal of the wattle without carefully planned revegetation with native species would in all probability lead to infestation with worse weeds, such as glycine.

The Moggill Creek Catchment Group, with a membership of more than 500, predominantly in the suburbs of Brookfield, Upper Brookfield and Kenmore Hills, urges extreme caution in the procedure for removal of exotic weeds and also urges landowners to see the value of local native vegetation rather than seeking a neat and tidy landscape. It is also encouraging that so many properties in these suburbs are committed to conservation through the Council’s Land for Wildlife program.

My personal views, supported by many of our members, are based on 20 years involved in bush regeneration and a background as a research scientist in the field of agriculture with CSIRO. I am also an accredited member of the Australian Association of Bush Regenerators.

There’s an on-line survey as part of a research project on Eastern Grey Kangaroos in South East Queensland.  If you’d like to be involved in this project, please complete the survey here.  Through the survey, the researcher,  Beth Brunton of University of the Sunshine Coast, is seeking to gather the wealth
of community information on kangaroo occurrence in our region as an
important part of the project.  You can find more information on the project at www.usc.edu.au/kangaroo-research .  The survey will be active until 30th June 2015.

The House of Representatives Standing Committee on the Environment is currently undertaking an enquiry into the administration and transparency of the Register of Environmental Organisations and its effectiveness in supporting communities to take practical action to improve the environment. Richard Woodhead has prepared and forwarded a submission on behalf of MCCG.

A meeting for interested residents is planned for Sunday June 14th at 2pm, by the park bench opposite the bamboo.  For more details of this important 4 year restoration project, read the project description on our web site.

Supporters of bushland restoration projects such as the Rowena Street Park Restoration can take a number of steps to support these projects, both by becoming volunteers to work on restoration activities, and by expressing support to the Brisbane City Council – see the project web page for some ideas to follow up.

Although small, fire ants are one of the worst invasive species to hit Australia’s shores. 

Biosecurity Queensland has been working hard to contain the area of infestation and to eliminate this pest, but they need our help.  Join the fire ant hunt and check your yard or property before May31st.  Let Biosecurity Queensland know that you have done this, whether or not you find anything suspicious. 

For more information, see the website www.anthunt.daf.qld.gov.au  where you can find information about priority areas to check, how to identify fire ants, and can also upload photos for analysis and follow-up by the experts.

You can also call the Department on 13 25 23, and find forms and further information for reporting fireants at www.daf.qld.gov.au/fireants

Two Glossy Black Cockatoos were sighted during a recent Land For Wildlife survey in Pacey Road, Upper Brookfield.  Black Cockatoos are listed under Queensland legislation as vulnerable, so this is an important sighting for the Moggill Creek catchment.