Principles of bush regeneration

A previous TIN Topic mentioned briefly the work of the Coastal Wetlands Park Support Group whose aim is "to seek the long term security of the coastal wetlands and dunes, tributaries and buffer zones as part of a complex interconnection of remnant natural areas of state and possibly international significance, complementing the already recognised estuarine and salt marsh wetlands on the Hunter River at Newcastle." (Coastal Wetlands Park Brochure)

Perhaps the best aspect of a natural resource officer's job is visiting the numerous sites that people are working across the local area, noting the environmental improvements as a result of onground activities and realizing the tremendous collective commitment that individuals are making to the preservation of the area's natural environment.

Mulch is good, mulch is great but beware the natives don't suffocate.

The best regeneration strategies for both flora and fauna are long term. This is not to say that we just accept the weeds on our sites because they are providing habitat or food source for native fauna, or preventing erosion, or maintaining continuous canopy cover in a wildlife corridor, or providing shade and shelter in an otherwise bare landscape.

An often quoted definition of a weed is a “plant growing in the wrong place.” In one sense this is true, because from a Landcarers’ point of view, many such plants are exotic species growing in native bushland. In many other ways though, the definition is wrong; the weed is a plant growing in the right place, otherwise it wouldn’t be surviving as vigorously as it is.