What's new?
|
2020 planting program completed... just in the nick of time!
After several rounds of rescheduling and with the last-minute, generous assistance of community volunteers, early August 2020 saw the completion of the Kara Kara CMN’s annual autumn/winter revegetation plantings. Just in the nick of time too as the latest tightening of Covid 19 restrictions were announced for regional Victoria! In a Covid 19 world, seeing our 2020 plantings through to completion presented some interesting challenges. The school groups and day-release prison crews that have helped in past years were unavailable, and cancellation wasn’t an option given that our order for 3,000 seedlings had been placed with wholesale nurseries back in 2019, well before Covid 19 burst onto the scene! So, how to get our seedlings into the ground? Thankfully, in July, a small window of opportunity opened with the easing of restrictions on the number of people permitted at outdoor gatherings. Wasting no time, we put out an urgent call for volunteers through community media and social networks. Gradually, a handful of emails and calls began to trickle in from willing volunteers who, in turn, recruited their friends and friends of friends. With a small work force ready to go, the next challenge was to provide a safe working environment. Tools and equipment were sanitised, tasks were assigned in a way that allowed physical distancing and volunteers were assigned to work in shifts on larger jobs to stay within the limitations applying to outdoor gatherings. A few weeks on, thanks to our small but dedicated and hard-working group of volunteers, our 3,000 seedlings have all been planted on private properties at Beazley’s Bridge, St Arnaud East and Kooreh, and are benefitting from some late winter rainfall! On behalf of the CMN and our participating landholders, thank you to all of those people who responded to our call for help and assisted with our 2020 plantings. We couldn’t have done it without you! The Kara Kara CMN’s revegetation is funded by the Victorian State Government through a three-year Biodiversity On-Ground Action Grant. |
Pictured: Kara Kara CMN volunteers at plantings on private properties at St Arnaud East (above) and Kooreh (below). (Photos: D Saxon-Campbell and B Proctor) 
|
New water cart helping to increase seedling survival rate
In 2019, the Kara Kara CMN successfully applied to the Wettenhall Environment Trust for a small grant to purchase a 1,000 litre self-contained, trailer-mounted water unit. The new trailer has been a boon during our autumn/winter plantings by making the watering of seedlings so much easier for our volunteers.
The new unit (pictured left) also proved its worth during the summer of 2019/20 by enabling us to provide young plants with additional water during their critical establishment phase and help them survive periods of extreme heat. This additional support has become an essential element in helping to mitigate the impacts of climate change on our plantings, which include increasingly intermittent rainfall, extended dry periods and extreme weather events such as severe heatwaves and frosts. A dedicated water cart is one element of a broad strategy employed by the Network to improve the resilience of our plantings and raise overall survival rates.
The Kara Kara CMN would like to acknowledge and thank the Wettenhall Environment Trust for their support.
In 2019, the Kara Kara CMN successfully applied to the Wettenhall Environment Trust for a small grant to purchase a 1,000 litre self-contained, trailer-mounted water unit. The new trailer has been a boon during our autumn/winter plantings by making the watering of seedlings so much easier for our volunteers.
The new unit (pictured left) also proved its worth during the summer of 2019/20 by enabling us to provide young plants with additional water during their critical establishment phase and help them survive periods of extreme heat. This additional support has become an essential element in helping to mitigate the impacts of climate change on our plantings, which include increasingly intermittent rainfall, extended dry periods and extreme weather events such as severe heatwaves and frosts. A dedicated water cart is one element of a broad strategy employed by the Network to improve the resilience of our plantings and raise overall survival rates.
The Kara Kara CMN would like to acknowledge and thank the Wettenhall Environment Trust for their support.
Nest-box program nears its target
The Kara Kara CMN’s nest-box program aims to install 200 nest-boxes for selected threatened and declining species in north-central Victoria by the end of November 2020.
Constructed by woodworking students at Donald High School, and St Arnaud and Charlton Secondary Colleges, the nest-boxes are targeting three species – the Brush-tailed Phascogale (a small arboreal mammal known to occur in the woodlands around St Arnaud), the iconic Laughing Kookaburra and the Southern Boobook Owl (commonly known as the Mopoke) – all of which are in decline.
All three species rely on tree hollows for breeding and shelter from predators and these are in short supply. Eucalypts typically form hollows only when they are at least 100 years old, however, most large trees in our native woodlands have been cleared or harvested for timber across the decades. As a result, competition for the hollows that remain is extremely high.
While installations in 2020 have been somewhat ‘stop-start’ due to the Covid 19 restrictions, thankfully our installation program has managed to stay on track with over 160 boxes installed so far in woodland on private properties throughout the region. Hopefully, we will be able to meet our November target.
As with our revegetation plantings, the Kara Kara CMN’s nest-box program is funded by the Victorian State Government through a three-year Biodiversity On-Ground Action Grant.
Pictured (right): A Phascogale nest-box in Box-Ironbark woodland at Beazley's Bridge to the west of St Arnaud. (Photo: D Saxon-Campbell)
The Kara Kara CMN’s nest-box program aims to install 200 nest-boxes for selected threatened and declining species in north-central Victoria by the end of November 2020.
Constructed by woodworking students at Donald High School, and St Arnaud and Charlton Secondary Colleges, the nest-boxes are targeting three species – the Brush-tailed Phascogale (a small arboreal mammal known to occur in the woodlands around St Arnaud), the iconic Laughing Kookaburra and the Southern Boobook Owl (commonly known as the Mopoke) – all of which are in decline.
All three species rely on tree hollows for breeding and shelter from predators and these are in short supply. Eucalypts typically form hollows only when they are at least 100 years old, however, most large trees in our native woodlands have been cleared or harvested for timber across the decades. As a result, competition for the hollows that remain is extremely high.
While installations in 2020 have been somewhat ‘stop-start’ due to the Covid 19 restrictions, thankfully our installation program has managed to stay on track with over 160 boxes installed so far in woodland on private properties throughout the region. Hopefully, we will be able to meet our November target.
As with our revegetation plantings, the Kara Kara CMN’s nest-box program is funded by the Victorian State Government through a three-year Biodiversity On-Ground Action Grant.
Pictured (right): A Phascogale nest-box in Box-Ironbark woodland at Beazley's Bridge to the west of St Arnaud. (Photo: D Saxon-Campbell)
Coaxing Banksia cones to release their precious seed cargo
One of the Kara Kara CMN's conservation targets, the iconic Silver Banksia (Banksia marginata), flowers over summer. Immediately after flowering, our volunteers are alert to the opportunity to collect seed cones to help save this increasingly rare species. But once the seed cones have been collected, just how do you coax the hard seed cones to open and release their precious cargo?
Here's our preferred method... First, space the cones out on an oven tray and 'roast' at 180 deg C for about 30 minutes. The heat causes the cone's follicles to open. Allow the cones to cool, then gently tap each one on a paper-lined bench to dislodge the loose seeds. Each follicle holds two winged seeds, one on either side of a woody 'separator' structure. Seeds that don't fall out by themselves after this treatment can be gently prised out with pointed tweezers. A fiddly and time-consuming task!
So, what to do with them now?! Seeds harvested by the Network are propagated and the young seedlings used in revegetation works throughout central Victoria. Some also find their way to specially-created Seed Production Areas (SPAs) that have been established to facilitate gene flow between plants from different populations. Progeny from these SPAs are then planted back into original remnant populations to increase genetic variability and help ensure the long-term future of this beautiful Australian native.
One of the Kara Kara CMN's conservation targets, the iconic Silver Banksia (Banksia marginata), flowers over summer. Immediately after flowering, our volunteers are alert to the opportunity to collect seed cones to help save this increasingly rare species. But once the seed cones have been collected, just how do you coax the hard seed cones to open and release their precious cargo?
Here's our preferred method... First, space the cones out on an oven tray and 'roast' at 180 deg C for about 30 minutes. The heat causes the cone's follicles to open. Allow the cones to cool, then gently tap each one on a paper-lined bench to dislodge the loose seeds. Each follicle holds two winged seeds, one on either side of a woody 'separator' structure. Seeds that don't fall out by themselves after this treatment can be gently prised out with pointed tweezers. A fiddly and time-consuming task!
So, what to do with them now?! Seeds harvested by the Network are propagated and the young seedlings used in revegetation works throughout central Victoria. Some also find their way to specially-created Seed Production Areas (SPAs) that have been established to facilitate gene flow between plants from different populations. Progeny from these SPAs are then planted back into original remnant populations to increase genetic variability and help ensure the long-term future of this beautiful Australian native.
|
|
Pictured above (from left): Silver Banksia flower; and a Banksia cone after heat treatment with the woody separator structure and winged seed (D Saxon-Campbell).
Page last reviewed: 14/8/2020
