Craig Wainright, Kate Hadden, Paul Racliffe, Sue Ross

RHRG and PCS meeting 28 August 2014 at 2 pm at Athllon

1) Centenary Trail funding re slope down to the saddle, south of the café. Kate Hadden to check status with Nadia Rhodes, CT Ranger. 2) Green Army – to be functional in 2015. Will need to check logistics carefully if proposing to use those resources. 3) Parrramatta Grass – ‘new’ weed. PCS has sprayed along Gowrie Drive. We will need to be alert to any other outbreaks. 4) Chilean Needle Grass and African Lovegrass – PCS plans follow up spraying by contractor mainly along the fire trails (where the spray unit can get to) behind Mugga Way and near the western side asbestos dump site. Need to let CW know if RHRG members find any other infestation sites. 5) September – St Johns Wort PCS spraying priority 6) December – PCS blackberry and rabbit harbor removal as follow up form 2013. Advise CW and KH if RHRG members see any other sites. 7) African Lovegrass to be sprayed January and May 2015 – will be follow up of previous sites. 8) Herbaceous weeds: May – St John’s Wort (flowers Spring and Autumn) 9) Thistles – not a priority for PCS. 10)Brush Cutters – CW can bring 4-5 and provide induction and training. Consider for mid week working bees. Availability limited to one day at a time. Could be useful for thistle clumps. 11)Mallow – becoming more noticeable on RH. Starane poison. KH to check effectiveness of glyphosate with Steve Taylor. 12)CW will update workplan following this meeting – should be done within a month. 13)CW to ask Steve Taylor for two sets of ‘weed pack’ – robust cards with good clear pictures and information about relevant weeds. 14)October and November – rabbit control – mainly gassing warrens, by PCS, City Services, FGC and residents. 15)A baseline sweep of rabbit warrens is a priority for WC. Propose for 2014 – 15 financial year. CW to assist after 14 above – ie do the control work and then see where there are any remaining warrens – this will be the baseline data. Perhaps early Autumn 2015 16)Next new moon – H to try and do some spotlight counting. 17)SR to investigate borrowing gps tablets from SACTG – data should be downloadable by PCS if it is in .gpx format. RHRG to discuss with CW. 18)Bushfire Operational Plan – Rutidosis site yet to be burned. KH to find out what’s happening. Nothing for RH this Spring. 19)Kangaroo management – see PCS notes of this meeting. Nfa at this stage.

1 RHRG and PCS meeting 28 August 2014 at 2 pm at Athllon

20)Agreed putting up corflute signs at the planting sites would be useful for various purposes. CW has noted that someone is moving the Cootamundra debris away from some plantings. KH to pursue. 21)KH to check on progress with distributing woodland restoration logs which were dropped on the hill some months ago, but not relocated because of wet weather (bogging etc). 22)Emerging issues a) CT Track upgrade – Mkin Trax thinks it might be OK to leave this track unsealed but will check in Summer to see if the clay cracks too much. KH to check with Michael M about revegetation and woody material placement along the sides of the track. Should be finished in the next month or so. 23)CW to continue chainsawing Cootamundra wattles as and when he has time. Will concentrate on areas next to vehicle accessible tracks / trails.. 24) 20 September – training session on frilling (glyphosate at 1:1 or 1:5), chemicals etc. Information / training and booklet to be provided. Scope to be influenced by parkcarers. 25)November – CW has access to Marist students for project work – RHRG to nominate projects. Consider cutting verbascum spikes. RHRG to discuss with CW closer to the time. 26)Chemcert one day alternatives – SR to check with Jasmine Foxlee.