Editorial Rehabilitation of Well It's Fast Approaching That Time Degraded Lands in of Year Again
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Inside this Newsletter 2 Ants Upset Tree Project 17 Stop Bushland Are you having trouble with ants Weeds in your direct seeding plots ? A book review. Here's a bit of information that will help you understand why. 18 Save The Bush 3 Managing Your From Weeds An article on the type of Watercourse herbicide that can be used A fact sheet from the Mt. Lofty in bushland for controlling Ranges Catchment Program. weed. So that there is I Has some good ideas for minimal damage to native revegetation on farms and small vegetation. properties. 22 The Use Of 7 The Understorey Herbicides In The Network So Far A Tasmania revegetation Batherst Ganite Soils network. A research article form the Australian Journal of Soil and Water Conservation. 7 Putting an Old Railway I ~ineTO use An innovative revegetation project in the Mid North of SA. 8 Making Your Own Plant Collection How to collect, preserve and present plant specimens that you may of collected form the bush. 12 Manv And Varied New Remember when in the bush only Ideas In Farm Forestry leave four foot prints behind not your Some ideas for economical rubbish. revegetation on your property 13 Direct Seeding For Editorial Rehabilitation of Well it's fast approaching that time Degraded Lands In of year again. Yes the planting out North-east Queensland of plants that have been raised in A technical article form the tubes or by other means. Yes I Australian Journal of Sod and mustn't forget those of you like my Water Conservation. self who will be doing some direct seeding this year. I had a look at the results from last year and saw a pretty bad picture before me of 17 Monitoring Native around 40% success max. in some Fauna On Seeded Sites places to 0% in others places How long dose it take for the (mainly due to sandy soils).l hope wildlife to return to an area after that this year will be better. regeneration. 3u can see I have made some agesto the format of the Those of you who are into Ants upset- newsletter. The changes are in line technology might find future editions with some of the ideas that were on the internet on the ASGAP home given through the questionnaires page. Presently Iam looking into tree project, that I did this year and last year. seeing how one can go about Some of the information that I got having a page on the internet. from the questionnaires asked for The deadline for the next edition of ~nformationon what is happening in the newsletter is late August early other states so if you can lay your September with the newsletter in hands on a revegetation article out coming out in October. of a newspapers or a journal please feel free to send it in for inclusion in Please feel free to send in a cartoon to this newsletter or article to Another item that was asked to be done by this group is the setting up P.O. Box 2089 of a quality assurance program for Normanville regeneration and revegetation so in SA 5204 some of your local newsletter you might be seeing a article by the Cheers Native Plant Regeneration Study Group requesting for information on Matt Pearson what plants you have been trying to grow on you properties. So in the mean time you might like to start sending in this information to me. All I want to know is The seed-stealing rhytedoponera ant. Soil Type By Environment Writer 'We need to sow when SYLVIA KRIVEN opening rains come (usually late autumn)," Rainfall Ants have put the bite on research into he said. Species of plant an SA revegetation ',But unfortunately, programs. that coincides with the What type of tree guard use time ants are most ac- ':-.a 9, Thes are stealinrr CIV G. if any thous&ds of tree see& According to SA myr- scattered in direct seed- mecologist (ant expert) . If a herbicide was used if ing trails run by the Mr Archie McArthur, State Woods anil Forests any there & about 30 to 40 Department. species of seedeating Was fertiliser used if any A single colony can ant in ' SA including ,ppirit;aww, a kilogram rhytedoponera, a black Burning the area prior to of seeds - about 2500 ant common in metro- trees - in, less than a politan Adelaide and the planting week. The seeds are Riverlaud, where many eater . fed to larvae; of the tree trial plots are. What method of planting some ,re stored for "It is: a very primitive was used. winter. ant which doesn't have a The theft .has frus- very developed @stern Growing conditions e.g. it trated the department's within its colony so it revegetation officers, works alone," he said. was dry year on a north who use the trial plots to "Because it is bigger, facing slope and 1 had 70% teach faimers easy..tech- it can handle big seeds niques for broadacre survival of species X and bv-" itself."- - - free planting. Smaller ants, such as 20% survival of species Y - . It is also expensive. , monomoriums, are more The cost of mechanically advanced. They use And or any other relevant spraying seeds on to pie- highly organised teams information that will be of I pared $oil is about $1000 to drag seeds two to a hectare compared with three times their size. help. $5000 for hand planted Curiously, they are un- seedlings. able to digest tree seeds in the third edition of this newsletter "Ants are a problem but their larvae can and i might have enough information to all over A~stralia,~'regurgitate seeds in a State Woods anp Forests liquid form which the publish the result from the Department revegeta- adults drink. information that you have sent me tion officer MI Leigh Meanwhile, the de- along with others who have Miller said. ., w: partment has resigned ...''I don't think there's ' itself to using a chemical contributed. :.go- to -be:r any,;.wiiy .; cohtrolling agent. m-d ~~i~~g:ohemicat'. "It doesn't kill the dnt~ls,"he 9aid.fr ants," Mr. Miller said. MI Miller has trapped "It coats the seed and , and observed thousands' tastes awful. The ant i of ants in the vain hope will take a bite and spit of findin& a time when it out and pass the infor- seeds can be sown with mation on to the others ddal risk of them so they won't touch it," disappearing. he said. WHY MANAGE YOUR THE RIPARIAN ZONE WATERCOURSE? The riparian zone is the area immediately There are many reasons to improve next to, and influenced by, the watercourse. watercourse management including: It includes aquatic and semi-aquatic plants stopping soil erosion as well as tree and understorey vegetation. improving water quality It provides an important link between the providing permanent wildlife habitats increasing your property value. The following information will give you a brief introduction to some of the issues involved in improving management of your watercourse. NATURAL STREAY PROCESSES When rain falls on a catchment, water that is not absorbed into the soil flows downhill and collects in low lying areas where it forms a stream. Over thousands of years, this runoff process, streambank erosion, stream meandering and flooding have developed the stream systems that we have today. Streams are always changing - or causing change - in response to rainfall and factors affecting runoff from the catchment. STREAMS AND LAND MANAGEMENT Landuse, and land management within a catchment directly affects: WHY IS IT SO IMPORTANT? Riparian vegetation plays a key role in the health of a stream protecting the watercourse from damage by its ability to recover from flood or pollution activities carried out on adjacent land. the maintenance of its aquatic life. In particular, land development for RIPARIAN RIGHTS agriculture, urban or recreational use Owners of land in contact with a stream have changes the water runoff pattern and affects certain riparian rights. They are entitled to the natural stream processes. extract water for domestic use and stock use, but not for irrigation. However, the indiscriminate use of riparian Vegetated buffer zones on creeks in the rights can result in degradation of stream Mount Lofty Ranges should be 5 - 10 banks and water quality. metres wide, or more if possible. To maximise the benefits of a buffer zone, THE IMPORTANCE OF NATIVE your revegetation program should aim to VEGETATION establish a full range of naiive plant species, native vegetation reduces the speed of water including trees, shrubs and groundcovers. runoff, which reduces the risk of erosion and encourages deposition of soil eroded elsewhere. The roots of vegetation on the banks and floodplains of streams, hold the soil together and protect the area from erosion. Water plants such as reeds and rushes also trap sediment and protect the banks from erosion by reducing the speed of flow within a stream. They remove nutrients from the water and provide food and habitats for stream animals. NATIVE HABITAT Maintenance of natural habitats is necessary to protect native species. A variety of lioe in or under exotic trees habitats will ensure the existence of a large diversity of organisms. Pool and riffle environments and stream meanders should be retained for natural aquatic animal populations. Indiscriminant clearing, straightening of stream channels and filling in of billabongs should not be undertaken. Minor drainage lines A good groundcover of deep-rooted grasses STREAM PROTECTION will minimise erosion along minor drainage lines, and encourage silt to deposit before it Stream buffer zones reaches larger streams.