Our New Website Is Coming! in Just a Few Weeks We Will Be Launching Our New Website, Which Showcases Swan Bay and the Work We Do with the Community to Protect It
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
No 86 October 2020 Our new website is coming! In just a few weeks we will be launching our new website, which showcases Swan Bay and the work we do with the community to protect it. There will be special features on Swan Bay’s ecology, habitats, birds, fish and other animals. You will also find information on the Wadawurrung people, recent historical events and the threats the bay now faces. A major section contains photo galleries that show and describe many of the plants that we grow and sell in our Queenscliffe Indigenous Nursery. There are also easy-to-follow guides on how we grow the plants and what you should do when planting them in your garden. You will also be able to order plants on the website that you can pick up later at the nursery in Nelson Road Queenscliff. The above photo of Swan Bay, Tip Island, the Narrows and Port Phillip Bay is just one of many scattered across the website and which bring Swan Bay to life. Thank you to all of the photographers who have been so generous with their photos. Our new website is being designed by Jonathan Wright of Geelong Media, who is working closely with committee member Chris Smyth to complete this project. Local designer gives us a fresh look Ocean Grove designer, Chris Tsernjavski, is behind the fresh look for our logo, brochure and newsletter. Chris is also a keen wildlife photographer and some of her photos will appear on our new website. On photography, Chris says: ‘Photographing nature ties seamlessly with a lifelong curiosity and appreciation of the natural world. Diverse habitats, big Australian landscapes, weather, flora and fauna, insects, marine environments and the micro world are endless sources of fascination and inspiration for me’. Committee member Sue Wasterval worked closely with Chris to produce a new brochure outlining who we are and what we do. Pick one up at the Information Centre in Hesse Street. Chris also redesigned our newsletter. After 85 editions, we thought it was time to also give it a new look. We hope you like it. Chris Tsernjavski in the wild and our new brochure that she designed. Gardens for Wildlife Felicity Thyer steps down as program coordinator We would like to express our thanks to Felicity Thyer, who has resigned from her position as Coordinator of the Swan Bay Environment Association’s Gardens for Wildlife program (G4W). Felicity has been involved in the program since its inception five years ago, initially as a volunteer and more recently as an employee of the Association. Over this time, she has conducted many home visits to advise people on ways to attract wildlife to their gardens and run workshops to train volunteers to work on the program with her. She has also been successful in applying for grants from the Borough to develop and promote the program. Felicity’s hard work in running and advancing the G4W program and her enthusiastic commitment to the role and the natural environment will be greatly missed. Felicity Thyer made many on-site garden visits in the G4W program and gave valued advice to aspiring wildlife gardeners. LOCAL INDIGENOUS PLANTS FOR SALE OUR NURSERY IS OPEN AGAIN If you are after some new plants to pop in your garden, why not buy them from our nursery at 79 Nelson Road, Point Lonsdale for $2 each? Opening times: Wednesday from 9.00am-12noon and the 3rd Sunday of each month from 10.00am-12noon. Enquiries to Sarah Roberts, Nursery Manager: 0401 281 448 Borough of Queenscliffe Climate Emergency Response Plan Queenscliff and Point Lonsdale are already being affected by the impacts of climate change. We face an increasing risk from coastal inundation, sea level rise and bushfires. As a community, we need to act now. That's why the Borough of Queenscliffe is creating a Climate Emergency Response Plan that will be community-led and guide Council and community action with ambitious goals and specific actions that address both mitigation and adaptation strategies. The plan will be finalised by April 2021 after a round of community consultation and advice from a Community Panel. You can help the implementation of the plan by completing the survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BoqCERP. The survey is the beginning of an engagement process in which Council wants to gain understanding, feedback and ideas from the Queenscliff and Point Lonsdale residential and business communities, community groups and visitors, that will directly help to develop the plan. Ideas, goals and actions will be collected and shared in a report produced by Council. The survey will take you less than 20 minutes to complete. Nursery news The nursery re-opens again The Queenscliffe Indigenous Nursery has re-opened its gates again after a second closure this year due to COVID lockdown. The nursery has resumed its usual opening hours of every Wednesday from 9.00am-12noon and the third Sunday of the month from 10.00am-12noon. During the closure we have again built up our plant stock and have plenty of variety for sale. Due to COVID19 restrictions, there is a limit on the number of people who can browse the plants in the nursery at any one time. Stay safe by using the hand sanitiser supplied at the gate, wear a face mask and keep at least 1.5 metres from others. Please read the signs at the nursery’s front gate for current COVID19 restrictions. New irrigation system to be installed Our nursery plants can get thirsty during the warmer months but keeping the water up to them can be very labour intensive. We are installing a new and automated irrigation system that can be activated remotely. Gallery of nursery plants If you have ever wondered ‘What plant is that?’, then our new website’s Gallery of nursery plants might just provide you with the answer. In all, the gallery has 12 plant categories ranging from tall trees and small shrubs to saltmarsh, climbers, wildflowers and ground covers. Each plant has a description of its size, flowers, fruits and growing conditions, written by our Nursery Manager, Sarah Roberts, and at least one photo. The photos have been taken by Point Lonsdale photographer, Robyn Curtis. Robyn has sought out each plant in the wild as part of a mammoth project to photograph every one of those grown in our Queenscliffe Indigenous Nursery. The Swan Bay Environment Association owes a great debt of gratitude to Robyn for her outstanding work. Of her photographic work, Robyn says: "I am a keen gardener and amateur photographer. I volunteer at the Queenscliffe Indigenous Nursery where I am learning about the plants of the local environment. It is also a wonderful way to meet like-minded people in the community. My interest in photographing the local plants grown at the nursery is to share their beauty with people. I hope it encourages others to plant indigenous plants to provide habitat for wildlife and for the health of the environment." Repairing damage to Bunny Woods and Rip View woodlands SBEA member Michael Grout reports on efforts to protect Point Lonsdale’s remnant moonah woodland from damage by bikes. In recent months, two of the last remaining stands of moonah woodland in Point Lonsdale, Bunny Woods and Rip View Woodlands, have been significantly damaged by the construction of bike trails (BMX/pump tracks). However, there has been a focus on repairing the damage in a partnership between Council, its outdoor staff, the Bellarine Catchment Network (BCN) and a Working for Victoria conservation team provided by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP). In the Bunny Woods, a Lend Lease crew removed some bike jumps, ramps and corner banks and BCN’s supervised conservation team remade and replanted the edges of several walking tracks with woodland plants from the Queenscliffe Indigenous Nursery. In the Rip View Woodlands, where new bike trails have been created to the south of the long-established Humps and Bumps, a stunning variety of orchids have been identified by Brett Diemen, a horticulturalist who lives locally. The new trailblazers damaged several woodland trees, shrubs and ground covers, and impinged on areas where orchids are growing. Council staff and the BCN crew have now erected temporary fencing to limit access to these areas. In addressing the issues, some Councillors and Council staff have engaged in conversations with several of the bike-track builders and users. Discussion included balancing the needs of bikers with the protection of our remnant woodlands, as well as options for building a new bike-trail facility in a Borough location less damaging to our fragile coastal environment. Moving forward, there are at least four issues Council will need to manage: • collaborating with DELWP on management of these foreshore areas, as we must continuously demonstrate BoQ is a capable coastal manager • communicating with bike riders and affected stakeholders in order to identify an alternative area in the Borough for a new bike trail, and arrange funding for this project in the next budget. We understand two sites are being considered: either adjacent to the current Skate Park (which needs refurbishment), or beside the Point Lonsdale school hall • ensuring that the remedial work is not wasted time and money: the new plantings and repaired pathways need on-going inspection and maintenance until it is clear the damage is not repeated, that new plants survive and weeds do not invade • improving signage to reduce the risk of this cycle of damage and repair recurring, as has happened in other municipalities. For example, restrictive ‘No Bike’ signs and low-level interpretive moonah woodland signs could be placed at both ends of the walking tracks in each of the Borough’s remaining moonah woodlands, as education and regulation are two important elements in reducing undesirable human impacts.