Untitled Document

Mary River Revegetation Project

The Project

A project to revegetate the riverbank along the Gympie town reach of the Mary River from Kidd Bridge to Normanby bridge with major annual events being the Community Tree Planting days on ‘Clean up Australia Day’ (the first Sunday in March) and to ‘Welcome Spring’ during September. They are all very high profile sites on public reserve land along a 2 km stretch of the Gympie town reach of the Mary River.

Background

Gympie lies in the middle reach of the Mary River, a river which rises near Maleny and empties into Wide Bay at Maryborough. The historical record indicates that the Mary River was originally teaming with fish and its banks were heavily wooded. The river was quite a bit narrower than at present with deep waterholes and a great many snags and log jams, which provided habitat for breeding fish and protected the banks from erosion.

The early settlers didn’t understand the key role of riparian vegetation in protecting the riverbank, and didn’t foresee the massive erosion caused by extensive clearing of the timber from the riverbanks. The result was the once-deep waterholes filled up with sediment, water quality declined, and the resultant loss of fish habitat has led to a major decline in fish numbers.

Recent research by CSIRO has found that some 80% of the sediment load entering the river is coming from riverbank erosion. This sediment load carries with it large amounts of phosphates which stimulate the growth of algae and decrease levels of dissolved oxygen, further impacting on water quality. This sediment from the Mary River also adversely impacts on the sea grasses in the World Heritage listed Great Sandy Straits and on the marine creatures – such as dugong – which depend on the sea grass.

Woody and viny weeds – such as Camphor Laurel, Chinese Celtis, Broad- and Narrow-leaved Privet, Cats Claw Creeper, Balloon Vine, and Madeira Vine – took over many of the cleared riverbanks, severely restricting the regeneration of the native flora and fauna. The Mary River is recognised as one of the most degraded rivers on the East Coast of Australia, with the central section where this project is located being in very poor condition.

However, there are still some reaches in relatively good condition and the Mary River is still home to the endangered Mary River Cod and Mary River Turtle. The rescue strategies for these endangered species includes a major focus on protecting and enhancing remnant riparian vegetation and revegetating degraded areas.

Restoring the Mary River is still possible, but it will take time and a lot of effort to restore a diverse mix of native riparian vegetation to the riverbanks. It will also require the combined efforts of the community, governments (local, state and federal), industry and farmers. It can only be achieved through a cooperative approach.

Our Community Tree Plantings are a way of demonstrating what can be done through cooperation; demonstrating that the community does care about protecting the environment and wants to leave a healthy Mary River for future generations.

Outcomes

§ 1997:

A 0.3 Ha site near Kidd Bridge and a 0.2 Ha site below Albert Park (AP1) was cleared of woody weeds and a Community Tree Planting on 2-3-97 saw 254 volunteers plant 750 riparian rainforest plants on the riverbank. TAFE students built steps down to the riverbank from the Excelsior Reserve netball courts, stabilising erosion and improving access to the river. The Junior Council helped to highlight the Cats Claw infestation on the riverbank through the media. Cooloola Shire wins the Queensland Arbor Day Award for local government as a result of their support for the project. Following a fire in October which destroyed some of the trees planted in March a working bee planted a further 100 trees in November.

§ 1998:

A 0.3 Ha site adjoining Nash Gully was cleared of heavy woody weed infestation and the wood chip used for mulch, with the work undertaken by Contractors and the Green Corps trainees. The Clean Up Australia Day Community Tree Planting on 1-3-98 attracted over 250 people who helped plant, water and mulch 1,100 native trees and groundcovers in the area behind the Gympie Gem Club along with in-fill planting below Albert Park (AP1).

Planting teams came from St Patrick’s College, Gympie High, James Nash High School, the Scouts, the Junior Council, Gympie South Primary, Central Preschool, the Rural Youth, Gympie & District Field Naturalists Club, Gympie & District Landcare and the Cooloola Shire Council. National Tree Day was celebrated with a Community Tree Planting on the 5^th September with 14 volunteers planted 82 trees.

§ 1999

A 0.4 Ha site adjoining Nash Gully behind the Gympie Gem Club and above the weir was cleared of woody weed infestation by a contractor using a KS Mulcher head mounted on a 12 ton excavator. Severe flooding in February forced the postponement of the 1999 Clean Up Australia Day Community Tree Planting until the 18-4-99 when 169 volunteers helped plant and water 1,900 native riparian plants.

A team of international volunteers from Denmark, France, England and Japan on an Australian Trust for Conservation Volunteers program planted 650 plants in Nash Gully in late March.

A Green Corps team commenced work in May on a 1.0 Ha section of steep, woody weed infested riverbank adjoining the Excelsior Reserve netball courts (ER1). The site was prepared by first cutting and swabbing the woody weed seedlings and saplings with glyphosate, followed by stem injecting the larger woody weeds with glyphosate. With the aid of contractors the woody weeds were chipped for mulch over June-August.

A symbolic planting of 25 advanced native trees to mark International Tree Day took place on the 25-7-99. In August the Green Corps team improved access to the site by upgrading steps down to the river constructed by TAFE students in 1997, and during September and October they planted over 3,000 riparian rainforest plants on the site.

A Community Tree Planting on Father’s Day the 5-9-99 saw 51 volunteers – mainly fathers and sons – plant 1,100 native plants on the riverbank below the Albert Park sports fields (AP2). The Green Corps team graduated in mid-October and a new team commenced on the 29-11-99. The new Green Corps team began clearing woody weed from the 0.5 Ha Excelsior Reserve stage 2 (ER2) site in mid December.

§ 2000

Gympie & District Landcare started another two teams of Landcare trainees off on the 10-1-00 with funding from the Queensland Government’s ‘Breaking the Unemployment Cycle Program’. These other teams (CJP and CEAP) helped the Green Corps with the considerable site preparation required.

All three teams assisted in preparing a 0.2 Ha site below Albert Park (AP3) and 0.6 Ha at Excelsior Reserve (ER2) for the Clean up Australia Day Community Tree Planting on the 5^th of March 2000. On the day a total of 287 volunteers planted 2,470 riparian rainforest plants (trees, shrubs and groundcovers) in just on 3 hours. The prize for the team with the greatest number of volunteers went to St Patricks College with 80 registered volunteers, followed by James Nash High School with 46 volunteers. Victory College and the Scouts tied with 24 volunteers each. Over the next two months the Green Corps team, along with other landcare trainees and members of the Gympie Netball Association, planted a further 2,798 plants in this section (ER2) of Excelsior Gully.

As part of Olympic Landcare, some 150 volunteers helped plant 3,000 on the 6-8-00 along the lower riverbank between Kidd Bridge and the Touch Football fields. Former Olympian, Graeme Sherman, along with Shire Councillors, school students, Scouts, and many others helped make the event a big success. The Australian Trust for Conservation Volunteers arranged for team of international volunteers to join with Gympie & District Landcare trainees to plant a further 2,807 plants at the site in the following week.

Other minor plantings took place throughout the year. On the 22-3-00 a group of neighbours and landcare volunteers planted 220 plants in the upper section of Scrubby Gully (SG1) and a further 376 plants were planted in Nash Gully. In addition the Green Corps team built a footbridge across the creek in Excelsior Gully during May and the CEAP team built a very impressive footbridge across the creek in Scrubby Gully (SG1) in September. July saw the launch of Gympie Landcare’s first Work for the Dole team, which assisted with site preparation and maintenance along the river as well as giving their primary focus to the revegetation of Deep Creek.

Late November saw the commencement of a new Green Corps team which began work cutting and swabbing the woody and viny weed infestations along the lower section of Scrubby (SG2) and the upper section of Excelsior Gully (ER3). Larger woody weeds were stem injected in preparation for their removal by the excavator-mounted ‘KS Mulcher’.

§ 2001

On the 24-2-01 some 230 volunteers helped plant 1,200 plants in the upper part of Excelsior Gully (ER3) as part of the Centenary of Federation celebrations. Well-known Gympie identity and long-time music teacher, 93 year old Mrs Alvie Williams, planted a commemorative Hoop Pine. The Mayor and Mayoress and neighbouring landholders also joined in to make the day a real success.

A week later on 4-3-01 some 204 volunteers participated in the annual ‘Clean Up Australia Day’ Community Tree Planting, including the new Gympie MLA Elisa Roberts. In all 2,289 native plants were planted in Scrubby Gully (SG2) and below Albert Park (AP4). Students from James Nash High School took out the prize for the most volunteers with a combined total of 101 volunteers participating at the two events. Gympie St Patrick’s College took out the second place with a combined total of 74 volunteers, followed by Gympie State High with 39 participants.

Gympie Landcare trainees and volunteers followed this up in April by planting a further 1,003 plants in Scrubby Gully – with some 822 at the SG2 site and 181 at the SG1 site. Some 547 plants were also ‘in-filled’ at Excelsior Reserve sites (ER1-3), along with a further 60 at the Albert Park sites (AP3-5), and a further 18 in Nash Gully.

At the end of 2001 it was discovered that some 50 two-year-old Bottlebrush trees (Callistemon viminalis) which were planted as part of the Olympic Landcare project near the Kidd Bridge site were stolen (presumably by someone who dug them up and loaded them into a trailer when nobody was watching). Theft of plants from our revegetation sites is, fortunately, a very rare occurrence. They were replaced by 76 mixed species which are doing well and hopefully will get the chance to reach maturity in-situ.

March /April saw the Green Corps team, assisted by the CEAP team, construct a set of log stairs down to the river from behind the Albert Bowls Club. These stairs greatly improved public access through the revegetation sites, provided the teams with valuable experience and facilitated ongoing site maintenance. Cooloola Shire Councillors inspected the progress in late April and were very impressed with the quality of the job.

July saw Gympie & District Landcare receive the 2001 Queensland NHT Rivercare Award in recognition for its efforts in restoring the creek and riverbanks at the Queensland Landcare and Catchment Management Conference in Goondiwindi. Our partner groups also did well in the awards with the Mary River Catchment Coordinating Committee sharing the Queensland Catchment Care Award, Greening Australia (Tiaro) being the runner up for the Rivercare Award and Gympie Landcare’s Lyn Browne gaining a highly commended for her tireless work on the Cats Claw Creeper Management Progam.

In October Gympie & District Landcare gained a major sponsorship package from Landcare Australia and Mitre 10 as part of Mitre 10’s ‘Greatest Home Improvement Project Ever’. One group in each state was selected to receive $10,000 sponsorship towards a Rivercare project and Gympie Landcare chose to use the funds to continue the revegetation work on the riverbank below the Albert Park sports grounds. During October / November the woody and viny weed infestation was cleared from some 1.0 hectares of riverbank (AP5 & 6) by the CJP and Work for the Dole teams, along with the excavator-mounted KS Mulcher and chipping contractors who turned the weeds into mulch.

§ 2002

In February twelve young people commenced a 4 week Landcare New Apprenticeship Access Program (NAAP) and began helping prepare the Albert Park AP5 site for revegetation along with working at other project sites. Five of these young people were selected for Youth for the Environment traineeships with Gympie & District Landcare and three others were recruited into the Green Corps team (see the Six Mile Creek project for details).

The ‘Clean up Australia Day’ Community Tree Planting was held on the 3-3-02 and 260 volunteers turned up to help plant the Albert Park (AP5) site, the revegetation of which was made possible through sponsorship from Mitre 10. James Nash High School and Gympie St Patrick’s College recorded the most participants with each registering 70 volunteers, followed by Gympie State High School. In all 3,012 native plants were planted at the site in three hours.

This was followed up with Landcare trainees and volunteers planting a further 589 plants at the Albert Park (AP6) site and 105 plants at the river’s edge near Excelsior Reserve (ER1) site during May. Following removal of a clump of woody and viny weeds at the head of Nash Gully by contractors assisted by Landcare trainees (ie the CEAP team and the Youth for the Environment trainees) a further 419 native plants were planted at the site. This brought the total planting for the Mitre 10 sponsored project to 4,125 plants.

Survival and growth rates for these plants are excellent despite the severe drought the region is facing and the worst frosts in several decades.

Drought resulted in a decision to postpone further planting and for the first time in five years there has been no Spring planting activities. The trainees have instead concentrated on site maintenance, site preparation, and assisting with plant propagation in the Gympie Landcare Revegetation Nursery.

The exception to this was the planting and mulching of 300 trees on the lower riverbank between Kidd Bridge and the weir in early September to capitalise on the 100mm of rain received in late August. This project was funded by the franchisees of the local McDonalds store to celebrate the opening of their new McCafe.

Mary River Revegetation Project

The Project

Background

Outcomes

Sponsors