The Friends of
Shenton Bushland
Inc.
How will we find our wild hearts inside this city;
How will we find the deep peace?
A. Stevens
Bushland Activities page (blog)
Bushland Management Strategies
Newsletter archive:
Newsletter #42 November 2002
Tenth anniversary coming up!
Public meeting and concert at which Premier Richard Court announced that Shenton Bushland would be saved. Photo: Sue Boland
The Friends of Shenton Bushland turn ten years old next April. We formed as "The Friends of Shenton Park Bushland" in April 1993 after a number of members of the Wildflower Society discovered to their horror that the Government planned to sell the bushland to build an industrial estate. A picture of Joan Biddle appeared in The Post Newspapers, and people began to "discover" the existence of this hidden pocket of bushland.
The changes continue
Over the past ten years, the Friends of Shenton Bushland has evolved from campaigning for saving the bushland towards a long term focus on managing the bushland. Our evolution towards a management focus has been reflected in changes in membership in our group and changes in our style of operation. These changes are continuing to occur.
Learning to work strategically
The involvement of Janice Marshall in our group, and later of Kate Brown, has helped us realize that when the amount of work to be done exceeds the resources available to do it, then the group has to become strategic in the way it operates.
In the "old" days, whenever we noticed an invasion of weeds, we attempted to tackle them. Thus, we spent many hours pulling out lupins and pelargoniums and cutting off gladiolus heads all over the bushland, especially in degraded areas. All the time, we hoped that we were getting "on top" of the problem, but never had the time to check whether that was the case.
With the help of Janice, and then Kate, we have begun to be more scientific in our approach. We now try to:
- map the extent of each weed in the bushland
- identify the risk each weed poses to the bushland
- specify how to control the weed
- develop a management plan
- document our weed management activities, and
- monitor impact of our activities.
Using chemicals
Certain weeds (such as veld grass and many bulbs) are beyond our resources to control by manual means, so we are experimenting with chemical control methods. Early in the life of the group we were strongly opposed to use of such chemical controls, however we now believe we have no option. Kate's experiments with chemical control of Lachenalia (soldiers) and freesias has demonstrated that in certain circumstances, chemical control can be more effective and do less damage than having people trample the bushland pulling out bulbs.
Changing focus
As you can see, the group has spent much of the last 10 years on learning about the technical aspects of managing the bushland. Now the group needs to extend its focus to deal with another challenge: how to become more relevant as a group to the wider community and ensure that new people join and become responsible for managing the bushland.
Our vision for the future
The committee will focus on attending to the membership of our group over the next few years. Our strategy is still evolving and we welcome your ideas. In the past year we have begun to strengthen our linkages with neighbouring schools, and searching for ways to involve teachers, school students, and students' parents in the bushland. We also have links with the University of Western Australia, and have hosted a number of research projects in the bushland. In coming months we will explore ways to involve workers at neighbouring businesses in the bushland as well.
What is your vision for the group?
Every two months we send out over 80 newsletters, of which 40 or so go to interested individuals. If you are one of those individuals, we need to hear from you about the kind of group you would like to be involved in - what are your passions and interests, and what are the barriers that prevent you from being active in the group?
Next year we will hold our 10th anniversary celebrations, and organise a process for exploring our future directions which will involve consultations with our membership. In the meantime, please consider how you would like the Friends of Shenton Bushland to operate that would enable you to be more involved.
Coming activities
Steve McCabe is running his Thursday mornings in the bushland, so if you are free between 9.00 am and 11.00 am on Thursdays. Call Steve on 9273 3575 to join in.
We also work in the bushland on Sunday mornings from 8.00 am to 10.00am, meeting at 'the shed' at 8.00 to plan our activities. At this time of year we are preparing for the coming summer. This involves removing debris from around habitat trees, collecting seeds for future plantings, removing seed heads from weed species.
Next Meeting
NOTE: New location for meeting!
This will be held on Thursday 21st November at 7.30 pm at 117 Derby Road, Shenton Park.