updating the fire management plan for Shenton Bushland. FESA has a clause that suggests control burns if fuel loading exceeds 5 tons/ha, regardless of other environmental considerations,
searching for alternative ways to document our activities in the bushland to assist in evaluating our effectiveness at the end of the year,
linking with nearby schools such as Moerlina, Quintilian, and Shenton College to enable the schools to use the bushland as an educational resource, and
applying for funding for research, such as a bird-banding study - looking at impacts of bushland fragmentation upon bird population movements within and between bushland remnants.

These issues are still on-going, and we welcome your input to them at our committee meetings.

New issues for 2003

We recently were invited to complete a volunteer satisfaction survey produced by the Nedlands Volunteer Service.

This survey highlighted the need for the Friends of Shenton Bushland to look at ways of improving the way we respond to potential new members - producing induction materials, facilitating training and support, and ensuring that we are meeting the needs of our volunteers.

We hope to get assistance from the Nedlands Volunteer Service to improve our performance in this area, and invite anyone interested in being our 'volunteer facilitator' to get in touch (call Dani on 9381 3470).

Also coming up this year is our 10th anniversary. We hope to make this an 'open day' and an opportunity for all volunteers in bushlands and councillors within the City of Nedlands and the wider community to celebrate with us.

If you have ideas for this event, and can help us organise it, please get in touch (call Dani on 9381 3470).

We are thinking of changing the time of our weekly sessions in the bushland. Early (8am) Sunday mornings may not suit everyone! If you are keen to be involved, but find Sunday mornings too difficult, please let Dani know.

Activities in the bushland

It is seed collecting time of year again in Shenton Bushland. And, not just by humans! The Black Cockatoos were very active over Christmas, and the banksia cones and dryandra branches scattered around on the ground are a testament to their activities.

They appear to be quite selective in the cones that they eat, and the bits that they chew out of the cones. According to the "Carnaby's Facts" website (http://www.kwongan.asn.au/teachers/carnaby/carnaby_facts.html) the Carnaby's Cockatoo has suffered a massive decline over the last 150 years, from hundreds of thousands before European settlement to one tenth of their numbers.

It seems that these Cockatoos love the wood-boring moth larvae that live in the timber and flowering spikes of various trees. Thus, the seasonal visits by these birds to Shenton Bushland may be an important way of preventing larvae outbreaks that could severely damage the plants.

Jacksonia furcellata seeds will soon be ready to collect, and there are also lots of Jarrah seeds ripening from last year. Depending on our plans for planting in degraded areas in 2004, we may be collecting these seeds during the next month or so.

One of the teachers at Shenton College (Trevor Whittle) has set up a greenhouse in the school grounds, and we have given him some seeds for germinating shrubs to plant beside the powerline path along the western boundary of Shenton College this winter.

Next Meeting

NOTE: New location for meeting!

This will be held on 16th January at 7.30 pm at 117 Derby Road, Shenton Park. We will be evaluating our activities for last year, and planning our program for the coming year, so if you are interested to find out what we have been up to, and what we plan to do, come along! All welcome. Call Dani on 9381 3470 so that we can arrange refreshments.

This newsletter is produced by the Friends of Shenton Bushland.

Created by Daniel Boase-Jelinek August 2004

All photographs are copyright of Daniel Boase-Jelinek unless otherwise indicated.

The logo of the Friends of Shenton Bushland is copyright of June L. Weller

Last updated November 2006