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 #49 March 2004
Welcome to the newsletter of the Friends of Shenton Bushland
Inc. We are a community group looking after a 25 hectare bushland in Perth's
Western Suburbs. We meet each Sunday morning to perform a variety of tasks
ranging from weed removal, seed collecting, planting and monitoring our
work. Call Dani on (08) 9381 3470 if you wish to join in our activities.
In the bushland
Feral bee control
Over summer we discovered a feral bee hive in an old hollow Tuart. Being concerned that feral bees tend to occupy precious bird nesting hollows, and also to displace native bees, we contacted local bee-keepers (Henry and John). Henry and John researched how to deal with the bees, and (at some risk to themselves!) removed the hive. Thanks Henry and John.
Moving house
The Selby Child and Adolescent Clinic is relocating from the old Lemnos Hospital building to a site adjacent to the Family Pathways facility in Stubbs Terrace. This has involved some clearing of vegetation, including mature trees. We have arranged for a teacher and students at Shenton College to propagate plants for landscaping around this facility using locally collected seeds (with proceeds from sale of the seeds to the Health Department being used to support the Shenton College greenhouse facility).
Plantings slashed
A Health Department contractor has slashed all of the shrubs we have planted since 2000 along the powerline track adjacent to Grace Vaughan House and Shenton College. We have asked for an explanation and procedures to be put in place to prevent this ever happening again, We are also asking for money to pay for replanting these shrubs. The Health Department paid over $6000 for these seedlings in 2000 and 2002.
Want to get involved?
We are looking for people to help us look after the bushland. In particular we need volunteers to:
* liaise with local schools to foster educational use of the bushland. This would be an ideal job for a retired teacher who likes working with children and teachers.
* manage our noticeboards. This is a job for people who like to collect information about the bushland and create attractive and informative displays to help visitors to the bushland appreciate its beauty.
* produce our guided walks. This is a job for a person with botanical or zoological skills to capture the changing face of the bushland throughout the year and produce informative pamphlets for visitors
* publicise activities. This would be an ideal job for a person comfortable in using the phone and keeping our members informed and involved in managing our bushland.
Coming events
Shenton Bushland Events
We are planning six events for the year to involve the wider community.
Please watch out for these events (dates will be announced soon) and let us know if you can help organizing them:
(a) Fungi foray - June
(b) Planting day - July
(c) Weed barrier fencing
(d) Bush-to-beach walk – September
(e) Roadshow & Celebration – September (see EcoPlan courses below)
(f) Lupin mulch – October
FungiMap seminar
April 5 – Neale Bougher is giving a talk at UWA on using Fungi in bush revegetation in the wheatbelt – call UWA on 6488 3445 of more details.
City to Port Cycle Day
We will be advertising ourselves (and promoting the Bush-To-Beach trail) at Shenton Park Railway Station on Sunday 28 March 10-11am – contact Dani (9381 3470) if you can help on the day.
Skills for Nature Conservation
Ecoplan, Greening Australia, and Swan Catchment Centre have organised some excellent courses for this year. Some that are relevant to Shenton Bushland include:
(a) April 17 – Understanding bushland soils and plants (McCrum)
(b) May 15 – Planting for restoration (Keighery, Brown, Clarke)
(c) May 26 – Attracting volunteers (Marketing Consultant)
(d) June 12 – Exploring ecosystems (Keighery, Dell)
(e) June 19 – Keeping your group going (O’Byrne, Friends of Allen Park)
(f) July 3 – Bushland condition assessment (Keighery, Cullity, Brown)
(g) August 7 – Nyoongar cultural awareness (Hayward)
(h) September 4 – Roadshow & Celebration - Bushland visits (tour Claise Brook, City of Gosnells, Shenton Bushland, Ellis Brook)
(i) September 11 & October 9 – Managing weeds (Randall, Brown, Cullity)
(j) October 30 – Minibeasts (McCrum, Powell)
Phone 9374 3333 if you wish to enrol or find out more about any of these courses.
Next Meeting
Our next meeting is an Annual General Meeting – Thursday 25 March – committee present reports on activities for the past 12 months – and new committee is appointed. Roz Hart will be telling us about the fungi research project. All welcome (7.30 pm, 117 Derby Road, Shenton Park).