Community caring for crown lands
One step up from leaving just footsteps, Hanging Rock Landcare has been rallying the troops to support restoration action around this popular swimming hole
Capacity building - LEP_23_033_LLC_10
The issue
Hanging Rock Falls has long been a treasured place for the local community. In recent years, however, social media has introduced this beautiful swimming hole located on a crown reserve to a broader audience, attracting visitors from far and wide.
Most people arrive by car, walk the short track through the forest to reach the waterfall, enjoy the plunge, soak it all up and head onward to the next 'insta' worthy site. On a good day visitors leave only footprints but often with a smattering of litter in their wake and limited regard for the surrounding environmental context. The lush subtropical rainforest setting has a flipside of the prolific nature of invasive weeds especially adjacent to waterways.
The solution
A leap beyond indulgent recreation, a handful of committed locals have been rolling up their sleeves and giving back to the site ensuring that the riparian area surrounding this waterhole is on the right trajectory to being healthy dry rainforest as pristine as the water that runs through it.
The Hanging Rock Landcare Group meets on the first Tuesday of every month to tackle the invasive weeds and make way for native species through both planting and natural recruitment. With assistance from the Border Ranges Richmond Valley Landcare Network's local Landcare coordinator, the group were successful with a grant through the Crown Land Improvement Fund. This funding has enabled a professional bush regeneration contractor team to work alongside the volunteers each month, making significant progress on weed control while providing practical mentoring in effective and efficient bush regeneration techniques.
The impact
This collaboration is building the skills, confidence and capacity of the volunteer group improving plant identification, understanding of vegetation communities and restoration approaches while delivering lasting environmental outcomes. The signs of stewardship are showing through, and the buzzing motivation of the group is attracting new members with expanding interests in monitoring the environmental changes occurring.
The Hanging Rock Landcare group recently joined the Richmond River Ecological Health Program becoming part of the Richmond Riverkeepers team monitoring riparian condition and river health at the site through biannual macroinvertebrate and water quality surveys.
This is what caring for country is all about.