Floraville Ridge and Rainforest Landcare Group have worked at Floraville Ridge and Rainforest Reserve since 2002 and currently complete an average of 15 hours work on the site each week.
The group have been involved in constructing a track through the gully to the ridge, effectively completing the linkage of the Floraville Ridge and Rainforest Reserve with Green Point Foreshore Reserve.
The Landcare Group also run community awareness programs on site to raise the profile of the natural environment and to encourage the community to protect native species and help minimize weed species. The group has successfully removed many weed species from areas of the site including Lantana, Small-leafed Privet, Honeysuckle and Bitou. They have replanted with fire-retardant native species in an effort to reduce the risk of fire to neighbouring properties.
Winsome Lambkin describes, “When we are working with bush regenerators in the Floraville Rainforest Gully, we are finding native plants whenever we clear away weeds. In the first few weeks, we slowly made our way up the slope towards a Port Jackson Fig, removing Bitou Bush, Lantana, Honeysuckle and Privet. On the way, we discovered Cabbage Tree Palms, Cassine, Wilkiea, Notelaea, Alphitonia, Alectryon, Diploglottis and Guioa along with species of climbers, ferns and fungi and one large Strangler Fig”.
Winsome continued, “our plan is to remove weeds from around the larger native trees thus allowing for natural regeneration. We have already noted that Acacia, Omalanthus, Trema and Alphitonia have grown on cleared tracks and this is an indication that the area has a high resilience, with a variety of viable seed. A more tedious task has been the removal of Crofton Weed tangled with Honeysuckle, along the creek bed”.
A magnificent grouping of Cabbage Tree Palms Livistona australis growing in the rainforest area.