Friends of the Colo is a volunteer managed Landcare group formed in 2000 to assist the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service and other Colo River catchment landowners in eradicating introduced pest species, including Willows, Lantana, Cape Ivy, Tree of Heaven and Honey Locust from the World Heritage Wollemi Wilderness Area and the land that surrounds. The group runs about 12 remote activities each year in the Wollemi National Park and other National Parks that are part of or associated to the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, they varying from a weekend to a week in duration. Most of these activities are in remote and trackless parts of the Wollemi Wilderness, so they are suitable only for experienced bush walkers or pack rafters and are not open to volunteers from general pubic, unless they can demonstrate their remote area bushwalking experience. The group also has a second program in other catchments in New South Wales called "Willow Warriors". This program controls weeds along rivers and other waterways across South East NSW from Greater Sydney to the Victorian border. The Willow Warrior's program runs kayaking activities in Great Sydney in partnership with various council bushcare programs and National Parks rangers. These are run for new volunteers from the general public and the Bushcare Community with the boats. tools and instruction provided for the volunteers. The Willow Warriors program also run whitewater rafting activities on rivers though out South East New South Wales, mapping, treating and monitoring willows and other weeds. These activities are open to experienced paddlers and are generally multi-day activities as we need to allow time to do the weed control tasks as well as paddle the river and so we usually camp overnight on the river.
Projects
The Willows out of Wollemi was a project that started with a goal of removing Black Willows from the Wollemi National Park by NPWS staff and volunteers and moved onto a volunteer Landcare program to remove Black Willows from the entire Colo Catchment. The project is still expanding to control Black Willows in adjoining catchments to prevent re-infestation of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area and Hawkesbury Floodplain Wetlands