Landcare-leafletDownload

In 2012, Port Macquarie Landcare Group (PMLG) secured funding of $250,000 to commence a 6-year project to rehabilitate Wrights and Yarranabee Creeks in urban Port Macquarie. That funding, together with labour from Councils' two Bush Regeneration Teams and Landcare volunteers, resulted in well over $2,000,000 dollars of additional investment in the environment in Port Macquarie during that period. The project brought in new Landcare members, as neighbours saw work happening adjacent to their properties.

The project covered significant remnant forest corridors that survive on Yarranabee and Wrights creeks. They included three state and/or nationally threatened ecological communities that provide habitat to at least 11 threatened animals and two threatened plants. This biodiversity was threatened by weeds that also increase fire risk to these sensitive riparian areas. The project controlled weeds from the top of each catchment, following Asset Protection Zones establishment by the Council. Landcarers led community groups and neighbours by coordinating contractors to regenerate these reserves and their precious cargo.

Revegetation with fire-retardant rainforest species has sealed edges, extended corridors and improved links. Connectivity has improved, biodiversity and threatened species have benefitted and ecosystem services have been enhanced. Macquarie Nature Reserve and Kooloonbung Creek have benefitted from the reduction in weeds upstream from their valuable ecological systems.

These works have covered 56ha, bringing the total area worked on to 80ha and substantially increasing Landcare's visibility. Ongoing work to control weeds on these much-improved catchments is the main on-ground activity of PMLG and we meet for working bees every Tuesday morning.

Enviro Trust Project 2018Download

This project is one where the local people have decided to help themselves and at the same time help their local environment. Originally established in 2013 by Joy Rodwell who, as a keen member of the local walking group, decided to tackle the weeds and rubbish that was overcoming the natural assets of Queens Lake.

This area is ecologically significant, boasting an endangered community of Swamp Oak Forest and several threatened species: Glossy Black Cockatoo, Powerful Owl, and Yellow-bellied Gliders that are either residents or visitors to the site. The other ecological communities present are Wet Sclerophyll Forest and Mangrove Forest. The area of 26 ha is threatened by weed invasion of bird-dispersed species from neighbouring urban gardens and water-borne weeds arriving via stormwater drains.

Early challenges included: working out who the project's neighbours are, where the boundaries are located (it always hurts to weed someone else's property) and getting to know how the site will respond over time to the weeding interventions.

The Port Macquarie Landcare - Blair Reserve project commenced officially in 2004 with the construction of a raised boardwalk, to which concrete paths have been progressively added. Walking paths now link Hart, Hassall and Pettit Streets and provide ready access to the oval and children's play equipment in Blair Street. The total area is 3.13 hectares.

Blair Reserve forms a critical link in the system of vegetated corridors that link many parts of the Port Macquarie urban area, thus allowing enhanced movement of native wildlife from one area to another. Three threatened species are included in the 72 birds, 5 frogs and 3 mammals found within Blair Reserve. The Koala is a regular feature on a walk through the Reserve. The local volunteers making up the Blair Reserve team have alone provided nearly 20,000 hours of labour, removing/mulching weeds and adding over 15,000 plants (including 3,000 Koala food trees).

The Blair Reserve team works in conjunction with Hastings Council, local schools and the Green Gym to improve wildlife habitat and the visual amenity of Blair Reserve. One example of cooperation with local schools occurred in December 2008 when 21 Port Macquarie High School students arrived by coach at Blair Reserve, ready to support the on-going Landcare / Hastings Council project. They joined 8 volunteers on site, and some 895 plants were added to the Reserve in a mighty combined effort during the four hour period. The work included weeding, digging holes for plants and then placing the plants in the ground, mulching and watering.

The Blair Reserve team is gradually restoring this valuable piece of bushland by replacing invasive pest (introduced) plants with indigenous native species. This includes planting in and along two creek-lines, actually in the creek bed with water loving grasses and sedges, and in the adjacent riparian zone. These plants will be beneficial in preventing erosion and in providing excellent habitat for local wildlife.

Members of the public are invited to enjoy the walk through the Reserve (accessed from Hart, Hassall, Pettit or Blair Streets' and particularly to join the happy team of volunteers.

The ‘Sunday Champions’ volunteers meet monthly to help support the restoration of bushland along Wrights Creek. They work at a number of sites between Flynn Street and Lake Road. Activities include weeding, bush regeneration and tree planting. 

The team have embarked on tree planting to help sustain habitat for local Koalas along lower Wrights Creek. Plantings have featured Koala food trees amongst other local rainforest and woodland species. Since 2021 300 seedlings have been planted and maintained along Wrights Creek from Grant St to Lake Road. 

The plantings feature key habitat trees to increase the diversity of food and shelter available for Koalas and other local wildlife along the Wrights Creek Corridor between Kooloonbung Creek Nature Park and Macquarie Nature Reserve.  

Port Macquarie Landcare volunteers have been working on Wrights and Yarranabee Creeks since 2015. Our teams continue to look after these sites by removing invasive weeds to regenerate the bush. This work preserves the legacy of previous efforts and is adding to the value of habitat available for wildlife. 

Volunteering is a great way to learn about and protect our local environment, and provides a rewarding social activity. Each working bee is followed by a visit to a local café to share stories and celebrate our work.

The arrival of European settlers into Birpai country triggered a changing environment which would negatively impact so many local species of fauna and flora. For more than 20 years, Landcare has been working to regenerate the bushland and wildlife corridors around and in Port Macquarie.

This stunning book gives an insight into the wonderful projects completed by the Port Macquarie Landcare group over the years. One example is the beautiful Lilypond in Mimosa Reserve – where once there was an old dam with masses of Lantana, the Landcare volunteers have created a tranquil koala habitat mixed with rainforest. 

Current projects are also covered in the book, including weed clearing and regeneration of Queens Lake Walking Trail – a haven for more than 95 bird species. Landcare volunteers work to foster and consolidate this avian diversity. The Koala Corridor from Rosendahl Reserve to Yarranabee Creek is another important project, providing a safe path for koalas and all the wildlife using the corridor.

The Landcare Nursery has a delightful story, starting on the balcony of a unit – the home of one of Landcare’s members, and growing over the years into today’s Nursery in Blackbutt Road.

Learn about all the wonderful volunteers and the many others who contribute to Landcare work to regenerate Port Macquarie’s bushlands. These include Hastings Council, contractors, Services Clubs, Work for the Dole participants, and many others.

Discover the many ways children have been involved in Port Macquarie Landcare including young students at Hastings Public School planting a variety of young native trees in the school’s rainforest. The skills these children learn will stay with them for life.

This beautiful book, which celebrates the ambitious achievements of all those involved in Port Macquarie Landcare, has hundreds of photos and is filled with all sorts of useful information about bush regeneration, weed control, etc. There is also a section on the EnviroTrust Project – a project with two objectives – to restore habitat, and to increase community awareness of the values of native vegetation.

Be inspired by this wonderful journey of urban bush regeneration – pick up your copy of the book at Sea Acres Rainforest Centre, Port Macquarie.

Nursery Species List OctDownload

Since 2002, Landcare has been restoring the old quarry at Mahogany Hill for koalas and other wildlife. Mother koalas and their joeys use this area, making it 'prime' habitat.

Old growth sclerophyll forest remains on part of the site, and this has been managed for weed control. The rest had been quarried, leaving a bare clay pit. It was littered with dumped rubbish, and subject to flooding that extended to nearby homes.

With the help of Port Macquarie-Hastings Council, 6 truckloads of builders waste and weeds were carted away, feral trees were felled, and a compacted clay berm was built to control runoff. Through Hastings Landcare, Council provided $3000 in Environmental Levy Grant money to restore native vegetation. This was matched by 1000 hours of volunteer work by community groups.

Landcarers mulched large sections, and planted 600 koala food trees and wattles (which fix nitrogen). Natural regeneration is now transforming the former wasteland into an inviting bushland retreat, and soil erosion is under control.

Conservation Volunteers Australia erected post-and-rail fences around regenerating areas, with materials provided by Council. A large area in the middle of the quarry was retained as an adventure play area, where local kids play on bike jumps using piles of earth provided by Landcare.

The quarry has wet areas and infertile soils but swamp mahoganies thrive there, acting as living pumps and growing with surprising speed. Control of weedy grasses and garden escapes such as Mother of Millions, keep Landcare busy there.

Motor vehicles are excluded from this project, which forms an important part of green wildlife corridors through Port Macquarie. It also meets the needs of local people for passive recreation, play, and participation in a rewarding activity.

The story of this site is about who you know and networking. It includes four land managers and five organisations.

It began when Bill Peel met Estelle Gough, 6 years ago. Bill and Thomas had just bought their pad at Seachange and Bill was volunteering for Council and Land-care.

The work began on Seachange land then expanded to Council land and into the gardens of both Seachange and Flynns on Surf (a neighbouring resort). National Parks and Wildlife Service then shifted their management focus in Macquarie Nature Reserve to meet up with the Landcare work. Conservation Volunteers Australia and East Port High have also sweated on the site, along with residents and resort managers Richard and Caroline, (who do a mean morning tea).

In the last year Bill has recorded at Seachange more than 60 birds including a rare Rose Robin as well as threatened species such as Powerful Owl, Koala, Black Bittern and Grey-Headed Flying Fox.

Our greatest success to date (apart from the cooperation of land managers) is the arrival of a Brush Turkey 18 months ago and the establishment of an active mound on the Council reserve outside Flynns on Surf's swimming pool, which is a great boon to Richard and Caroline's business.

Both properties are participating in the Council's 'Weed Swap', removing many, many Liriope.

Our challenges are to maintain our net-work, remove the remaining Syngonium and get the upstream portion of Wrights Creek under bush regeneration. NOT MUCH TO ASK, but we are working on it! See Wrights and Yarranabee Creeks Project for details on how we have started at the top of both these catchments of which this project is now part.

Welcome to the Widderson Street Landcare Site. This site was originally a neglected parcel of land, nearly in the centre of town, adjacent to Westport High School, Historic Douglas Vale Winery, and Westport Primary School. This site had always held a lot of potential for revegetation. Port Macquarie Landcare was given the task to revegetate and maintain the site.

The work commenced in 2007 under the supervision of Jai Cooper (site co-ordinator) with the assistance of Hastings Council, on the installation of timber bollards along the access road, to stop motor vehicles being parked under the canopy of trees.

This work was then quickly followed by mass plantings into the designated replanting areas

Volunteers are always welcome. This area was planted out on a 'Corporate Volunteer Planting Day' with staff members from GE Money, Port Macquarie, supervised by Landcare stalwart Estelle and other Landcare members.

Hastings Council carried out some drainage works to improve the flow of stormwater runoff

The site has many regular visitors and permanent residents. Birds, Animals and Insects are regularly spotted on the site and are expected to increase in number and variety as the plants continue to grow.

The site had an extensive make over in 2016 with the removal of all the mature Camphor Laurel onsite and the subsequent replanting of the site on National Tree Day of the same year. Landcare continue to maintain the site.

This project was commenced in 2005 in an area adjacent to Moondarra Tce. and Spindrift Row on the flood plain and banks of Rushcutter water course.

This work has met with great approval by the neighbours and interested parties, however, the volunteers were in the position of fighting against the flood plains natural function of transporting weed seeds onto the site. This highlighted the need for more strategic planning when commencing a site. Often sites are commenced by neighbours who would like to 'take care of the bush' behind their house. This is commendable but leads to ineffective results overall. Looking at the whole catchment gives a good indication of where the problems are likely to come from. Until this is addressed the work on the downstream area will be wasted.

Work has been done recently by the council to assess the health of all their urban reserves, prioritising sites to be worked on. This will greatly assist Port Macquarie Landcare Group to plan more strategically effective sites.

Rushcutter Reserve will continue to be maintained but new works will be focused along Bangalay Drive, Mariners Way and Timber Ridge, which is at the very top of the Catchment. This will result in better outcomes for the area first commenced along with greater satisfaction for the volunteers. The benefits of the new strategy can be seen in the prolific flowering of the Threatened Species Melaleuca biconvexa found on this site.

The major parts of the reserve reached ecological maintenance in December 2012 and was been returned to the Council Natural Resources Section's Bush Regeneration Team for ongoing maintenance.

Due to lack of resources in Council Landcare have again started assisting on the original part of site.

Rushcutter ReportDownload
EnviroTrustProject2018-1Download
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Some tips for propagation:

  1. Wet seed raising mix first, this allows even spreading of seed if necessary.
  2. Soak each sown tray with fungicide at time of sowing to eliminate damping off etc. in seedlings
  3. If having trouble with some Allocasuarinas and casuarinas use of vam inoculum (vesicular-arbuscular mycoprhiza) proved very successful.
  4. Fertilise weekly with liquid fertiliser at half strength, 10 litre watering can to 10 trays holding 96 forestry tubes. Exceptions; Casuarinas, Banksias, Grevilleas and Acacias.
  5. Always use super tubes for large fast growing trees e.g. Eucalypts, Brachychiton, Lophostemon etc.
  6. Sugar syrup 1 tablespoon per litre.

Further reading:

Plant Propagation TipsDownload
1-CoolTemperateRainforestDownload
2-DryRainforestDownload
3A-GalleryRainforestDownload
3B-GalleryRainforestComboyneDownload
4A-LittoralRainforestClaysDownload
4B-LittoralRainforestSandDownload
5A-STRFLowlandandfoothillsDownload
5B-STRFComboyneDownload
6A-SubtropicalCoastalFloodplainForestDownload
6B-SubTropicalCoastalFloodplainForestDownload
7-WetSclerophylForestDownload
8-SwampSclerophyllForestDownload
9A-SwampOakForestBrackishDownload
9B-SwampOakForestSalineDownload
10HeathyWoodlandDownload
11A-DrySclerophyllForestClayDownload
11B-DrySclerophyllForestSandDownload
12-CoastalBanksiaWoodlandDownload
13-LowlandForestDownload
14-ThemedaHeadlandDownload

Swap your weeds at the Port Macquarie Landcare Nursery.

Weed Swap BrochureDownload

Master Weed ManualDownload

For the past 25 years students, teachers and parents have been restoring the rainforest vegetation adjacent to their school grounds. Native vegetation surrounds half of the school's boundary, including the wetlands along Yarranabee Creek.

For the past 5 years the 'Environment Friends' have been busy with regular working bees in the rainforest project site. This enthusiastic group of students in Years 3 - 6 are involved with the ongoing rainforest restoration project - including tasks such as weeding, collecting rubbish, mulching, planting trees, and watering. In recent years we have sourced Environment Levy Funding from Port Macquarie-Hastings Council / Hastings Landcare, Community Grants from NRMA and a Tree Levy from the NSW Teachers Federation.

Tree donations have been made by the Australian Plants Society, Port Macquarie Landcare Community Nursery and the local Koala Preservation Society.

Information signs have been donated by the Friends of Kooloonbung Creek Nature Park.

In 2013 This site outside the school grounds became part of the Wrights and Yarranabee Creeks Rehabilitation Project and continues to be maintained by Landcare volunteers.

Welcome to the Westport High School Landcare Site at Findlay Avenue Port Macquarie. The Westport High Environment Team has been operating over ten years. The students have a wide ranging interest in environmental issues.

Further wildlife investigations into the Westport High School Rainforest are being conducted by the students in the Westport Environment Team using their infra red and motion detecting cameras. Westport High is in a unique educational position in Australia surrounded by a floral diversity of rainforest, wet sclerophyll, swamp species and key koala habitat. It appears that no other High School in Australia can match this natural environment.

Various botanists have identified over 50 species of flora with rainforest plants being dominant. Incredible sightings of spotted tailed quoll, gliders, banded rail, wallabies, kangaroo, regent and satin bower birds and sea eagles have occurred along with resident populations of koalas and land mullet.

New South Wales Koala Preservation Society relocates released koalas to Westport High because of its key koala habitat. Major planting of koala food trees were completed in the 1980s and were used as fodder trees for the Koala Hospital. They now provide food trees for mature koalas. The lack of dogs in the school grounds is of key importance in release and the High school provides this through its security fence even though passage of koalas over the fences needs to be addressed.

Westport High School's Forest is located in a central location in Port Macquarie that provides key wildlife links and corridors.

To the north it is connected to the paper bark forest on Hastings River Drive extending to the forested Land Council site.

To the east it links to the forest across Findlay Avenue next to Westport High.

To the south it links with forest in the Community Health grounds.

To the West it links with Westport Primary school and its koala trees and climbing poles and to the Landcare site on Widderson Street.

Westport Environment Team students will be checking their remote cameras at the beginning of next Term and hope to have some exciting photos of the spotted quoll.

This project is regenerating littoral rainforest and managing weeds in an area where sandmining was followed by the introduction of bitou bush decades ago.

Dunecarers were working to stabilise shifting sand dunes by planting natives in 1993. A photo taken at the walkway to the beach shows scattered Banksias and only bare earth along the sewer line.

To help protect the dunes and vegetation, volunteers from Landcare and Douglas Vale built the surf viewing platform, funded by a grant from Council in 2004.

You can see the platform in the photo from 2005 of students from Port High, who mulched and planted seedlings from the fledgling Landcare Community Nursery.

Work resumed in 2009 with weed removal and native plantings along Matthew Flinders Drive by St Josephs Regional College and St Columba Anglican School. Council sprayed grass weeds and sent its water cart to working bees.

Landcare hired a bobcat to remove building waste and to spread mulch over a wide area, with funding from CFOC Reversing Rainforest Retreat. Logs were laid in erosion gullies to slow stormwater outflows and protect the densely- planted native seedlings.

Green Jobs Corps removed dead wattle trees and helped with revegetation, making a training video in the process.

Native groundcovers have returned and most planted seedlings survive, thanks to good rainfall. Landcarers are kept busy weeding and spraying.

Natural regeneration continues and many rainforest species are appearing. Our aim is to see resilient bushland in this important the wildlife corridor.

This reserve has been returned to Council Natural Resources Section's Bush Regeneration Team for ongoing maintenance.

This was the 9th Project taken on by the Port Macquarie Landcare Group Inc, in early 2003 under the management of Dr Noel Kinny. This bushland reserve has a healthy intact section of Subtropical Rainforest bordered on the North by a degraded, weed infested wetland and drainage area. This bushland is important to all the works carried out further down in Rushcutter Reserve as it is at the top of the catchment. It will reduce the likelihood of weed spread through the waterway to the detriment of the lower catchment, which eventually flows into Lake Innes. The work undertaken has been a staged approach of weed removal and revegetation.

There had been an ongoing problem of rubbish dumping on the site. The improvements to the site by Noel have reduced this to a minimum. The most vexing problem is the destruction of vegetation by youngsters building bike tracks and cubby houses. Yes, the youth of Port Macquarie do not have a lot of places dedicated to them, and we do want to see them enjoying the bush but not destroying it. Unknown to the youngsters and perhaps their parents is that for every tree that is cut down there is a $220 fine.

Noel and Margaret decided to retire (again) in 2010. They have left Timber Ridge in a far better state than they found it. The local neighbours and wildlife benefit everyday from the work this dedicated couple put in over the previous seven years.

At Landcare we are always conscious of planning for the generational change in personnel on our sites. Without this planning, retirement would be difficult and our sites would go backwards. Happily we had a team ready to take up where Noel left off. The team works on the 3rd and 4th Thursday of each month and are always looking for extra helpers. There has been some large scale work on the site with the help of students from St Josephs Regional High School and The Green Jobs Team. This complements the previous work carried out on site. The ultimate aim is to revegetate the whole area to extend the remnant Subtropical Rainforest from lady Elliot Court to Timber Ridge, incorporating the rehabilitated wetland area.

This reserve reached ecological maintenance in December 2012 and has been returned to the Council Natural Resources Section's Bush Regeneration Team for ongoing maintenance.

Timber Ridge ReportDownload

This project commenced in July 2001. It involved the installation of steps to replace an informal path, and the removal of invasive weed species Lantana Bitou Bush and Senna. This site has been managed as a natural bush regeneration area due to the rich Littoral Rainforest seed bank. It has been very slow but is showing signs of good progress now. The new growth trees and shrubs are starting to do their job of shading out the introduced grass species. This process will be ongoing for several more years, the only work to be done by the group will be maintenance weeding.

One of the interesting results we found was the ability of Blady grass to out compete the introduced grasses, mainly paspalum.

When walking up the steps the result of the plantings on the right hand shading out the annuals and grasses side can be seen.

This is a very difficult site to work and the dedicated small group of experienced volunteers should be congratulated on the results.

This reserve reached ecological maintenance and has been returned to the Council Natural Resources Section's Bush Regeneration Team for ongoing maintenance.

The Nobby's Beach Landcare site covers the area between Nobby's Beach headland and Flynn's Beach. Nobby's is one of the few dog leash free beaches in Port Macquarie. The idea of forming a Landcare group goes back to 2009 when a number of people - including Randall Smallwood (an experienced Landcarer); Ed and Kelly Laming; Heather Rawson; Rob Eddy; Nicky, Jeremy and Daniel Rourke; Bill Webster; and Jill and Ron Keating- became well acquainted through regularly exercising their hounds at the beach.

They became enthused about the idea of making it a site and after some administrative delays the first working bee was held in November 2010, with 14 people turning out. There are now 25 active members and an average of 16 on site each month working with direction and support from Randall and Port Macquarie Hastings Council's knowledgeable Ecological Officer, Bill Peel.

The project has $15,000 of Bitou Threat Abatement Plan (TAP) funding for bush regeneration crews, and $45,000 in-kind from PMHC for spraying, admin and ecological studies that is managed by Council. Apart from hot summer conditions, the size and slope of the site, and excessive amounts of litter collected and removed each working bee.

This site reached ecological maintenance in December 2016 and has been returned to the Council Natural Resources Sections's Bush Regeneration Team for ongoing maintenance.

Two new homes were recently established in the Merinda Reserve at Port Macquarie. These sturdy dwellings were constructed by the handy craftsmen at Douglas Vale, using only the finest natural timbers (one also comes with carpet).

Mounted high on eucalypt trees and overlooking the bushland canopy, the homes have a picturesque south-easterly aspect. The residences would be well suited to either a feathered or furry family, with tendencies for nocturnal habits.

A relatively quiet area within a koala corridor, this bushland cul-de-sac has only occasional pedestrian traffic. However, the Koala Hospital staff has been seen relocating various individuals to the area over the years.

Neighbours will include the highly reproductive Tawny Frogmouth family (parents annually producing 3 or 4 chicks) but who pretty much keep to themselves, the rowdy galahs nesting in the old hollow, and a diamond python snake. Numerous other birds will fly in and out on the area depending on seasons, and the koalas will be constantly climbing the tree next door and keeping you up nights when mating in Spring and Summer.

With the assistance of several Landcare members and volunteers, the homes were erected in no time at all. A 9am start saw numerous neighbours arrive on site with ladders, hammers, socket set spanners, cordless tools, nails and screws - and the prefabricated homes.

The construction event was well catered, with fresh cakes and biscuits enjoyed along with hot and cold beverages late in the morning.

A good excuse for a neighbourhood get-together for the festive season.

Regenerating the Wildlife Corridor at Lighthouse Beach.

This project builds on 20 years of volunteer work by a Dunecare group led by Steve Cartwright. They encourage natural regeneration, by minimising disturbance as they remove the introduced species that threaten biodiversity. This in turn stabilises the sand dunes.

The work is enhancing Lighthouse Beach's connection with Sea Acres Nature Reserve to the north, and Christmas Bells Plain/Lake Innes Nature Reserve to the south.

Native plants on the dunes include Coast Banksia, Coastal Wattle, Coastal Teatree, Pigface and the edible Wild Spinach. Coast Banksia is a keystone species that creates conditions for the regeneration of Littoral Rainforest, which is gradually spreading along the beach from the north.

This regeneration was recommended by the Bill Peel Bushland Review to provide security against sea level rise and coastal recession associated with climate change. Littoral Rainforest has state and federal significance, so the site has attracted Caring For Our Country funds. Recently corporate sponsor Barefoot Radler contributed $10,000 to the site.

Restoring the corridor will benefit sedentary and migratory birds, and animals such as grey-headed flying foxes, which feed on the Banksia flowers in winter. In turn they help to spread seeds and regenerate the bush.

Lighthouse Beach Dunecare are helped by Council, contract bush regenerators, Green Gym and school students, who are learning about coastal vegetation and the impacts of climate change.

Neighbours will be engaged too, using "Grow Me Instead" brochures to explain the impact of garden escapes and the advantages of growing natives.

This reserve has been returned to Council Natural Resources Section's Bush Regeneration Team for ongoing maintenance.

Lily Pond Reserve was the first project encompassed by the Port Macquarie Landcare Group. It is found at the eastern end of Koala Street, taking in about 1.5 hectares of lovely protected forests and a designated headwater wetland.

This site and its three protected forest types and wetland zone are home to over 115 species of birds (a five year study program), water dragons, land mullets, tortoises, eels, fish, koalas, ring tailed possums, frogs and an extensive number of insects and plant species.

The entire area is accessed by the wheelchair friendly raised boardwalk from Koala Street, having three seating areas, where users can absorb the calm and beauty of the surrounds.

The area has been fenced at its borders, defining the Pond from Mimosa Park, the neighbours and passing traffic and is now a designated nature walk within Port Macquarie. Entry is free, exuberance is free and enthusiasm remains to preserve this little part of nature and its wonders.

This reserve reached ecological maintenance in 2018 and has been returned to the Council Natural Resources Section's Bush Regeneration Team for ongoing maintenance.

Absalom Reserve, in the Lighthouse residential area, is the group's newest project commenced in September 2009. This project site is another within a catchment area that has been degraded over the years due to the urban expansion. Subsequently, pressure has been put on the storm water drains and the adjacent bushland. The Landcare project will address several environmental issues including: invading weeds, soil erosion, and the fragmentation of the former riparian zone.

Urban planning in the Port Macquarie area has allowed for these wonderful green spaces to be created as the residential subdivisions move into areas of native bushland. However, these strips of vegetation do suffer from effects of human impacts - introduction of exotic plant species, litter, altered / reduced natural water runoff, water pollution, etc.

Vegetation restoration is a main focus of Port Macquarie Landcare. At Absalom Reserve this will involve transforming a large previously mown area into bushland. This will widen the current stand of mature bushland, and hopefully protect it from being infested by weeds (as happens so often with long narrow strips).

The drainage lines will be heavily replanted in a bid to control soil erosion along the creek lines. This also creates a band of vegetation that can be utilized as a wildlife corridor.

Wildlife habitat is a major beneficiary of the proposed mass plantings. All of the native plants are well suited to the reserve, and have been grown from local seed or cuttings at the Port Macquarie Landcare Community Nursery. The selection of trees, shrubs and grasses will re-establish a natural environment for local fauna - including koalas, birds, reptiles and frogs.

This reserve reached ecological maintenance in December 2012 and has been returned to the Council Natural Resources Section's Bush Regeneration Team for ongoing maintenance.

Absalom ReportDownload
New-Member-Induction-2021Download
Landcare PortMac Plant Profiles - SDownload