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.
