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.
