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.
