By Hugh Rayner
TFOR held its first working bee for the year on May 13 on what was a beautiful crisp autumn morning.
While the turnout of four members was a little disappointing, the team worked like a well-oiled machine and dealt with a significant number of the problematic pepper trees.
Schinus molle, commonly called the pepper tree, is an evergreen tree that grows to 15 metres (50 feet) and is native to an area from the Peruvian Andes to southern Brazil.
In our river catchment it is a sleeper weed and competes with the native flooded gum (Eucalyptus Rudis) for scarce water.
The task for the working bee was to inject these weeds, an action that should cause their demise and allow the splendour of the flooded gum to be on full display.
Many of the flooded gums are looking stressed while the pepper trees are healthy.
A participating member, Greg Warburton, said it is unclear whether the problem is competition for water or whether the flooded gums may also be affected by salt levels. Another member, Bethan lloyd, agreed but also posited the flooded gums have been in decline since the river was trained because they don’t experience flooding.
The competition from the pepper trees is just one more thing.
The equipment we used was a battery powered chainsaw, drill, drill bits, syringes and glyphosate. The woody weed kit was obtained with a Wheatbelt NRM grant and is a great boost to TFOR resources.
(l to r) Bethan Lloyd, Robyn Taylor and Greg Warburton give a magnificent Flooded Gum a better chance of survival by controlling woody weeds.
The working bee complemented the work done by the School Landcare group and the cadets under the guidance of TFOR, primarily Bethan and Greg.
In addition to pepper tree control, this activity has also targeted olive trees, another sleeper weed, as well as a great deal of environmental education.
When the hard work was finished, the working bee group then went for a walk around the area to check on the progress of plantings from previous years.
I was privileged to share this time with Greg, Bethan and Robyn, who collectively possess such a depth of knowledge about the environment and local history. As a newcomer, there is much to learn.
Importantly, the earlier plantings are generally doing well. Even the patch that was inadvertently slashed during fire mitigation last year has come back with added vigour. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
World Environment Day was June 5. A timely reminder about the importance of the environment and our role in protecting it. Given the seeming reluctance by Governments and political parties of all stripes to take environmental concerns and problems seriously, it really falls to us ordinary folk to bear the burden.
Whether this takes the form of getting involved with one of Toodyay’s environmental groups, lobbying those in power or planting trees on your own patch. We all have a part to play in protecting our precious environment.
