A day in the life of the Connecting Landscapes work crew
Posted on 27 February, 2014 by Connecting Country
Dianna attacking a gorse plant.
The Connecting Landscapes work crew is funded to undertake environmental works on properties in priority zones within the Mount Alexander shire. The crew is ably led by Alex Schipperen. The current crew was recruited earlier this year and is made up of locals Dianna Manser, Kim Peric, Matt Stahl and Matthew Sundblom.
This article describes a typical February day’s work by the crew. They began the day by cutting and painting regrowth Gorse on a property in Harcourt. The Gorse had been sprayed months ago, but Gorse is a tough plant to kill and a small number of plants had survived the initial spraying.
They then travelled to Taradale to fumigate rabbit warrens and set up rabbit bait stations on a farming property.
Kim and Matthew with one of the rabbit bait stations
Matthew showing a scat.
At the next destination, Sutton Grange, they collected scats. Why, you may ask? Because once all the scats have been removed from a sheep and kangaroo exclusion plot it is possible to determine whether or not the plot is actually sheep or kangaroo proofed. Kim laughingly says “this is not one of the more glamorous tasks we get to do, but one I found surprisingly satisfying, and not really dirty!”
This is part of a grazing trial designed to examine the effects of kangaroo and sheep grazing on native pastures. As Jarrod, the program coordinator, explains ‘we want to understand what happens when sheep are removed from native pasture. Is there an improvement in biodiversity values or do the weeds take over instead? Do kangaroos simply eat the grass that the sheep were previously eating? ‘
Other common jobs the work crew undertakes are the building of stock exclusion fences, the removal of woody weed trees and shrubs such as Pines, Willows and Hawthorn, and supplementary plantings of locally indigenous flora.
If you are potentially interested in including parts of your property as part of the Connecting Landscapes program, contact Jarrod Coote or Bonnie Humphreys at Connecting Country on 5472 1594 or email: jarrod@connectingcountry.org.au. They will be able to arrange a visit your property if it meets the criteria and occurs in right zone. And to find out more about the program, click here.
Great to see what the connecting country crew has been up to, looks very satisfying to be able to do what we can to improve our beautiful country, Great work guys keep it up, your doing an awesome job.