Do you feel like stepping away from the keyboard and spending a breezy spring day by the creek? Last Friday, twelve Telstra volunteers, facilitated by Landcare Australia, did just that and joined OCCA at Watson Rd State school to help revitalise a tributary of Oxley Creek. Joined by five enthusiastic University of Queensland Masters of Environmental Management students, the volunteer team embarked on a series of ecological restoration activities at the site. The site itself is part of OCCA’s Kids Companies and Creeks Project aimed at restoring this fantastic habitat.
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The team expected to be digging holes and planting all day but after a brief orientation, they were thrilled to hear of the range of activities that they would be participating in. Many had never experienced these activities or participated in a corporate volunteering day and were excited by the opportunity to learn new skills.
Kicking off with a tree planting, the team participated in laying out appropriate species along a lower bank immediately adjacent to creek, digging holes, planting, watering and staking. Carole’s extensive plant knowledge added another dimension to the activity with volunteers choosing their plants with Carole to learn the importance of matching species to a particular location. Carole compiled the plant species list for this site from which species were chosen for the event.
A fantastic morning tea was provided by Watson Road State School in their hall and the group enjoyed socialising over Tim Tams, fruit, crackers, dip, chocolate and carrot cake, tea and coffee.
Reinvigorated, the volunteers joined Miriam as she demonstrated use of basic plant identification keys (Eucalypts of Greater Brisbane and Wattles of Greater Brisbane). The team was glad to learn about conventions for naming species, different groupings of Eucalypts according to type of bark, and some botanical terms necessary for key use (e.g. phyllode – A flattened leafstalk that functions as a leaf, as in an Acacia). Equipped with keys, hand lenses and rulers, volunteers worked in two groups, one to identify a Eucalypt and another to identify an Acacia.
With their newly honed identification skills the team started targeting fishbone fern, removing them by hand. This weed occurs throughout the site and competes with native groundcovers. The water tubers of the weed will not regrow, but as they are closely attached to the thin rhizome network, it is best to remove the entire root system. The team made pyramids of fern against trees with roots facing upwards. Volunteers weeded a large area making an obvious impact.
After a delicious lunch of focaccias, the team launched into some dip netting – only one volunteer remembered dip netting as a child! Found lots of shrimp. One volunteer grew up in the local area and believes that the tributary was known by a particular name by his grandparents. He is going to find out if anyone in his family still knows the name.
A big thank you goes to Telstra and the UQ volunteers for making such a huge improvement to the site, and to Landcare Australia for facilitating this event. OCCA would also like to thank the Kids Companies and Creeks Project partners, Watson Rd State School, BMI Resource Recovery and the Caring for our Country Grant for funding the overall restoration of the site.
If you would like to swap the office for a day experiencing our amazing natural areas please click the link for information on our Corporate Volunteering page.
