Our team successfully executed a comprehensive bush regeneration and APZ project for the Northern Beaches Council, while actively protecting habitats for Australia’s largest owl species.

Method & Technique:

• Bush Regeneration
• Asset Protection Zones
• Endangered Ecological Communities
• Endangered Species

Overview  

With smoke from the bush fires thickening the air and the devastating news of fires raging through Australia, plans and preparations. The Northern Beaches Council had developed management plans for a number of reserves, including a prescribed ecological burn for Palmgrove Park in Avalon. However, plans had to be adapted following the discovery of two Powerful Owl chicks nesting within the reserve.

The Powerful Owl is Australia’s largest owl species but unfortunately, they are adversely affected by land clearing. These owls typically roost during the day within dense tree and shrub canopies, making the protection of their habitat critical.

Project Objectives and Outcomes

To ensure the safety of the chicks, our team undertook the project with extreme care and consideration, manually removing vegetation and fine fuels to minimise disturbance to the nesting owls.

Ecological burning is carried out to replicate natural fire cycles. Each native vegetation community has specific fire requirements, and controlled burning supports these natural processes by stimulating native plant regeneration, enhancing biodiversity, and assisting in weed management.

Palmgrove Park contains a significant stand of Cabbage Tree Palms within the Littoral Rainforest (EEC) and Pittwater Wagstaffe Spotted Gum Forest (EEC) ecological communities. The scope of works involved the manual removal of fine fuels and plant material that would otherwise have been burned, reducing fuel loads and helping minimise the spread and intensity of potential bushfires to better protect nearby residents and wildlife.

Works included the removal of mid-storey palm fronds attached to Livistona australis to prevent fire laddering into the canopy. Maintenance activities were also completed within high-resilience areas at the lower section of the reserve, targeting seeding grasses and annual weeds throughout the native ground layer vegetation.

Target species included Bidens pilosa, Solanum nigrum, Sonchus sp., Ehrharta erecta, Poa sp., Conyza sp., Bromus sp., Brisa sp., Gamochaeta sp., and Ageratina riparia.

The project concluded successfully, with the owl chicks remaining safe and undisturbed throughout the works. Perched high above the reserve, they monitored our team, while we worked carefully to ensure the chicks never felt threatened or stressed during the vegetation clearing process.

Our work at Viva Energy’s Clyde terminal aims to restore and rehabilitate habitats for the Green and Golden Bell Frogs.

Project Details 

Our aim is to develop and maintain a secure core habitat that is reasonably self-sustaining and meets the known ecological requirements of the entire life cycle of the Green and Golden Bell Frog (GGBF).

To meet this goal, our team planted 70,000 plants in three breeding ponds on site with associated frog corridor grasslands. We also conducted the maintenance works to ensure the habitat remained optimal for the GGBF.

The Green and Golden Bell Frog (Litoria aurea) has gone from being one of the most commonly found frogs on the east coast, to one of the most threatened, with the risk of extinction. A large contributing factor for this decline in population is habitat isolation. 

Their Habitat Preference 

The species live in large, open-water swamps or ponds that have a variable water level, dense vegetation with grassy and rocky areas around them. The species preferred habitats that they use for breeding, foraging, shelter and hibernation include waterbodies that:

• Are unshaded and free of predatory fish
• Have grassy areas and shelters nearby.

Site Map

Services Provided

Our team have been carefully clearing and disposing of vegetation to avoid harming any GGBF that may be present. Our team also focused on rebuilding the habitats that include the removal of She-Oak Trees that are shading Green and Golden Bell Frog Habitat. Additionally, we controlled large areas of Spiny Rush and conducted the planting of appropriate macrophyte species to enhance the natural habitat qualities for GGBF.

More details on the services we provided on this site include: 

• Weed control works that started from the banks of waterbodies, working outward towards dry land, replacing the weeds removed with native plants.
• Control of Gambusia (Mosquito Fish).
• Removal of all Swamp Oak individuals that occur within or fringing ponds and pools, including along the raised bund that intersects the central pools.
• All Juncus acutus are to be progressively removed from the Wetlands. The native Typha orientalis is to be culled from the centre of pools and ponds, with some T. orientalis retained around the banks of all waterbodies.
• Targeted small populations of unwanted emergent and aquatic vegetation for removal which was then followed by removal of the larger infestations.
• Extensive primary treatment on weeds such as Lantana Camara, Casurina Sp and Acacia Salinga have been cleared around the ponds. Opening up the area to allow 40% of the perennial wetland area with direct sunlight. This warms up the temperature of the water, creating more productivity for the aquatic vegetation.

Rebuilding and bringing back the natural habitats for the Green and Golden Bell Frogs is always a profound project to work on. Our efforts into restoring the land and natural habitats will result in unhindered breeding and promote increased activity.