Our team delivered Bush Regeneration and Revegetation services at Dee Why Dunes which spanned over 11 hectares. Our work here used targeted and innovative techniques that produced effective results.

Project Outcomes:

Our team delivered Stage 2 bush regeneration works at Dee Why Dunes between January and June 2024 under Northern Beaches Council Bush Regeneration contract 2023. This project, covered approximately 11.32 ha across three zones that was on the foundations of the Year 1 grant and complemented ongoing operational regeneration efforts. Our focus was on controlling invasive species and restoring the native dune ecosystem through a combination of innovative and targeted techniques.

A major achievement was the effective management of Ipomoea cairica using a shredding technique within Ficinia nodosa, which allowed access to mature vine bases with minimal herbicide use. This method has proven successful and will inform future control strategies. Our team also conducted extensive preparation and planting in key areas, including the zone north of the overflow carpark and the bay near the toilet block. Invasive species like Pennisetum clandestinum and Asparagus aethiopicus were treated using hand removal, shredding, and spot-spraying.

New plantings of native species, including Banksia integrifolia and native ground covers, have supported erosion control and improved biodiversity. Weed density ratings improved noticeably. These results included an increase from ‘fair’ to ‘good’ in the southern dune zone, and ‘poor’ to ‘fair’ along the lagoon edge. These results highlight the effectiveness of our targeted approach. Moving forward, continued management of Ipomoea cairica, regular site maintenance, and strategic planting will be essential to further enhance the site’s ecological resilience.

Before	After

Before	After

Through targeted bush regeneration and revegetation services at Elizabeth MacArthur EM3, our team established 14,000m² of native vegetation.

Project Details:

Our team worked on the Elizabeth MacArthur EM3 planting site and successfully established approximately 14,000m² of native vegetation, primarily canopy species. This result will provide valuable habitat and a movement corridor for native fauna.

Our team carried out effective weed management as part of our bush regeneration work and implemented planting efforts to enhance native vegetation. The site now includes around 1,000 canopy trees, 400 shrubs, and 300 ground covers.

Before	After

Before	After

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.

10 Site Project

We are working with Sydney Water to carry out bush regeneration and weed management works across ten of their sites over the next six years! Our team is highly skilled in these areas and specialises in rehabilitating various sites like these. We are undertaking works on the following sites:

Caddies Creek and Smalls Creek (Rouse Hill Development Area)

Our team has been undertaking primary clearing of woody weeds (primarily Lantana camara, Ligustrum lucidem, Cestrum parquii and Ligustrum sinense) and treatment of vines such as Lonicera japonica, Anredera cordifolia, Acetosa sagittata and Cardiospermum grandiflorum. We focused on completing primary works in the early months of winter to minimise the disturbance of local fauna who would use the thickets of woody weeds to nest or roost in in Spring/Summer. We have raked back sections of Tradescantia fluminensis and flame weeded the ground along sections of Smalls Creek to try and stimulate native regeneration.

Elizabeth Macarthur Creek, RHDA

Maintenance works throughout the project site has been regularly conducted. Our priority treatment has been on noxious weeds while also managing treatment for environmental weeds and vines. Additionally, we have been conducting aquatic weed management throughout the whole site. We have also monitored the amount of debris accumulating along the creek line and removed it as required.

Breakfast Creek, Quakers Hill

The site has progressed very well as our services significantly reduced woody weeds and improved the overall flow of the creek line. The targeted removal of Erythrina crista-galli throughout the creek has been conducted. We have also had the canopy lifted in order to limit the amount of debris caught up. Additionally, brushcutting of reeds on the upper banks will allow for a better flow of water to come through as well as reduced nutrient levels on the banks, limiting weed growth. Further works will involve treatment of emerging vines throughout the site and the removal of sediment and rubbish including trolleys to improve the water flow and quality.

Eve Street Wetland, Arncliffe

Our team have focused on reducing herbaceous weed levels while doing staged, primary treatment of woody weeds for this site.

Freshwater Creek

We have been undertaking aquatic weed control, herbaceous weed treatment as well as focused control of Asparagus asparagoides and Bryophyllum delagoense around all the planting beds as well as around the endangered Acacia pubescens.

Cooks River Campsie and Canterbury

Manual removal of herbaceous annuals and grasses throughout the site has been conducted. We also spot sprayed young, herbaceous annuals with a selective herbicide. We monitor the site for any new weed incursions and the fence line for any structural issues.

Our team has been transplating Commelina cyanea into the lower slopes of the naturalised area to encourage a dense native groundcover.

We have been maintaining the sections of Saltmarsh via careful manual removal of herbaceous species and Cynodon dactylon while monitoring the growth of mangroves.

Prospect Nature Reserve, Prospect

We have focused our efforts on undertaking bush regeneration through the riparian zone of this site. We will be revegetating sections with low resilience with provenance species.

Woollahra Wetland, Double Bay

Our works have targeted aquatic weed control throughout the whole site. This includes the aquatic weeds Salvinia molesta and Ludwigia peruviana. Working on this site we have ensured the outlet and inlet channel can flow freely while allowing the gross pollution trap (GPT) to be accessed.

O’Neill Park Yagoona

Maintenance works have been targeting herbaceous species throughout the zone on the eastern side of the creek. Regular monitoring will be carried out for any aquatic weeds on site and will be treated appropriately if needed.

Here are some of the photos of the rare and threatened flora and fauna on our sites:

Our project aimed to create a breeding haven for the Green and Golden Bell Frog to support population growth for this declining species.

The Threats to Their Population and Habitat

From landfill and brick pits to golf courses, Green and Golden Bell Frogs have a peculiar habit of appearing in unlikely and disturbed habitats. Once an extremely common species across all of Sydney, now has only about 40 of its population left. The species has been suffering an ongoing decline and shrinking of their distribution since the 1970s. Loss of ideal habitat, and pressures from predators including native waterbirds, introduced Mosquito Fish and feral cats, are contributing factors behind why they are being found in degraded and unlikely habitats. This presents an urgent need for the creation and restoration of high quality, predator free habitat for the species.

Project Details

Our team has been working with the Sydney Olympic Park Authority to manage existing ponds to bring back much needed habitat for the Green and Golden Bell Frog. Kronos Hill is a wildlife corridor extending for 1.5km encompassing an area of remediated landfill adjacent to Haslam’s Creek. Currently there are a range of restoration projects being undertaken at the site. The pre-existing site’s ponds were suffering from sedimentation and were lacking appropriate shelter to protect struggling local Green and Gold Bell Frogs from predators.

To address these issues and provide a stable habitat for the species our team worked on restoring the ponds. We first started by draining existing water from the site’s ponds to eradicate the introduced Mosquito Fish. These Mosquito Fish decimate Green and Golden Bell Frog tadpoles, therefore hindering local breeding populations. Our team then removed thick accumulated sediment. This assisted in making way for the installation of impermeable pond liners, facilitating improved water retention and conforming to Green and Golden Bell Frog preference for habitat disturbance. Frog-friendly netting was then installed above the ponds to reduce predator access to breeding frogs and tadpoles. Due to the species apparent preference for ephemeral ponds and fluctuating water levels, the ponds were filled naturally with rainwater and runoff over time to entice the species to disperse to the site.

Continuing our support for the Green and Golden Bell Frog, this project not only aimed to provide the species with a safe space to live, but also to provide a breeding haven, free from the pressures of predators and degraded habitat. Our efforts will hopefully result in unhindered breeding site and facilitate increased dispersal of the species to other potential habitat sites in the locality.

Our team completed what was at the time, the world’s largest saltmarsh re-creation project! The project involved planting over 230,000 Saltmarsh plants over 2.4 hectares.

From June 2008 to June 2011, ecological restoration work was conducted by Port Authority of NSW in association with the expansion of the port at Port Botany, Sydney, NSW. The purpose was to expand and rehabilitate Penrhyn Estuary.

Project Objectives and Outcomes

The key objective of this project included expanding the existing shorebird habitat while continuing to attract migratory shorebirds with the potential to attract more. Additionally, our team worked to establish and maintain 2 hectares of restored Saltmarsh within the site as another primary objective.

The Saltmarsh works at Penrhyn Estuary involved 2.4 hectares being densely planted with Saltmarsh species. In addition to this 3000m2 of Saltmarsh was translocated within Penrhyn Estuary. 

During this project we planted over 230,000 Saltmarsh plants in just 14 days. That is roughly 16,429 plants a day.

Our team introduced species that were considered suitable and currently occur in other Saltmarsh sites in Botany Bay. Our planting will lead to increased diversity on site and facilitate a more optimal habitat for migratory wading birds. 

Viewing platforms were also created for public use. The platforms and fencing aim to minimise disturbance to the shorebirds and protect saltmarsh and seagrass from any public or feral animals.

Maintenance

With such successful outcomes, we are pleased to continue working with the Port Authority of NSW at Botany Bay to ensure that shorebird habitat is maintained.

Our team works to maintain the public walkways by removing any weeds or rubbish, controlling vegetation and carrying out repairs if needed. 

The Migratory Bird Islands are maintained by reducing the height of any vegetation found growing on these islands, any objects or debris found are also removed. Mangroves are seen as detrimental to shorebird habitat as they colonise shorebird feeding and roosting habitat and compete with Saltmarsh for space, therefore it is essential for it to be properly maintained.

Additionally, Saltmarsh plays a key role in stabilising the banks of estuaries, filtering surface runoff, reducing nutrients and providing habitat for fauna. Erosion of Saltmarsh habitat results in loss of planted area, so it is important to monitor any plant loss and the health of the plants. Our team replants any areas that have poor plant establishment or have been disturbed by flood or storm events.