The Bushcare Newsletter of Mosman Council Winter 2012

What’s in this issue:Trees For Mums Day............. Dates for your Diary...............

Changes to OH&S.................

Senna pendula......................

Kimbriki Organic Gardening Workshop............

TAFE Training........................ Striped Marsh Frogs..............

Metamorphosis of a Contaminated Waste Land....

It is hoped that the planted area will assist in providing a linked corridor to the adjoining National Park, Sydney Harbour Federation Trust land and to Bradley Bushland which contains Coastal Sandstone Heath Vegetation community. Bradley Bushland is cared for by bushcare volunteers who meet on the third saturday of the month from 8am - 11am and other times during the week.For more information on the Bradley Bushcare Group, contact the Bushcare Officer on 99784038 or email bushcare@mosman.nsw.gov.au

On Mother’s Day, Sunday 13 May, families and friends gathered at Rawson Park to plant native plants in honour of their mothers. Around 50 people joined in the days activities and some participants ended the planting session with a picnic at the park. The section of council land planted consists of crushed sandstone mounds surrounding the open space at Rawson Park. The mounds were created out of excavated crushed sandstone from the development of the Marie Bashir Sports Centre.

Mother’s Day Tree PlantingTrees For Mums Day 2012

SEPTEMBER 9Bushcare Major Day Out Bradley Bushland, 9am - 1pmDiscover more about Bushcare and join us for a working bee. A free BBQ lunch will be provided.SEPTEMBER 16Biodiversity Guided Bushwalk, 10am - 12:30pmA guided walk that will take you from Parriwi Park to Balmoral along the foreshore.DECEMBER 2Annual Bushcare Christmas Party, 11:30 am- 2:30pm

Bookings: Bushcare Officer 9978 4038 or email: bushcare@mosman.nsw.gov.au Online: www.mosman.nsw.gov.au/events

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Dates for the Diary

From 1 January 2012, the new Work Health and Saftey Act (WH&S) replaced the Occupational Health and Saftey (OH&S) Act in NSW.A significant feature of the new legislation is the inclusion of volunteers into the definition of ‘worker’.As a volunteer, you are protected under the Work Health and Saftey Act.The main health and saftey duties under WH&S Act is owed by a ‘Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking’ (PCBU). Mosman Council is considered a PCBU and therefore has a duty is to ensure, so far as is resonably practical, the health and saftey of workers. Assessments of hazards and risks volunteers are likely to encounter are identified in risk assessments that supervisors and volunteers have access to. The risk assessments identify what reasonably practical steps are taken or need to be taken to eliminate or minimise those risks. This is not new to Mosman Bushcare as risk assesments have been part of the Bushcare program for many years now. Volunteers are encouraged to contribute to reviewing risk assessments and the management of health and saftey generally. The risk assessments are reviewed once a year or when site conditions change.

What is my responsibility as a volunteer?People who are ‘workers’ have duties under the WH&S Act. As a volunteer worker, you only have duties if you carry out work for an organisation which is a PCBU. Under WH&S laws, volunteers have the same duties as other ‘workers’ that work for Mosman Council.Duties include: Also known commonly as

Cassia, Senna pendula is most noticable when flowering during April until the beginning of May. Native to South America, Senna is a spreading shrub to 3m high. It has alternate compound leaves with 3 opposite pairs of leaflets. The bean like seed pod is green in colour and turns brown when ripe. Seeds are dispersed by gravity and birds and have a longevity in the soil of 20+ years. To control Senna, remove small seedlings by hand. Cut and paint mature plants with undiluted glyphosate. Senna may be considered a low prority on some sites that have weeds of greater importance to control, such as vines. This is because it is a perenial and usually begins to produce seed in May. Depending on what stage of regeneration you are at on your site, some weeds can be left to create habitat, stabilise soil and to create some shade for emerging seedlings. In some circustances reducing seed availability of certain weed species, such as Senna may be considered an appropriate management tool. Talk to your Bushcare supervisor to discuss priority weeds on your site or attend TAFE Bushcare essentials training workshop.

Work Health and Safety for Volunteers - New Act

Weed Watch

Bushcare Hints: A sediment fence may be a useful tool for containing and controlling the spread of weeds on your Bushcare site. Talk to your Bushcare supervisor to learn more.

Bushcare Hints: When treating Asparagus fern, only the woody rhizome and seeds need to be removed. The water tubers will not propagate and can be left in the soil in order to prevent erosion.

Reference: Safe Work Australia Website - http://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/AboutSafeWorkAustralia/WhatWeDo/Publications/Documents/631/Volunteers_and_the_model_Work_Health_and_Safety_Act.doc

Senna Pendula

Volunteers who carry out work for PCBUs are required to take reasonable care for their own health and saftey. Like any other duty holders who do not comply with their duties under the WH&S Act; workers, including volunteer workers, can be prosecuted if reckless or neglegent. Saftey in the workplace is everyones responsibility.

1. Taking reasonable care for your own health and saftey.2. Taking reasonable care that your conduct does not adversely affect the health and saftey of others.3. Complying with any reasonable instruction that is given to you by Council (to help comply with the WHS Act).4. Cooperating with any reasonable policy or procedure relating to health and saftey at the workplace.

A group of keen gardeners gathered to hear expert organic gardener, Peter Rutherford present ways to grow organic vegetables in the home garden. Peter focused on the important features of organic gardening including creating diversity and looking after your soils. Participants learned how to create an effective compost, how to improve soils, how to plant, harvest and grow nutritious vegetables and how to create a no dig garden. The Kimbriki Eco Garden is open to the public Monday - Sunday, 7am - 4.30pm. The Kimbriki organic gardening workshop was organised as part of Mosman’s Living Environment Program of Events. For more information about upcoming Living Mosman Events visit:www.mosman.nsw.gov.au/events

The Living Mosman ProgramKimbriki Organic Gardening

Workshop

Every year Mosman Council offers new and exsiting volunteers a one day TAFE training course in Bushcare Essentials. This covers the basics of Bushcare work including Work Health and Saftey, weed control, maintaining and managing habitat, understanding your site, minimising impacts on the environment, awareness of relevant legislation and identifying environmental threats and hazards. Council reccommends all new volunteers attend training within the first two years of starting bushcare activities. The training is free for all Mosman Council volunteers and is an accredited course. Participants of the course recieve a statement of attainment in Bushcare Essentials from TAFE once training is completed. For volunteers who have been working on a bushcare site for over two years and have completed the Bushcare Essentials course, you may wish to attend a Bushcare Advanced Training one day workshop. If you are interest in attending further training in Bushcare, please contact the Bushcare Officer on 9978 4038 or email bushcare@mosman.nsw.gov.au

Bushcare Hints: When treating Asparagus fern, only the woody rhizome and seeds need to be removed. The water tubers will not propagate and can be left in the soil in order to prevent erosion.

As you may or may not be aware, our dedicated and talented Bushcare Officer will be taking maternity leave for the period of one year from the end of July.We are sad to see Natalie go but are confident that the commitment to the position and our wonderful volunteers will be maintained.Natalie has been working hard in her administration tasks making for a easy transition for a new replacement part time Bushcare officer, due to start in early August. We wish Natalie and her family all the best for the arrival of their new baby. Natalie will be sure to remain in contact and we look forward to Natalie’s return in a year.

Photo: Tawny Frogmouth chick(Podargus strigoides) by Environmental and Conservation Scientist, Andrew Robinson.

Bushcare BabyMaternity LeaveBy Steve Smith

TAFE Training for Volunteers

The Striped Marsh Frog (Limnodynastes peronii), are known for their loud Tock Tock Tock or poc calls that is familar to many residents on the east coast of Australia.The male instigates the call first, usually at night but can be heard during the day. It conceals itself in vegetation before entering the water after calling. The Striped Marsh Frog can be identified by the light brown or grey-brown colour on its back with distinctive darker brown stripes that contrast with their white bellies. The toes are another identifying feature of the frog, having almost no webbing. The tadpoles are large and dark grey to black in colour.Striped Marsh Frogs breed in slow moving or still bodys of water including pools, streams, dams, roadside ditches, flooded grasslands and ponds in suburban gardens. During spawning, the female Striped Marsh Frog makes a floating foam or bubble raft in which the fertilised eggs are suspended and have an appearance much like pepper speckled on floating white bubbly foam.

After the tadpoles hatch they drop into the water as the raft disintegrates. The Striped Marsh Frogs diet consists of almost any animal smaller than itself. Within the last year, Stripped Marsh Frog have moved into the purposly built ponds at Balmoral Oval, a great sign that the area is increasing in biodiversity.

Adapted from the Wikimedia Commons file “Image: Limnodynastes peronii with spawn.JPG.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Limnodynastes_peronii_with_spawn.JPG

Metamorphosis of a

Contaminated Wasteland

Pre works - 2008

During Works - 2010

Regeneration 2012

The Balmoral remediation and environmental restoration project located at the rear of Balmoral Oval, has shown great signs of recovery and increased biodiversity.The project was designed to ensure on-site contaminates were correctly contained and the area was remediated to blend into the surrounding environment whilst enabling accessiblity to the public. Almost two years on, the project area is showing impressive signs of natural regeneration. As was intended as part of the site planning, the beds of bare crushed sandstone have provided a great soil medium for propagating the natural seed rain, falling from the adjacent surrounding bushland slopes. Abundant Angophora costata seedlings among other native species are naturally propogating and colonising the crushed sandstone beds. Stripped Marsh Frogs have found a new home in the constructed frog ponds and the tadpoles are a great hit with young visitors.

Of great importance to the project, is the natural regeneration of Acacia terminalis subsp. terminalis (Sunshine Wattle) listed as endangered under the National Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC) and listed as an endagered species under schedule 1 part 1 of the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 (TSC). What was once a degraded, contaminated wasteland has metamorphosised into a natural area supporting our local biodiversity.

Striped Marsh Frogs

Regenerating A.costata seedlings2012