Have begun my work here this week, and today was our first day out in the field. However, around here, it is known as the “bush,” and we were doing what “bushcarers” in Australia do, which was removing non-native plants…a nice way to say “weeding!” See photo, there is a vine called Mile-a-Minute, and if left to its own devices, it will choke out the native trees and plants. It closely resembles Morninglory, and you would swear it actually grows a mile a minute! It is a problem at Dowse Lagoon, where my group regularly meets and weeds, and they keep it knocked back as best they can. This weeding is a thankless job, and you wonder if you are making progress. They have been working a patch for six years! But after visiting an area that is NOT regularly weeded, you can see the difference you make. The natives are important habitats for birds, bats and other wildlife so it is important to allow them to grow, and not let the invasive weeds take over and choke them out.
Besides that, I’ve been helping Jennifer with copy for their website and we’ve been making plans for some of my future projects while I’m here. Stay tuned for those.
I’ve gotten the bike all set up, however have already suffered two flats! One was probably due to an old tube, and the second one, well, you should have seen the screw I ran over! Oops! Lucky for me, neither of these flatted on the road, and instead I discovered them in the (relatively) cool comfort of the garage. Now maybe I’ve gotten all the flats out of the way for the rest of the trip. I hope so anyway!
How did the non natives get there? cool comfort....ha ha. How about ice on my windshield in the morning for cool. :-)
ReplyDeleteThey get there several ways--birds can spread the seeds, or by people dumping garden waste. Also, some non-native grasses were brought in as cattle feed back when the area was grazed.
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