About Landcare
Landcarers have an appreciation of the value of the natural areas in which we work. This includes the benefits of preserving our unique biodiversity, the importance of reducing erosion and sedimentation to the Lake, and improvements to the public amenity of our reserves, for the current, and future generations. This appreciation motivates us to volunteer our time and effort to improve and protect our environment. Many of the processes that threaten our natural environment are the result of human impacts.
Landcarers strive to reverse this process by working towards the protection of our fragile habitats from unsustainable land use practices.
On the Coast
Coastcare/Dunecare groups typically help manage coastal systems. This involves the management of Bitou Bush (Chrysanthemoides monilifera), and a range of other environmental weeds, fencing of dunal “paddocks” to control inappropriate beach access and protect, to revegetate and/or regenerate coastal plant communities which stabilise the City’s beaches.
Around the Lake
Many Landcare groups are working towards the stabilisation of the lake’s foreshore. The issues that affect its stability are over clearing, erosion and inappropriate human land uses.
The efforts of these groups is often focused on revegetation of the lake edge in foreshore reserves to replace the shallow root systems of exotic grasses with the deep root systems of native species like Lomandra longifolia, Casuarina glauca, etc; and the protection of existing plant communities.
These plantings are sometimes promoted as “semi-ornamental”; they are aesthetically pleasing while providing an important environmental service by stabilizing the banks and filtering gross pollutants, sediments and nutrients from urban runoff.
In Reserves
The great majority of Landcare groups in this city are working on remnant bushland.
The primary efforts of these Landcare groups are focused on removal of exotic species like Lantana (Lantana camara), and Privet (Ligustrum spp), regeneration of the existing native plant communities, or revegetation of previously cleared reserves using locally sourced native species. These groups greatly increase biodiversity by maintaining, increasing or even creating critical habitat for our unique flora and fauna.
To Streams and Drainage Lines
Many of the City’s reserves include streams and drainage lines. This is largely because this land was left untouched by developers who saw little commercial value in it. Studies by the Estuary Management Strategy Task Force and others, have shown that vegetation in these areas actually has an enormous value through the natural water management and filtering processes they provide. Management of these natural filters involves the removal of exotic species, many of which have minimal filtering ability, and replanting or maintaining, local native vegetation.
The implementation of stormwater initiatives around the Lake has seen resources allocated to construct Stormwater Quality Improvement Devices (SQIDs) to assist these natural systems by removing gross pollutants and dissipating energy from urban drains. Landcare Groups are helping with these initiatives by planting and maintaining the catchment and other “plant filtering” components of these projects.
Events That Shaped Landcare In Lake Macquarie 1999 - 2010
- Extracts from the Lake Macquarie Landcare Newsletters from October 1999 to May 2010
- Lake Maquarie Landcare Inc. Office Bearers 2000 to 2010
- Lake Maquarie Landcare Staff
- Lake Macquarie Landcare LRO Volunteers 2001 to 2010
21 Years of Landcare
- Landcare comes of Age - National Landcare Forum 23 to 25 March 2010, Adelaide