City of Kalamunda Friends Group Newsletter August 2022

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Djilba Newsletter 2022 www.kalamunda.wa.gov.au/environment Kaya, Welcome to the City of Kalamunda Friends Group Newsletter, for all the latest news from Friends groups around the City. Local Heroes Recently, Bruce Glover and Eileen Stark received a City of Kalamunda Senior Local Hero Award. Bruce has been an active volunteer of the Hugh Sanderson and Ray Owen Reserve Friends Groups for more than 20 years. He has worked hard to preserve the reserves that he volunteers in and has also shared his watering technique with other groups as well as the Kalamunda Secondary Education Support Students. Eileen has been an active Friends of Markham Reserve member for over 50 years. She also has provided invaluable support to High Wycombe Primary School with their Adopt-A-Patch area and has been an avid advocate for awareness of the Blancoa flower. Congratulations to Bruce and Eileen! If you know someone who deserves a Local Hero Award, nominate them today on the City of Kalamunda Engagement Portal. National Tree Planting Day – Woodlupine Brook The Woodlupine reserve has been realigned and the community then had the opportunity to plant in the area needing revegetation. After the Friends of Woodlupine Brook held their planting day, another community planting day was held as part of National Tree Day. Uncle Neville Collard performed a smoking ceremony and talked about the importance of the area to Noongar people. Approximately 25 adults and children planted approximately 500 plants and were then rewarded with a sausage sizzle, provided by Kalamunda Toyota. All participants enjoyed the event with a father of three daughters saying that he “enjoyed the opportunity for his girls to get grubby!” On the Monday following the event, ten geography students from Darling Range High School got involved. The students were provided with a project summary and then helped to plant around 500 plants. The teacher from Darling Range found the event was a great opportunity for his students to visualise how erosion problems can be rectified and the benefits of planting to provide habitat in a rehabilitated area.   School planting days Walliston, High Wycombe and Gooseberry Hill Primary Schools were involved in tree planting at their Adopt-A-Patch bush areas this winter. Walliston planted habitat near to their recently installed cockatube and yarning circle. All students had a go at planting at least 2 plants each with fellow students from their buddy class. The year 3/4 Science class at High Wycombe planted in Markham Reserve, thanks to the additional help from Eileen Stark. They also had Uncle Neville start the event with a talk about the Noongar Six Seasons and Cultural Awareness as part of NAIDOC celebrations. Finally, Gooseberrry Hill reinvigorated the work that had been started in Huntley Reserve, with the reserve being cared for by the school since 1996. The City is keen to involve our Friends Group members more with local schools. It would be wonderful to know if you have a particular interest in a topic that you would like share with school children. For example, Bruce has shared his watering technique with kids, Eileen helps out at High Wycombe and talks about honey bees and Brian Gould has talked at about weeds before at Gooseberry Hill PS. Would you like to volunteer your time, sharing your knowledge with school children? Please contact the City’s Environmental Education and Engagement Officer if you have a passion or skill and would be interested in visiting schools or even if you would just like to help with their Adopt-A-Patch bush! WALGA Shade Tree Project update The City of Kalamunda is wrapping up the WALGA Shade tree project that started last year with an aim of planting 363 shade trees and increase available shade by 18,000m2(1.8 ha). The City planted a total of 368 predominately native shade trees (20 different species) with an estimated 53,994m2 (5.4 ha) when fully matured. Survival rates are high with only 12 trees requiring replacement as they either died through droughting or damage with two trees being vandalised. The trees were planted at Lincoln Reserve (Forrestfield), Edinburgh Reserve (Forrestfield), Connaught Reserve (Forrestfield), Jacaranda Park (High Wycombe), Tyler Mews (crumpet Creek, Forrestfield) and Willow lakes Reserve (Wattle Grove). Friends Group working group update The six volunteers that have joined our new working group have been helpful in providing feedback on the Friends Group Manual and how to spend some Friends Group allocated money. Their next meeting is scheduled in the first week of August and we will be asking them what they think of some of our plans for this financial year. Thank you to Lynda Tomlinson, Brian Gould, Lisa Enright, Joy McGilvray, Kelsey Eldrige and Liz Pannekoek for your contributions so far and for representing all of the Friends Groups! 2022 Revegetation Program The City’s Environment Team have been busy coordinating contractors and volunteers to plant the 50,496 seedlings that make up the 2022 tree planting program. Approximately 13,000 seedlings were handed out to residents at the annual Plants for Residents event. The Friends of Booralie also planted an additional 200 seedlings as sponsorship and as part of National Tree Day, and the Friends of Toornart received an additional 200 seedlings from Trillion Trees.   Reserve Number of Plants Comments Kalamatta Way (Gooseberry Hill) 2,504 Funded by WA State NRM Office Woodlupine Brook* (Forrestfield) 16,300 Funded by WA State NRM Office and City of Kalamunda Fleming Reserve (High Wycombe) 1,595 City of Kalamunda Dampiera (Maida Vale) 4,680 City of Kalamunda Meloway (Maida Vale) 2,387 City of Kalamunda Pinker Myserson (High Wycombe) 4,095 City of Kalamunda Willow Lakes (Wattle Grove) 950 City of Kalamunda Woodlupine Brook/Stringy Bark* (Forrestfield) 290 City of Kalamunda Ollie Worrell* (High Wycombe) 120 City of Kalamunda Robert Road* (Lesmurdie) 55 City of Kalamunda Markham* (High Wycombe) 207 City of Kalamunda Vernallen* (Lesmurdie) 128 City of Kalamunda Spring Road* (Kalamunda) 118 City of Kalamunda Taylor Road* (Maida Vale) 260 City of Kalamunda Ledger Road* (Kalamunda) 340 City of Kalamunda McLarty* (High Wycombe) 212 City of Kalamunda Poison Gully – Littlefield* (Maida Vale) 145 City of Kalamunda Kalari Road* (Wattle Grove) 185 City of Kalamunda Gunbar* (Kalamunda) 114 City of Kalamunda Juniper* (Forrestfield) 437 City of Kalamunda Kadina Brook* (Gooseberry Hill) 1,275 DBCA Rivercare Grants and City of Kalamunda Toornart* (Gooseberry Hill) 241 City of Kalamunda Jorgensen* (Kalamunda) 245 City of Kalamunda Coral/Crayden* (Kalamunda) 152 City of Kalamunda Railway Heritage Trail – South* (Kalamunda) 129 City of Kalamunda Railway Heritage Trail – Walliston* (Walliston) 132 City of Kalamunda Plants for Residents 13,200 City of Kalamunda Total 50,496   Remembering Safety Are your medical details up-to-date? If you need to update your medical details please send an email to  [email protected] Friendly reminder – volunteer hours As the end of the financial year is approaching, now is the time to start thinking about whether you have recorded the hours you have volunteered at your reserve and letting your coordinator know. An estimate is fine, it’s a matter of capturing what hours and activities volunteers are contributing to assist with the care for our local natural areas. Thank you, and we’re grateful for all the hard work you do! Fungi walks As a follow-up to the Fungi Talks, Roz Hart lead some fungi walks in July. The first was in Federation Gardens, Forrestfield and the second was in Jorgensen Park, Kalamunda. Both events had maximum participation with 20 people at each event. Roz helped participants discover how to find fungi and discuss the different types that were found. Many people uploaded their findings on iNaturalist and updated Fungimap Australia observations. Where is Genista? The environment team submitted an application to the WA State Natural Resource Management (NRM) community grants to remove Genista from dangerous sections of Kalamunda’s road verges including Welshpool Road East, Crystal Brook Road and Lesmurdie Road. The City committed to remove Genista from areas that doesn’t require traffic control. We have mapped as many locations of Genista and we need YOUR help to identify locations we missed and to remove as much Genista as we can especially if it is in your reserve.  A template will be sent out where you can list out the locations of Genista that you know of. For more details please contact the City. Celebrating the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee The City of Kalamunda celebrated the Queens Jubilee with a formal tree planting a Marri tree (Corymbia calophyla) outside the Woodlupine Family Centre last week. The tree was planted by the Mayor Margret Thomas who was assisted by Hon Dr Brian Walker MLC and students from Woodlupine Primary School. The students also planted 200 seedlings in support of the Queen’s Jubilee. A further 100 small trees and 3,500 seedlings will be planted in 2023 as an extension of Jubilee celebrations. Feral control program A fox control program was conducted recently from Bickley to Pickering Brook where a contractor (Feral Invasive Species Management) conducted 5 trapping nights across 4 locations. This included the Rail Heritage Trail (adjacent to the Walliston Transfer Station), Canning Road Reserve, George Spriggs Reserve and the Pickering Brook Golf Course. A total of 5 foxes and one feral cat were trapped and removed from the local natural areas. The results demonstrated the effectiveness of trapping and highlighted a large population of local foxes. It is important to note that feral animal control is a shared responsibility where all land managers need to work together for any program to be successful in the long term. Dieback update Materials to build 8 new boot cleaning stations have been purchased and will be deployed into the field over the next few months. Two have already been allocated to Kadina Brook Reserve as an in-kind to the Rivercare Grant with the remaining 6 yet to be assigned. Priority will be given to areas where there is a high confidence their presence will protect dieback free natural areas. The stations consist of informational signage, a three-sided boot brush and a heavy concrete slab to mount it on. The environment team are also putting together small boot cleaning kits that will be issued to friends groups and placed into all City vehicles so all staff and volunteers have access to equipment to clean boots before entering or leaving a natural area. A laminated map book will also be issued that identifies the presence or absence of dieback in our local natural areas and management can be adjusted to suit. Impacts of fire drive Recently, Coordinators of the Friends Groups were invited to attend a drive to visit sites that have been involved in controlled burning vs bush that has been impacted by an out of control fire. The day was very informative, with participants able to see where the fire was influenced by an area that had been part of controlled burning 18 months before. The City’s Senior Fire Mitigation Officer shared his knowledge and learnings from such events where a bushfire reaches an area that has lower fuel load due to controlled burning. The difference was noticeable, with the bush that had been involved in a bushfire having a damaged canopy and no leaf litter or mulch biomass. The area that had a controlled burn had barely been affected by the fire, it was clear the main result was reduced fire load. For more information, view this video from the Department of Biodiversity Conservation and Attractions. Bushfire Ready Program Recently, a Friends Group member reminded us about the Bushfire Ready Program. Bushfire Ready is a local community action program aimed at encouraging local residents to work together in preparing and protecting their families and properties against bush fires. You and your neighbours can learn how to prepare your family and your property so you can act if a bushfire threatens so you will have the best chance of survival.  For more information visit the KalamundaVolunteer Fire Service and Rescue Service website.

Upcoming dates and events in 2022 Forest Festival Saturday 8 October Run by NRPG and sponsored by the City of Kalamunda. Outdoor Clasroom Day Thursday 8 November Encourage a school teacher that you know to do activities as part of the event. Information to be available on what they can do for their Adopt-A-Patch soon. ** Please note: At the time of sending this newsletter, we intend to run these events. However, there could be modifications made due to changes resulting from COVID-19 rules. Information Bites Have you seen the Rewild Perth website? It encourages people to take action, and they have heaps of ideas and suggestions for how you can bring nature to your home.   Have you seen our Kalamunda waste web page? There is some useful information that you can refer to if you aren’t sure about recycling!   It’s National Student Volunteer Week from Monday 8 – Sunday 14 August. National Student Volunteer Week 2022 acknowledges and celebrates student volunteers, and promotes volunteering to students and young people across Western Australia. This year’s theme is ‘Passion. Opportunity. Change.’ which explores how students can realise their dreams and effect change across the world, and it all starts with the act of giving their time to a cause they believe in. For more information, visit the Volunteering WA website. Have your say! Public Art Master Plan (Phase 3) We need your help to make the arts a bigger part of life in the City of Kalamunda Do you like the draft Master Plan? Do you have any comments? Aged Care: Do you have what you need? The City would like to identify services that help our aged community to live independently at home, and to have access to short-term care services when needed.

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