Most of Heron Hill had been cleared of native vegetation as a result of farming activities. Unlike the Angophora Regeneration area where we have had to do little planting, natural regeneration was not viable anywhere else on the property and we have employed a revegetation approach. We have been planting trees around our dam, in the coridoor we are establishing and other areas around the property. We have either germinated and grown trees in pots ourselves or obtained tubestock from a native plant nursery. This strategy has been to maximise biodiversity in our plantings.
The diagram that accompanies this text shows the positioning of the projects we are undertaking here. The connecting up of the natural regeneration, corridor and dam projects was not by accident. If these areas were not linked, then they would be far less effective in relation to wildlife conservation.
Revegetating the coridoor section has been particularly challenging as we have just recently experienced a drought. We employed two strategies to ensure that tree losses were minimal. As we were planting rainforest trees we ran the coridoor along a line where there were a few mature trees which provided some shading from the hot western sun. We also set up an easy way to hand water the young trees when needed. In this particular instance, we ran a long hose from two 22000 litre water tanks that were aready connected to a large shed. As the plantings were down hill from the shed, it was as easy as turning the tap on. This was much better than carting water in buckets to the young trees.
2019 Corridor Planting
2020 Corridor Planting
We wish to thank the Biodiversity Conservation Trust NSW who provided a grant to assist in the fencing of the wildlife corridor and the dam, and also towards plants for revegetation works. We also would like to thank Emma Stone, the Local Coordinator of Border Ranges-Richmond Valley Landcare, for her valuable assistance.