Environment Matters Spring/Summer 2019

Two years of hard work is starting to pay off for an East Ipswich couple who have overcome literal brick walls in their transformation of their Bremer River block. Nature Conservation Grant helps with hard work

who offer to come and do working bees. “And I think it’s just good that we can help out the Bremer River and clean it up on our spot, and eventually we can help other properties do it as well.” Emily said they had learned a lot in a short time, from weed identification and removal, through to dealing with the fill site that in some spots has brick walls just under the surface. This has included techniques such as no-dig planting, and planting on top of soil-filled hessian bags. Now there are masses of lomandra, bottlebrush, wattle, flame trees, river sheoaks and other native species – many of which were sourced from council’s nursery – starting to flourish. The improvements have also attracted

Thick infestations of castor oil weed and glycine vine on nearby land is a reminder just how far Peter and Emily have come. The narrow, sloping fill site has thrown up many challenges including bricks, broken clay pipes and flood debris but through a network of like-minded landowners, a council landholder partnership and Nature Conservation Grant, they have been inspired to plan substantial works. “We found ourselves down here with headlamps working between 7-10pm after work to get it done. We didn’t know we were green thumbs but now we are obsessed,” Emily said. “We’ve met a lot of people through it. There are a lot of people in the area

a greater variety of wildlife, particularly birds and lizards. “We could not have done this without council’s help,” Emily said. So far their Nature Conservation Grant has allowed them to buy and install jute matting for erosion, mulch and soil – and there is more to come. Council’s Nature Conservation Grants are open to landowners who have Voluntary Conservation Agreements with council. There are different types of agreement that provide tailored support for bushland, waterway and koala conservation. The Landholder

Partnerships Program is funded through the Enviroplan initiative.

See Ipswich.qld.gov.au/ landholderpartnerships

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