A GROUP of green fingered volunteers are doing their best to return land at Mason’s Gully in Rosewood back to what it was before invasive species and noxious plants took over.
The one-acre lot of land is an Ipswich City Council Bush Care site.
Council helps members of Mason’s Gully Bushcare Group look after it by providing funding for mulch and plants.
Chris Rinehart is the group’s leader and works alongside other volunteers on fortnightly working bees.
“There is not much of the original Rosewood Scrub left, there’s very few remnants of it here,” she said.
“It’s a dry vine rainforest and there’s not much left of the original vegetation, perhaps around only two percent.”
Chris and a handful of volunteers see the benefit in getting the land back to a more natural condition.
“We want to make a pleasant, natural area within town,” she explained.
“There’s a walkway here that people use and schools use it too when doing nature studies.”
Chris said the original Rosewood Scrub was dominated by Brigalow and what’s called the Rosewood tree (Acacia fasciculifera).
“We are planting these Acacia species which were all in the original Rosewood Scrub,” she said.
“We have been putting water plants along the edges of the waterways to slow down erosion and provide a habitat for native animals.
“We have noticed an increase in bird life and butterflies since that’s been done.
“Another important species we planted was the Bailey’s Cypress pine, it’s a rainforest or scrub species and is listed as a threatened species.”
While council helps with mulch and plants, it’s the locals who bear the brunt of getting the land healthy again.
“I don’t think people realise all the plantings and maintenance is done by volunteers not council,” she said.
“[Council] do slash in the main basin area which gets water in it when we’ve had a lot of rain, but all the maintenance like the weeding and watering is done by volunteers and there’s only about half a dozen of us … we’d love to get some more members, especially local people.”
More helping hands are needed, so if you’d like to make new friends and spend time in nature, go to the next working bee and say hello.
