In February this year, about 70 landholders from the Ipswich region descended on Ivory Rock’s Convention Centre to meet each other and discuss conservation. At the end of the day, all landholders received a tray of native plants, tree guards, nest boxes, plant identification books and/or Cane Toad traps.
The native plants were custom selected for each landholder based on the ecosystems on their properties and the restoration work being undertaken. Three nurseries supplied the diverse selection of native plants. For example, the Brigalow and semi-evergreen vine thicket (vine scrub) species were sourced from Tanglewood Natives Nursery. Wallum Nurseries supplied the rainforest species and Paten Park Native Nursery supplied most of the eucalypt forest species. The trays of plants looked amazingly healthy.
All nest boxes supplied were from the Cyplas™ range of nest boxes from Hollow Log Homes. They are made from 100% recycled plastic and Queensland Cypress and have a lifespan of 30+ years. This is three times longer than the average nest box.
The Cane Toad traps provided are designed to trap Cane Toad tadpoles using a lure that is manufactured from the paratoid glands of Cane Toads. The plastic tubs, lures and instructions are all produced by Watergum, an environmental non-profit organisation and are available for sale online.
This Landholder Support Day was organised and delivered by Ko, Dani and Shania, the Conservation Partnerships Team at Ipswich City Council. After many years of policy review and building the suite of conservation programs at Ipswich, this Landholder Support Day showed that Ipswich is well and truly in the delivery phase of offering support services to landholders. The landholders who were invited to this day are involved in either Land for Wildlife, Corridor Conservation Agreement or Biodiversity Conservation Agreement programs.
It should be noted that only Land for Wildlife members who have migrated over to the new program model received an invite to attend. This means that they have had a revisit to their property by either Ko, Dani or Shania and have received an up-to-date property management plan, which outlines the ecosystems and key natural values, priority threats such as weeds and step-by-step recommendations for how to manage those threats. By migrating your property to the new program, landholders are also eligible to receive grants and incentives to help meet the goals of the management plan. If you haven’t already migrated across to the new program model but are keen to do so, please contact Ko, Dani or Shania to schedule a visit.
In total over 4600 native plants, 43 nest boxes, 30 Cane Toad traps and copies of Mangroves to Mountains were given to landholders on this day. It is great to see Ipswich’s Land for Wildlife program up and running and supporting landholders in the great conservation work that they are doing.
Article and photos by Deborah Metters
Land for Wildlife Regional Coordinator
Resources
Hollow Log Homes – www.hollowloghomes.com.au
Paten Park Native Nursery – www.ppnn.org.au
Tanglewood Natives Nursery – www.tanglewoodnatives.com.au
Wallum Nurseries – www.wallumnurseries.com
Watergum – www.watergum.org