Dragonfly Environmental was contracted by Frasers Property Australia in order to carry out regenerative actions on a degraded wetland community in Wolli Creek, opposite Wolli Creek train station.

There were three main vegetation types present on-site including Saltmarsh, Mangroves and a degraded riparian zone. The site had suffered a significant level of erosion and therefore the primary objective was to stabilise the bank.

Dragonfly Environmental’s scope for the project was as follows:

Supply and plant tube stock in the riparian zone
Supply jute mat and install small rocks for erosion control and seedling establishment
Aid in Saltmarsh Island works. Place small sandstone rock (20-50mm) over soil on top of Saltmarsh Island.
There was a small island present on site that had a variety of weedy plant species present and a significant level of erosion. Dragonfly planted this whole island out with a variety of Saltmarsh species in order to prevent further erosion over time.
On completion we made recommendations in order to prevent further erosion, weed establishment, and care for the newly planted tube stock. Dragonfly Environmental will continue to send out one of our Natural Area Specialists to carry out maintenance works while the tube stock establishes. Post-work monitoring and maintenance is essential in the success of any form of community regeneration.

Acacia pubescens or Downy Wattle is one of Australia’s most striking wattles. Under theBiodiversity Conservation Act 2016 the NSW it is listed as vulnerable.

Dragonfly Environmental is managing sites across Sydney to encourage regeneration of this vulnerable species to encourage expansion, recruitment and increase of its habitat. Our main sites are on the Cook’s Riverand, Freshwater Wetlands for Sydney Water, along railway corridors in numerous sites around Sydney for Sydney Trains, and around Green and Golden Bell frog Ponds at Clyde for Viva Energy.

Dragonfly techniques for restoration of this species are mainly to increase the core habitat where it is found. This includes increasing habitat and minimising any potential threats to habitat loss e.g. illegal 4wd tracks. Removing rubbish dumped and blocking off illegal tracks and access ways. Dragonfly removes invasive grasses including African Lovegrass, Paspalum diliatatum, Whisky Grass and Briza species as they prevent the Downy Wattle from selfseeding and recruiting to the area. Canopy weed species we remove to aid in regeneration and expansion of Acacia pubescens include African Olive, Large Lead Privet and Small Leaf Privet which may impact on this species.

Habitat and Ecology

Occurs on alluviums, shales and at the intergrade between shales and sandstones. The soils are characteristically gravely soils, often with ironstone. Occurs in open woodland and forest, in a variety of plant communities, including Cooks River/Castlereagh Ironbark Forest, Shale/Gravel. Transition Forest and Cumberland Plain Woodland. Longevity is unknown, but clonal species have been known to survive for many decades. Flowers from August to October. Pollination of Acacia flowers is usually by insects and birds. The pods mature in October to December.

Recruitment is more commonly from vegetative reproductionthan from seedlings. The percentage of pod production and seed fall for this species appears to be low. Acacia species generally have high seed dormancy andlong-lived persistent soil seedbanks. It is thought that the species needs aminimum fire free period of 5 – 7 years to allow an adequate seedbank to develop.

Source NSW OEH: https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/threatenedspeciesapp/profile.aspx?id=10023

Distribution

Concentrated around the Bankstown-Fairfield-Rookwood areaand the Pitt Town area, with outliers occurring at Barden Ridge, Oakdale andMountain Lagoon.

Habitat and Ecology

Occurs on alluviums, shales and at the intergrade between shales and sandstones. The soils are characteristically gravely soils, often with ironstone. Occurs in open woodland and forest, in a variety of plant communities, including Cooks River/Castlereagh Ironbark Forest, Shale/Gravel. Transition Forest and Cumberland Plain Woodland. Longevity is unknown, but clonal species have been known to survive for many decades. Flowers from August to October. Pollination of Acacia flowers is usually by insects and birds. The pods mature in October to December.

Recruitment is more commonly from vegetative reproduction than from seedlings. The percentage of pod production and seed fall for this species appears to be low. Acacia species generally have high seed dormancy and long-lived persistent soil seedbanks. It is thought that the species needs a minimum fire free period of 5 – 7 years to allow an adequate seed bank to develop.

Source NSW OEH: https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/threatenedspeciesapp/profile.aspx?id=10023

Distribution

Concentrated around the Bankstown-Fairfield-Rookwood areaand the Pitt Town area, with outliers occurring at Barden Ridge, Oakdale andMountain Lagoon.

Smith Creek Reserve is a large area of bush that stretches from Leumeah to Campbelltown. We were engaged by Campbelltown City Council to install an APZ in a section of the reserve behind residential properties. The project also aimed to:

• Achieve a balance between bushfire risk reduction and maintenance of biodiversity
• Reduce the levels of exotic plants through appropriate treatment methods
• Educate the community of the ecological importance of the reserve and ways in which they can prepare their properties in case of bushfire.

Works included:

• Treatment of woody weeds (mainly Ligustrum sp., Grevillea robusta, Olea europaea subsp. cuspidata, Phoenix canariensis and Ochna serrulata) and exotic vines (mainly Araujia sericifera, Anredera cordifolia and Ipomoea indica)
• Maintenance of an Inner Protection Area of 5m and Outer Protection Area of 20m by slashing and mulching biomass and crown-lifting all remaining native and weed species.

Have a look at the photos below to see the overall results!

Our team, led by Site Supervisor Jake Proust, thoroughly enjoyed this work throughout the winter period and were lucky enough to spot a koala high up in the canopy on one of their visits!

This project involved undertaking bush regeneration activities within Caddies Creek in Rouse Hill. The site is 16.7ha in size and is located approximately 34km northwest of Sydney CBD. We were engaged by Kingfisher Ecology to do this project.

Our Site Supervisor, Jake Proust, lead hard working crew members, Darrel Davies and Julian Reyes (both also awesome Site Supervisors), and our Natural Area Specialists, James Dunn, Josh Higgs and Blake Hawke in this epic project.

We had very optimistic targets to meet for this project! Over the two month period we had to reduce the Privet infestations (primarily Ligustrum sinense) in Zones 1, 2 and 3 (seen in Figure 1 below) by 60-70%. We achieved our goals and we have some great before and after shots (as well as a time lapse video) seen below!

In January 2018, we won a contract to undertake some bush regeneration around a very special species.

Hibbertia puberula ssp. glabrescens is recorded as only occurring at one place, so our actions will be essential to its survival. We were delighted that it was still flowering (usually October – December) at our first visit in January.

This population was discovered in 2006 and sits within what would have been part of the Georges River Alluvium Floodplain Communities.

We will be following very strict hygiene protocols every time we visit the site to avoid bringing any potential pathogens in. Works will focus on removing exotic grasses by hand that are encroaching on the populations.

These grasses include:

• African Lovegrass (Eragrostis curvula).
• Whiskey Grass (Andropogon virginicus)
• Kikuyu (Pennisetum clandistenum)
• Buffalo Grass (Stenotaphrum secondatum)

We will be working alongside Kingfisher Urban Ecology and Wetlands, who will be monitoring and reporting on the Hibbertia populations to the Client.

Visit our Plant of the Month for January for a description and photos of this beautiful species.

This site covers an area of three hectares and was originally overwhelmed with Lantana camara and Olea europeae (African Olive) which provided a great hideout and habitat area for Bell Miners.

Over the last two years we have been undertaking bush regeneration across the site. We have treated and mulched most of the Lantana infestation and treated many of the Olives on the site in staged, manageable sections, with treatment almost finished. A lot of the mulched ground was experimentally burnt using flame weeders which has provided amazing results with weed densities dramatically reduced and a large number of native ground covers, grasses and shrubs emerging.

There is a drainage line that runs through the site that had thick stands of Alternanthera philoxeroides (Alligator Weed). We have been controlling these infestations and are reaching the final stages of treatment with around 5% of the original density remaining.

In the place of the Alligator Weed, we have planted one thousand native wetland species through the drainage line and surrounding banks. Another four thousand plants (a mix of grasses, trees, shrubs and vines) are to be planted throughout the site to fill in the bare sections where Lantana and Olea europeae were dominant. We will ensure the great condition of the site is retained through regular maintenance visits of the site involving a regime of irrigation, handweeding, spot spraying and flame weeding.

As works have progressed, we have been lucky to witness a diverse array of native fauna using the site including:

• Eastern Long Necked Turtle
• Eastern Yellow Robin
• Willy Wagtail
• Superb Fairy Wren
• Black Faced Cuckoo Shrike
• Wood Swallow
• White-Browed Scrub Wren
• Tree Creepers
• Magpie
• Striped Marsh Frog
• and Tiger Snake.