Tips and talks as Landcare groups get together

THREE local Landcare groups have shared their knowledge and expertise in separate site visits in Scotchmans Lead and Smythesdale.

The Napoleons Enfield group was involved in both events – hosting one and being the visitor at the other – which took the form of evening walks and inspection tours.

In the first, last Wednesday, the group hosted a small contingent of Bald Hills Landcare Group members at the site of its work in Scotchmans Lead.

In the second event, a total of 22 people got together for the Napoleons Enfield group’s visit to the Friends of Woady Landcare Group to inspect its work in Smythesdale.

“One group came to us and we went out to another group,” Napoleons Enfield group project manager Jenny Ryle said.

Ms Ryle said a member of the Bald Hills group knew Napoleons Enfield had done a lot of work restoring the Yarrowee River and was keen to find out more about it because a creek ran through their property.

“So they came down; there was four of them and four of us, we went for a wander,” she said.

“They were asking questions and we were telling them exactly what we’d done – mistakes we’d made and things that had worked.”

The Napoleons Enfield group has focused on two kilometres of riverbank at Scotchmans Lead, which Ms Ryle said was thick with gorse, blackberry and hemlock 10 years ago.

“You couldn’t walk along it, it was full of rabbits,” she said.

“We’ve been working in that area since about 2013, and we put in about 2000 plants a year. The whole area now is about 11 hectares.

“They’ve got more of a small creek whereas we’re on the Yarrowee, which has its own problems.

“They were just interested in what we put in – why we put it in, what plants we put in, what species…”

Ms Ryle said the group’s visit on Thursday stemmed from the fact that members knew the Friends of Woady group had done a lot of work in and around Smythesdale.

“They’ve been working for three or four years along there, and they’ve done a magnificent job along that (Woady Yaloak) creek,” she said.

“They’ve done an amazing job.”

Ms Ryle said the two events were both a way of sharing knowledge and celebrating the work done by the three groups.

“We now have a koala that’s come down into Scotchmans Lead,” she said. “We’re very excited and we feel honoured that koalas would come into the created habitat.”