RUBBISH bags full of litter, and pine saplings, were removed from Woowookarung Regional Park by Friends of the Canadian Corridor on Sunday morning.<\/p>\n
FoCC secretary, Jeff Rootes said many people \u201cstill see the bush as a dumping ground.\u201d So much so, that Parks Victoria sends a truck weekly to clear the area of new junk.<\/p>\n
Mr Rootes was one of ten volunteers who swept about five hectares of Woowookarung for two hours, picking up lots of very old beer cans and bottles, and removing stray pines.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of the rubbish was historical. It had been there for a long time. There was a bit of steel, but mostly drink containers and household rubbish,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis lump of land is a bit of remnant bush that was in the middle of an old pine plantation… and then a blue gum plantation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe blue gum plantation owner decided to hand it back to government. All the seed from the pine trees keeps reseeding, but the pines don\u2019t fit into a regional park, so we have removed about 100 little pines.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Friends also mulched around some trees a contractor planted on behalf of the group one month ago.<\/p>\n
Volunteers were working on this section of Woowookarung in particular in preparation for FoCC and Ballarat Field Naturalists\u2019 pop-up wildflower walk at the end of the month.<\/p>\n
The walk\u2019s aim is to encourage more nearby residents to discover the park as a \u201cgrand asset,\u201d engage with it and take a protective, community ownership over it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this area, there\u2019s 20 to 25 different varieties of wildflowers, and we\u2019ll put signs out for a week so people can come and have a look,\u201d Mr Rootes said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a dry-land wildflower area, and there\u2019s an amazing array when you dive in. The bush pea is fantastic, but there\u2019s a whole lot of orchids.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s something different every few metres. People can work out what is what, with the help of our signs, and be introduced to the range of wildflowers we have in this park.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are about 700 Friends of the Canadian Corridor, but this working bee was limited due to Parks Victoria and the State\u2019s COVID-19 guidelines.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best way to protect our wild bushland setting is to get people into it who will look after it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are people who live around the park who do this clean-up every week. They walk and take a rubbish bag for litter, and the park is better off for it,\u201d Mr Rootes said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a wonderful, community spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
RUBBISH bags full of litter, and pine saplings, were removed from Woowookarung Regional Park by Friends of the Canadian Corridor on Sunday morning. FoCC secretary, Jeff Rootes said many people \u201cstill see the bush as a dumping ground.\u201d So much so, that Parks Victoria sends a truck weekly to clear the area of new junk. […]<\/p>\n