Friends of Piesse Brook

2007 Progress

In 2007 we started the Aldersyde Road Private Land Holder Project.  Private landholders from Hummerston Road along Aldersyde Road as far south as 250 Aldersyde Road, joined in the first stage of our project .

2006 Progress

In 2006 we worked through the Rocky Pool area and reached as far but not into the Pylon Area.

More tributaries were ‘discovered’ this year and the enormity of the task began to weigh heavily on the group.  If we keep coming across more and more tributaries that need weed control, our resources will be spread way to thinly.  We need more groups formed to take care of degraded tributaries.  One group has formed to take care of the Spring Road tributary (Friends of Spring Road) and our group celebrated at this news.  However  the remaining degraded tributaries are a huge extra burden that we had not allowed for in our early estimates of time and resources.

Our attention this year turned upstream.  We have made excellent progress and are on target to reach the Helena River by the end of 2007.  However if we are to keep the National Park area clean we need to remove the weed seed source along the brook upstream on private land.  The private land upstream will be our next challenge to tackle.

2005 Progress

The next 500 metres along the brook line was tackled in 2005 and maintenance work was carried out on the previous four zones.  Although a bushland care day was not organized this year, there was a minor planting carried out during a regular work day by Friends members where 300 seedlings were planted that had been donated to the group by a local seed collector and propagator.

More work on the tributaries was carried out extending all the way back up along Hummerston Road through two private properties to try to knock the Watsonia over.  One of our major tributary concerns is the Bibbulmun track area.  It is a real problem area with massive outbreaks of bamboo, Watsonia and blackberry.

We passed the second bridge and are approaching Rocky Pool in our work this year.

2004 Progress

In 2004 it became apparent that there are a number of badly degraded tributaries that flow into the brook which  needed to be included in our weed control programme.  This  slowed our progress down, but it is essential that the weed seed sources are eliminated to maintain the progress that we have achieved.  There were a number of stands of bamboo that needed to be cut down and burnt.  CALM’s assistance  in this task was greatly appreciated and as a result the group caught up some lost time spent on the tributaries.  Another 500 metre section was tackled in 2004.

A bushland care day was not held in 2004 as it was deemed necessary to allow the controlled area to sit for two years before replanting to ensure we have had a successful hit of the weeds.

2003 Progress

In 2003 we estimated that we could divide the total project area into 7 sections to work on one section a year.  The estimate is that if we tackle around 500 metres each year along the brook line then we should reach the confluence of the Piesse Brook and the Helena River in 2007.  So the 2003 working zone was set at the first 500 metres inside the Kalamunda National Park, following on from where we left off last year.  In addition, we now had zone one of 250 metres, and zone two of 500 metres to continue to maintain as well as the new 2003 zone.

In 2003 we held our second bushland care day and planted another 3,000 seedlings primarily in the zone we cleaned last year as the 2003 zone did not require a lot of replanting.

2002 Progress

Phase two of our project working area expanded in size to a 500 metre stretch from where we had left off spraying in 2001 through to the boundary gate of the Kalamunda national Park.  This was double the size of our 2001 working area, but by 2002 we realized that we could handle a larger patch than we had estimated we could manage in 2001.

It also meant we had to maintain the 2001 cleaned area as well as carry out the primary weed control in zone two.  We did not run a bushland care day in 2002.

2001 Progress

In 2001 our target area was the Shire of Kalamunda Schipp Road Reserve.  It ran from the corner of Hummerston Road and Schipp Road through to the first car park near the boundary of the Regional Park. It comprised the first 250 metres along the brook line and about 70 metres up each side of the valley from the brook.

We held a Bushland Care Day in October 2001 to plant  the newly weeded area with 1,500  indigenous seedlings.