Working Bee – details published

Lewis swamp revisited

Sunday 10^th April 2022 starting at 10:00.

Come along and help restore this interesting wetland area.

Over the last few years, we’ve achieved a lot at this wetland, including a massive reduction in weed cover and establishing thousands of robust tussock grasses and sedges.

There’s something for everyone on this day as we’ll be working on two tasks: protecting our most recent revegetation and finishing off some of the last of the willows.

Crack willows are a weed of national significance.  With Mount Alexander Shire Council’s help, we’ve eradicated most of them over the four kilometres of creek between Castlemaine and Princess St.  The last infestation in that stretch is in Lewis Swamp.  With your help we could kill all these plants this weekend by “drilling and filling”, that is, injecting herbicide into the bark and sapwood of the trunks.

News flash: council has promised to deal with the willows downstream of Princess Street!

This working bee is also an opportunity to hand weed around our most recent revegetation.  These grasses and sedges are doing well, but weeding around individual plants will give them a boost and allow for larger scale weed control nearby.

Please wear sturdy footwear, hat and gloves and clothing suitable for the weather.

If you can, please bring any of the following:

• a charged cordless drill and spare, charged batteries if possible and drill bits (5-10 mm diameter).
• Old table knife, garden trowel or similar implement for hand weeding

We’ll supply the rest, including light refreshments.

Meet at the Lewis Drive carpark, Castlemaine for a 10:00 a.m. start.   If you arrive late, we’ll be working from there downstream.

Hope to see you there!