N4C Bushcare Site Tours: Glindemann Creek Bushcare Sites

N4C Bushcare Site Tours: Glindemann Creek Bushcare Sites

Come join us on for the next of N4C’s catchment bushcare site tours! N4C supports a range of bushcare and affiliated sites working with different ecologies and landscapes. Each has a varied history with different challenges and opportunities, and some relatively new and others over 40 years old! Collectively, the volunteers who work on these sites have a wealth of bushcare experience in rewilding and caring for our natural environment.

This series of events is aimed at regular N4C volunteers and group leaders as well as general members of the public. For the former, it provides a chance to visit other sites within the catchment and get to see what others are doing, exchange knowledge, share experiences of both challenges and opportunities, as well as chance to socialise and understand the broader Norman Creek catchment. For members of the public who may be thinking about volunteering in bushcare but not sure exactly where to start or what group they may like to join, it is an opportunity to visit your local groups/sites to see what is happening, meet the group leaders and learn about N4C and its role in supporting our local environment.

Each catchment tour is designed as a walking tour capturing a couple of sites that are relatively nearby, with the aim of walking between them where possible, of around 4-5km on average, as a way of understanding the connections between sites. The option of course exists for those less able to walk between to drive and meet the main group at the next site.

Catchment Tour #6 – Glindemann Creek Bushcare Sites (Glindemann and Balis St Parks)

Moving upstream from our previous tour of the DCP and Stephens Mountain, this tour will explore two relatively new sites in the upper Norman Creek catchment along the major tributary of Glindemann Creek.

Glindemann Park

The first site is the very popular Glindemann Park, where we will visit the work done over six years by a committed group of locals, widening a narrow band of previously planted riparian vegetation. The park and surrounds has an interesting history with it being an important indigenous camping ground, later a dairy farm by the early settlers, and then hosting a military hospital situated on the eastern side. Various council projects have been undertaken since the year 2000 to reshape the creek edges addressing the heavily incised creek bed – one of these projects being the genesis for the formation of the current bushcare group.

Balis Street Park

Balis Street Park is a hidden gem within Holland Park, tucked behind suburban houses, where the creek regains a more natural form after going under Logan Rd. With a narrow area to work in, this site is a testament to its group leader and the small band of volunteers supported by Council, who clear invasive species, plant native flora and remove rubbish, assisting native regeneration and expansion of native flora. The park's shrubby vegetation is host to birds such as the Pale Vented Bush Hen. Hard Quandong (Elaeocarpus obovatus) is a tall tree that serves as shelter for possums, protecting them against their predator the Powerful Owl, which has also been spotted in the park.

Joachim St Park

Leaving Balis Street Park, the creek flows under Marshall Rd and back into a concrete channel before joining Ekibin Creek at which point the watercourse becomes Norman Creek. If time permits, the tour will visit this section and discuss the work N4C would like to see in this area to continue re-naturalising the creek where possible.