Background
The Baranduda Landcare Group was established at the time the Albury Wodonga Corporation gifted 408 hectares of Baranduda to the Crown. At that time Baranduda Parklands was a degraded cow paddock and a sea of purple (Paterson’s Curse) and yellow (St Johns Wort and Genista) in spring.
Baranduda Landcare, a sub-group of Kiewa Catchment Landcare, has a vision of restoring native vegetation to hillsides and gullies to create diverse, weed-free environment.
Parklands’ Baranduda estate consists of 400ha of open semi-cleared hillside and remnant bushland at the north-eastern end of the Baranduda Range. It forms a critical vegetation link between the adjoining Regional Park (Parks Victoria) and the Kiewa Valley floodplain. It also supports valuable remnants of Grassy Dry Forest, threatened Valley Grassy Forest, as well as rare plants including Tick Indigo (Indigofera australis) and Slender Tick Trefoil (Desmodium varians), and provides habitat for the vulnerable Brushtail Phascogale or Tuan. However, past over-clearing and excessive stock grazing has left a legacy of weeds. Unchecked, weeds are winning the war, threatening the long-term viability of this land. The Baranduda Parklands protection project is a partnership between the Baranduda community (Landcare, Primary School, Scouts, CFA and Lions groups) and Parklands. The main project objective is to identify, protect, and enhance remnant vegetation and wildlife habitat within and adjoining the Parklands estate. Key components are:
- Cessation of broad scale, unregulated grazing of hill country and major gully systems.
- Managed grazing of cleared lower foothills associated with fire access areas.
- Strategic, sustained and long-term weed control focusing on Paterson’s Curse, Blackberry (plus a host of other broad-leaf weeds).
- Targeted revegetation using indigenous species.
- Community awareness and participation.
The removal of grazing was the single most effective means of improving the quality of this bushland. Green Corp teams tackled invasive environmental weeds, such as Genista and False Acacia whilst Baranduda Landcare Group implemented biological control programs for Paterson’s Curse, St Johns Wort, and Blackberry.
Threatened species recovery programs included installation of nest boxes for Bats and Squirrel Gliders, and monitoring of Swainsona Pea, Orchids and Condamine Lizard populations.
Baranduda Landcare Group’s annual National Tree Day events continue to engage the local community. These initially focused on gullies within Baranduda Parklands. This focus has extended to corridors throughout Baranduda township and school grounds.
