By Emma Rooksby, coordinator of Growing Illawarra Natives
Right across the Illawarra, in urban parks and reserves, bushland patches and even in gardens and on verges, endangered species and ecological communities live among us.
Our urban and peri-urban spaces are habitat for the Koala, first recorded by Europeans at Mount Kembla (Djembla) and the Grey-headed Flying Foxes that fill the night sky above us, for the Magenta Cherry tree and the tiny Illawarra Greenwood orchid. Depending on how you measure, there are up to 40 threatened species and about 20 threatened ecological communities (collections or assemblages of different plants and animals) in the Illawarra region. Just check out this graphic from the Threatened Species in Cities project!
This means we all have an important role to play in helping to protect our threatened species and ecological communities.
One local threatened ecological community was on display earlier in March, when the NSW Department of Climate Change, Environment, Energy and Water (DCCEEW) launched a new conservation program, Guardians of the Grassy Woodlands.
This new program focuses on protecting and restoring Illawarra Lowlands Grassy Woodland, a threatened ecological community that basically occurs only in our region (though recent redefinitions have seen it extend south as far as Bawley Point).
Only 12% of the ecological community remains. It has been extensively cleared for timber, agriculture, grazing, housing and community infrastructure. And yet it's absolutely enchanting, full of pretty little flowering plants, interesting mistletoes and a wealth of native fauna.
At the project launch at Dapto Ribbonwood Centre, the Saving Our Species team from DCCEEW introduced the Grassy Woodlands and gave the audience some useful tips on how to be a Guardian.
There are many opportunities to become involved. If you live in the Illawarra, anywhere south from Corrimal, you may be in an area that once hosted Illawarra Lowland Grassy Woodlands, or where remnant Grassy Woodlands are still present. Parts of West Dapto and Albion Park have some larger patches left on private land, while many properties in these areas, and on the coastal plain north to Corrimal, would have land that could be restored with Grassy Woodland species.
Actions to take as a Guardian of the Grassy Woodlands include:
- Grow local native species in your garden, verge or local patch: avoid exotic species and Australian cultivars such as Grevillea cultivars that attract aggressive Noisy Miner birds.
- Let your patch rewild itself: stop removing fallen leaves and sticks, and let them create habitat where they fall in your garden
- Prevent garden plants from escaping into nearby bushland; many garden plants, including some commonly grown fruits and vegetables, are potential weeds.
- Join the new Guardians of the Grassy Woodlands project. You can contact the Guardians team at DCCEEW to find out more or get involved at se-threatenedspeciesteam@environment.nsw.gov.au. At present the team is doing baseline surveying for local microbats (which are some of the cutest critters going), and looking for properties with Grassy Woodlands to survey.
Read more
- The Threatened Species in Cities Project identifies threatened species that occur in cities around Australia, including 36 in the Wollongong/Illawarra area. The data displayed was collected by Lentini, P.E and Soanes, K (2020) Threatened species in Australian cities database, prepared for the Clean Air and Urban Landscapes Hub and Threatened Species Recovery Hub of the National Environmental Science Program, The University of Melbourne
- Find more local plant stories and advice at Growing Illawarra Natives