Watershed Landcare Presents Catchment Corner

Managing woody regrowth & Grassy Box Woodlands

Eucalypt species, Cypress Pine, Sticky Daisy and Sifton Bush are some of the woody plants that can germinate and grow as “thick as hairs on a dogs’ back” leaving a paddock useless for grazing. So what can you do about this? What is this telling you about your paddock?

On Monday 23rd November, Watershed Landcare is running a ½ day mini-bus tour of some sites experiencing invasion of woody species.
Andrew Knop is coming along for the day to share his extensive knowledge of different woody species and what they tell us about our soil condition.

Some shrub species are palatable, however, and can actually increase the drought resilience of a grazing enterprise. Colin Seis will be sharing early results of his trial with Hardenbergia – a native woody groundcover that is highly palatable to stock.

We’ll be looking at grazing management that promotes the shrubs you might want and suppresses the species you don’t. We’ll be asking:

• How to build a soil environment where grasses want to grow and shrubs don’t?
• How can you use animals to build your soil and get the grasses to come back?
• How to speed up the cycle of lignin (woody component of organic matter)?
• How to get nutrients pulsing more quickly?
• What shrubby woodlands are telling us about the succession of plants in the landscape?
• What are some of the techniques to manage woody regrowth? Herbicide? Grazing methods?

This field day will also look at Grassy Box Woodlands. What exactly is a GBW? Why are these plant communities attracting all sorts of funding at the moment; and how do you know if you have one?

The trip will run from 8.30am – 1.30pm.
The field day is free for Watershed member (non-members $10) with morning tea and lunch provided. Limited seats, so contact Thea for further details. RSVP by 20th November.

This field trip is part of Watersheds’ “Building Environmental Capacity in the Cudgegong” project and have been assisted by the New South Wales Government through its Environmental Trust.    

For those who cannot make it there will be a report on the day published.