The Blue Mountains City Council manages reserves across four distinct conservation landscapes, related to underlying geology: Blue Mountains Plateau, Lower Blue Mountains Shale Sandstone, Megalong Granite Sandstone and Moist Basalt Cap. These landscapes all adjoin drinking water catchment areas, The Blue Mountains World Heritage area, private landholders and neighbouring council areas of Penrith and Lithgow.

The Blue Mountains City Council Remote Bushcare Program began in 2004, working in partnership with National Parks and Wildlife Services (NPWS) across several adjoining land tenures. This program extends the weed control work the Bushcare program and the Natural Area Operations team carries out further into the remote areas of BMCC’s LGA.

Remote events are planned with Bushcare/Landcare Groups to extend their work further into the catchment. It provides an opportunity for group members to gain a better understanding of their sub-catchments and the issues they face, such as seed dispersal.

These areas are often harder to access, with a longer a walk in, often with minimal to no track, and are a whole day’s work. A high level of fitness is required as we often spend the day walking, scrambling over rocks and fallen logs, walking through creeks and working with our packs on our backs.

The work is highly rewarding, keeping weeds out of beautiful, sensitive areas that are little visited. The program has massively reduced the movement of broom and gorse into the Grose Valley.

(Many weeds including broom and gorse can shoot their seeds some metres away. Infestations can thicken quickly and spread, particularly along watercourses. Pods burst open in hot weather during spring and summer. The scattered weed seeds are carried along streams and rivers by water and sediment, resulting in long distance dispersal downstream and germination at new sites, especially in gullies.)

BMCC run six remote events a year across the whole LGA, treating mostly priority weeds, like broom, gorse, privet, Himalayan honeysuckle, blackberry and montbretia.

If you are interested and would like more information please contact the Bushcare Office bushcare@bmcc.nsw.gov.au

To participate, watch for Remote Bushcare updates via Bushcare Events emails (subscribe if you are not already signed up), or via this website’s events calendar. You can register your interest via Remote event entries as they come up.