Bushcare – Audio
Our very own Nick Franklin’s (an Walkley Award winner!) program for Radio National from 2015, “The Other Green Army”, Volumes One and Two.
As the ABC media puts it: The story of how the ‘eccentric’ Bradley sisters started bush regeneration – a movement that radicalised the battle against one of the greatest and oldest enemies of the Australian bush; invasive weeds. Nick Franklin, an experienced bush regenerator, heads into ‘the scrub’ in search of this history“
www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/earshot/bush-regen—part-1-of-2/6309182
www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/earshot/bush-regen-2/6309200
Bushcare – Videos
A short film celebrating the beauty of our natural environment and 20 years of dedicated volunteer bush carers working in the Blue Mountains to restore Australian native bushland. As an urban-natural interface, South Lawson Park is an example of successful land regeneration achieved through the efforts of committed locals. This film examines bushland values, community engagement, the significance of local places, bushcare, streamwatch, and natural and urban environment issues. This project is supported by Greater Sydney Local Land Services through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program.
This video outlines the extensive history, commitment and success of one of the Blue Mountains first bushland groups, Popes Glen Bushcare. This ambitious rehabilitation project is detailed in a FREE digital photo history which you can download at https://dl.bookfunnel.com/ebgais2pxn.
Popes Glen: Source from Australian Association of Bush Regenerators (AABR). The following are separate videos from the Popes Glen field day series, of the AABR Field Day in September 2017
| Title | Length |
| Overview | 5:41 |
| Weeds | 11:47 |
| Revegetation | 15:11 |
| Stormwater | 19:10 |
Bushcare Volunteers
Volunteers with Blue Mountains Bushcare were asked about why they enjoyed Bushcare 😊🌱🐛 If you’re interested in coming along to Bushcare sometime, check out www.bushcarebluemountains.org.au
Sharing Bushcare Energy – Blue Mountains Bushcare Network Conference 2015 was supported by Local Land Services. These short videos capture just a few of the people who have been working in Bushcare: Jasmine Paygett and Meri Tinkler-Smith, Jenny Hill, Paul Vale, Mike Purtell and Alan Lane.
Sharing Bushcare Energy: Blue Mountains Bushcare Volunteers Jasmine Payget and Meri Tinkler-Smith (2017) 6:51
Weeds
Post Fire Weeds
This video was made by the recovery team after the Bushfire in the Lower Mountains in 2013. This is part of a series made about getting your garden back after a wildfire.
Blue Mountains Swamps
| Hanging in There – Upland Swamps (2011) | 9:32 |
| Giant Dragonflies in the Hanging Swamps of the Blue Mountains (2014) | 2:14 |
| Bringing Back the Sweetwater – Garguree Swampcare (2013) | 7:45 |
| Swamped by Threats (2020) | 4:46 |
Swamped by Threats is a 10 year partnership project that aims to protect and conserve important swamp habitats of the endangered Blue Mountains Water Skink and the Giant Dragonfly. The project is led by Blue Mountains City Council, Central Tablelands Local Land Service, Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, and the Saving our Species program with funding from the NSW Environmental Trust. To get involved go to www.bushcarebluemountains.org.au
Blue Mountains Swamps are jewels in the Blue Mountains landscape. As well as being places of beauty they are also biodiversity hotspots, drought refugia areas, carbon sinks and hydrological ecosystem service providers storing, filtering and slowly releasing purified water back into the environment. Learn more about these unique ecosystems and what you can do to help
The endangered Giant Dragonfly has graced the skies over the swamps of the Blue Mountains since time in millennia. Learn more about this amazing species and its struggle for survival in a changing climate.
Garguree Swampcare is a unique indigenous lead bushcare group which is restoring the swamps and bushland of the Gully Aboriginal Place as part of a broader healing process repairing the extensive environmental and emotional damage resulting from the construction of the Catalina Park Racetrack through the Gully settlement in 1957. Hear the Gully Traditional Owners stories and perspectives as they restore and care for their country in the Gully.
Threatened Species
Award winning film – the culmination of many months of research and production by the students at Megalong Public School. We hope that you enjoy our film and are moved to consider Threatened Species in your area.
Biodiversity – Saving Our Species
Learn about five key endemic threatened plant species that inhabit the Blue Mountains cliff lines and waterfalls and what you can do to help these unique species survive into the future
| Cliffhanging 5 – (a compilation of the 5 plants and includes an introduction by rockclimber Monique Forestier) 2018 https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/news/the-cliffhanging-five | 6:02 |
| Cliffhanging 5: Euphrasia bowdeniae https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/news/euphrasia-bowdeniae | 1:03 |
| Cliffhanging 5: Epacris hamiltonii https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/news/epacris-hamiltonii | 1:03 |
| Cliffhanging 5: Dwarf mountain pine https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/news/dwarf-mountain-pine | 1:04 |
| Cliffhanging 5: Leionema lachnaeoides https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/news/leionema-lachnaeoides | 1:02 |
| Cliffhanging 5: Fletchers drumstick https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/news/fletchers-drumstick | 1:04 |
| Bushrock Protection NSWParks (Initiative of Save our Species) 2018 | 2:44 |
CLICK here to view all the Saving our Species videos:
https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/Topics/animals-and-plants/threatened-species/saving-our-species-videos
Learn about the importance of bush rock as habitat for native animals such as the endangered broad-headed snake and what you can do to help
https://www.facebook.com/334261059949499/posts/823771824680108
Fauna
#crayfishclassroom – Our Healthy Waterways team has been undertaking their annual crayfish surveys in Jamison Creek, Wentworth Falls Lake and Leura Falls Creek. Our two local native species of crayfish are slow-growing and are known to live for over 20 years, though probably much longer. With the help of crayfish expert Rob McCormack, the team were happy to find a number of crayfish including some females with eggs.
Crayfish Classroom 2 – Blue Mountains (2019) 1:15
#crayfishclassroom Crayfish surveys have been conducted in 2013, 2016, 2017 and 2018 to monitor crayfish population levels in Jamison Creek and Leura Falls Creek. In 2018 surveys were also conducted in Springwood creek. Between 2013 and 2017 there were significant improvements of the Giant Spiny Crayfish (Euastacus spinifer) population levels in Jamison Creek.
Native bees are an important part of our garden’s ecosystems. In this podcast Pip Magazine editor Robyn Rosenfeldt talks with Dr Megan Halcroft about what role they play in our gardens and what we can do to support them. We learn what are the best plants to grow to attract them and how to create habitat for them to live in.
Landholders are being asked to report sightings of this species and help maintain its habitat. The purple copper butterfly is one of Australia’s rarest butterfly species and is only found in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales. Its habitat is restricted to elevations above 900 metres. Read More….From Saving Our Species https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/news/purple-copper-butterfly
Environmental Education & Connecting with Nature
Project Plant It shows students from Winmalee Public School spending National Tree Day at Springwood’s Deanei Forest Reserve, together with local Bushcare volunteers, members of the Blue Mountains Youth Council, and Council’s Bushcare, Community Development and Environmental Education & Engagement representatives.
The Council is working with local schools to provide experiential learning in their bushland setting. Programs have been developed with teachers in line with the curriculum. Council staff use their expertise in storm water, water quality and their local ecology to bring the wonder of the Blue Mountains’ environment to students.
Learning outside the classroom is a multi-sensory experience, full of wonder and discovery, and allows all students to achieve. Teachers at Warrimoo Public school are working with their Local Council to provide their students deep learning about their local environment and help provide them with a sense of place.
Students from Winmalee High School talk about why they love our Connecting Kids, creeks and Catchments initiative. This hands-on environmental learning program, developed by Council and run in partnership with local schools, is a learning experience unique to our City within a World Heritage Area.
A connecting with nature initiative of Blue Mountains City Council
Blue Mountains City Council, Connecting Kids with Nature