Welcome to Tumbi Wetlands

What's news at Tumbi Wetlands

This page is here to highlight news of the plant events taking place month by month.
In it we will try to show what changes are occurring by way of planting and what weeding we need to do as well as new plants we have found recently. the plants that are in flower for the month.

Placement of Kookaburra nestbox at Tumbi Wetlands Bushcare on January 31st 2011
Today with the help of Paul from Gecko Bush Regenerators we placed a nesbox to replace one that has been used by 2 of our resident Kookaburras for some years. The old nest was an active termite nest but after 2 or 3 years of use by a pair of larger creature it fell apart. The replacement was made from very second hand cypress pine floor boards. Now we are waiting to see if it is acceptable to the Kookaburras.
Progress in learning about the Aboriginal cultural significance of plants in Tumbi Wetlands Bushcare on December 16th 2011
Today we walked through the wetland reserve with Gavi Duncan, to learn about use of plants at Tumbi Wetlands by the Darkinyung people. Joanne was there to film it for the CMA record, while a sound recording made during the morning, will enable the reporting of information gleaned, on this website. Preparation of the new webpage is well underway.
CMA Education Grant for Tumbi Wetlands Bushcare in May 2011
Tumbi Wetlands Bushcare has recently been awarded an Education Grant for the purpose of learning about, and sharing with the community through the website and other opportunities, the Aboriginal cultural significance of plants in the wetland. Deb Swan, the CMA Aboriginal Community Support Officer walked around the area with me, sharing some insights on the way, as well as arranging for traditional descendant Kevin Duncan to make a detailed assessment later. For starters, we looked at Lomandra longifolia, which is abundant in the area and would have been used by Aboriginal people for weaving baskets etc. Once the basket was made it could be used to hold a collection of seeds from the lomandras which would then be specially treated and later used to make flour for a damper (more later). Acacia longifolia is a rich source of seeds for an Aboriginal kitchen ($40 per kilo today) as well as having leaves, which when crushed and rubbed between wet hands, does an excellent hand wash job, lather and all. I have no need to go home from a working-bee with dirty hands any more!
Rare Orchid discovered on January 25 2011
Bush regenerator, Damien Moey, while walking along an access road to another job came upon what appeared to be a leafless orchid stem which he photographed and later realised it was of genus Arthrochilus. It was only 18 cm tall and surrounded by taller grasses and sedges. Here is his photo.
Green team returns to Tumbi Wetlands on January 17 2011
The team returned to continue their good work, first by raising the height of the rock barrier to trap more leaf litter. Then they comprehensively weeded the area previously worked on, to remove emerging exotic sedges, and finally bagged the enormous pile of weeds that they removed over the two sessions. Now native plants dominate the floor of the channel.
Green team visits Tumbi Wetlands on November 22,23 & 30 2010

"Too big a job for me!"	"So what? Let's get into it!"

"Watch out for flying weeds!"	"What have we got here?"

"There's the weeds! Now let's get the rocks"	"Whoo there - drinks first!"

"What a wonderful job we are doing!"	"And in went the little rocks and the big rock!"

"Almost finished!"	"What will it look like next time we pass?"

September 11, 2010 A new page has just been added into this website - Fungi at Tumbi Wetlands
August 20, 2010 After this quite wet winter there are interesting appearances, most striking of which was the mass flowering of the Brown Beaks orchid Lyperanthus sauveolens consisting of at least 50 spikes.
Novenber 19, 2009 Heavy rains since the improvements to the storm water drain have shown that some modifications are needed. In heavy storms as it spills over the into the wetland much debris is still washed into the wetland. We decided a small log dam might help spread the water out of its narrow course and trap the debris earlier. We are now waiting on main to test it. December 29, 2009 The test came in December when there was 10 minute storm that rained 10 mm over the 6 hectare catchment. It almost washed away one of our logs. Some securing work has been done and the water is being diverted quite effectively in the more gentle rain showers.
Logs about 3 m. long had their ends buried on each side of the water course.
3 logs raise the height of water so that it can more easily flow sideways past levees that have built up.

Beginnings at Tumbi Wetlands Bushcare
Towards the end of 2004 a beginning was made when John Eaton visited the site with Ian Robb and plans were made to establish a WyCare group. John gave some advice about how to manage the site and helped set some realistic targets for a group of one working in an area which is really quite extensive.
Assessment of Site - 2005 Problems encountered
1.	Council storm-water drain will flood severely in heavy rain: more than 50 mm per day. A lot of sediment is deposited and council may want maintenance access to clear channel.
2.	A fire in December 2004 burnt out a large proportion of the site. A large number of seedlings are germinating throughout 2005. Some can be relocated.
3.	Loss of canopy around the drain results in excessive weed growth.
4.	Obvious exotic weeds include willow camphor laurel blackberry privet crofton weed Brazilian fire weed Fireweed	This is the site as it was in June 2005: notice the overhanging willow, the dying typha rushes and the extensive area of mown exotic grass surrounding the prominent Angophora costata.
What could be achieved in the long term?
A.	Remove enough weeds to allow planting canopy plants
B.	Collect some seedlings from burnt-out area to replant above area
C.	Construct a levee and diversion channel to protect plantings from heavy rain
D.	Monitor storm water drain and remove any large excess of sediment
E.	Identify as many plants as possible

Site Assessment Review 2007

As for weeds, the willow tree has gone: however there are continuing problems to some degree with all the others named above. To assist with removall of crofton weed and blackberry, a successful application was made for an Envirofund Grant. Work is proceeding with contract bush regenerators completing their work for this year.

Council storm-water drain remains a problem to the management of the site. A dense growth of Typha now fills across the drain so that when storm rains come the flush of water from some 6 hectares of catchment brings a large load of leaves from the streets which are easily trapped in the Typha. The result is that the Typha and leaves now effectively filter out all the solids in the water, reducing the water flow to a trickle. This is fine for the wetland as there is a flow long after the rain, but it is not really sustainable.
10 September 2009: Thanks to Wyong Shire Council and their policy on Streambank rehabilitation,
we now have a solution to this problem.
See WSC Report on work at Tumbi
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We have had great success transplanting seedling germinated on site - most have been Swamp Mahogany or Acacia Longifolia.
We have now completed planting a batch of Maleleuca seedlings, mostly M.nodosa for revegetating the area burnt out in December 2005.

By early in 2008, a very significant amount of growth has occurred. Acacia longifolias have reached a height of 6 m and the area of exotic grass is much reduced.

As for varieties, our diversity now reaches to 160 species of clearly identified plants.

Fires in Tumbi Wetlands Bushcare

In December, 2004 a fire burnt out a significant part of the reserve. Recovery came during 2005 as the following series of photos shows:


Seedling Acacia longifolias competing savagely for survival.	Gahnia recovered very quickly after the fire.	Lomandras were doing well too.

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The above photos were taken in June 2005.

on Christmas eve the fires came again but much closer to our plantings.


Swamp mahogany explodes into flame	Morning after the fire	After the early January rain in 2006

Harvesting Seedlings
After the fires of 2004 and 2005, the regeneration was so extensive that many clusters of plants were available, growing so densely that small seedling plants could easily be harvested for potting and replacement at other locations on the site. The clayey nature of the soil makes it relatively easy to cut out a small plant, especially after rain, for placing in a tube.

Edited on ...November 30, 2010

Welcome to Tumbi Wetlands

Beginnings at Tumbi Wetlands Bushcare

Fires in Tumbi Wetlands Bushcare