Mount Gravatt Environment Group

By: Michael Fox

A beautiful cool sunny morning. What a day to welcome the ERM Team to Mt Gravatt and Fox Gully Bushcare for a morning of waging war on weeds and exploring our forest habitat.

ERM is a multinational sustainability consultancy with over 7,000 team members in 40 offices around the world.

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On the track to the worksite we stop to look for Koalas. A local couple walk the mountain each morning on the lookout for Koalas and scratching arrows on tracks so visitors can meet our local wildlife.

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The ERM Team are an interesting group of experienced professionals: included environmental scientists, water engineers and even archaeologists. However, our work site is quite steep and slippery so safety is key.

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The Treepopper was a hit with the group working on removal of Ochna (Mickey Mouse Plant). The Treepopper pulls the weed vertically removing with minimal disturbance of the soil microbes and fungi. This is important to maintaining soil health.

The first step removing Ochna is to remove and bag seeds for disposal. The removed plants were placed in a pile to compost: retaining scarce resources on-site while slowing water flow on the steep slope.

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All hands on the job to clear a large Easter Cassia Senna pendula var. glabrata. The bright yellow flowers of Easter Cassia is easy to spot at Easter however at other times the gold rim of the leaves is reliable for identification.

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The Chinese Elm Celtis sinensis team worked hard cutting down and poisoning large trees. Logs were placed across the slope to reduce erosion.

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Sharp eyes spotted a Three-eyed Leaf-rolling Cricket Xiphogryllacris orthoxipha. The name comes from the very large median ocellus which is as large as its compound eyes.

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A fearsome looking Net-casting Spider Deinopis sp. was found among the leaf litter.

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Returning to the Summit via the Eastern Outlook Track the team inspected our restoration work at our National Tree Day planting sites.

I explained the BCC Habitat Brisbane team provided the plants based on our research of species found in the forest: Flora and Fauna. Planting local species produces excellent results, even in the thin rocky soil, with some shrubs going from tube stock to 2.5 metres in eighteen months.

The local natives also attract more insects like the Blue Eyes Lacewing Nymphes myrmeleonides.

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A diversity of insects like the Spotted Paropsine Beetle Paropsis maculata are important to help with pollination and providing food for insect eating birds.

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We discussed the lush growth of Scurvy Weed Commelina cyanea which creates a thick cover of Living Mulch keeping the soil cool and retaining moisture. The leaves of Scurvy Weed are edible with high vitamin C content. Managing Commelina species in bushland can be a challenge with white flowering weed Wandering Jew Tradescantia fluminensis often confused with Scurvy Weed: roots can be used to identify the weed.

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A quick stop to introduce the team to the Tree Troff Koala Drinker used to provide water for wildlife within the dry mountain reserve.

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A very pleasant morning in the bush with interesting people finished with an excellent brunch at Lovewell Cafe thanks to the ERM Team. I introduced our Pollinator Link project and encouraged everyone to take advantage of free registration of their wildlife garden.