Our Vision is the first step in revising the Mt Gravatt Environment Group’s Strategic Plan.

Mt Gravatt is the heart of a special community. Indigenous and European histories both have strong links with the mountain.  Although it has been farmed, harvested for timber and increasingly isolated by suburban development over one hundred years, the mountain still supports the most amazing diversity of plant and animal life.  This ecological and cultural landmark exists just ten kilometres from the CBD of the fastest growing city in Australia.

Restoring and strengthening the ecosystems of the mountain and its corridors, will have positive community and environmental outcomes, and is increasingly urgent as the population in the area grows.  Mt Gravatt Environment Group is already working to actively engage the whole community in consolidating healthy habitat areas and reducing habitat isolation with wildlife links.

Why a whole of community focus?

Wildlife does not recognise human created property boundaries or roads. Effective habitat consolidation and linking requires co-operation of a diverse range of property owners – private, corporate, local/state/federal government, community groups, schools and university. Therefore, a key part of our strategy is to identify investments in the environment that also deliver excellent community and business outcomes.

Mt Gravatt Envrionment Group

Please comment. How can we engage the community in this vision?

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Mimosa Creek is beautiful crystal clear stream rising in Toohey Forest before it flows under the Pacific Motorway reappearing beside Klumpp Road, meandering through Roly Chapman Reserve where, if you are quiet, you will often see turtles.

Mimosa Creek Precinct is the reach between the Pacific Motorway and Clairvaux MacKillop College, also including three potential wildlife corridors connecting with Mt Gravatt Reserve.

In developing the Mimosa Creek Precinct Landscape Plan, Mt Gravatt Environment Group aims to provide a community focused approach to environmental restoration of this important habitat with a variety of owners including BCC, Main Roads Dept, Translink, Hibiscus Sport Centre (local & state government), community organisations, schools and private owners. The term Landscape Plan comes from the excellent Birds in Backyards – Best Practice Guidelines, and is used to encompass this complex ownership mix.

Download the plan here: Mimosa Creek Precinct Landscape Plan – ver 1.6 (web) It does not take long to read: it is mostly Google Earth pictures. Appendix PDF files: Roly Chapman Bushcare Plan – ver 1.5 Fox Gully Bushcare Plan 2011 – ver 3.6 Mt Gravatt Strategic Plan – ver1.0

The environment is the key focus of this Plan, however, building and maintaining long-term financial and community commitment requires identification of business opportunities and community benefits derived from habitat restoration.

We have already identified a number of direct community benefits from implementation of the Landscape Plan. Identifying business opportunities that directly contribute to restoration of Mimosa Creek Precinct, is not as obvious. However, to quote Peter Drucker:

“Every single social and global issue of our day is a business opportunity in disguise.”

BizEd july/august 2008

Read the Fox Gully blog post Business Goes Bush in Mt Gravatt.

What community and business opportunities can you identify?

Congratulations to Sue Jones who organised Sunday’s Clean Up Australia Day in Mt Gravatt Reserve.

Left to Right - Sandra, Jian, Nancy and Sue

The team arrived early to prepare for sign-on and safety briefing.

Clean Up results were excellent:

  • 31 volunteers
  • 35 bags of rubbish (white)
  • 20 bags of recyclables (yellow)
  • Most unusual item found:
    • a full suitcase of clothing!

Michael from BCC Local Area Services also provided excellent support: ferrying ute loads of filled bags back to the Summit. I was little surprised to see an office chair go up on one load. Dumping of rubbish and garden waste is still one of the three big threats to Mt Gravatt Reserve. However, there was general agreement that the new gate at the Shire Road entry has made a big improvement. On Sunday we had a skip provided thanks to Clean Up sponsor Veolia.

The MEG Summit Clean Up was certainly the place to be on Sunday morning. Cr Krista Adams and Ian Walker the new LNP candidate for Mansfield Ward, and Ian’s wife Heather all joined the clean up. An official Clean Up Australia team to see the clean up on one of Brisbane’s iconic sites and the Southern Star was there: so be sure to read this week’s paper.

We had representatives from China and USA joining in to help Clean Up Australia along with members of a walking group, who love the Reserve.

At the end it was a real pleasure to be able to sit in the sun sharing a coffee from the Echidna Magic Kiosk.

The visit by BOIC (Butterflies & Other Invertebrates Club) reported in our local Southside Community News.

Correction and apology: BOIC President’s name was incorrect. My mistake: I provided the wrong name to the journalist.

Ross Kendall of Butterfly Encounters is currently BOIC President.

Join Mt Gravatt Environment Group (MEG) for Clean Up Australia Day 2011 and help clean up the habitat of some of our special animals.

Sunday 6th March 2011,  8 – 10 am.  Meet at the Echidna Magic Cafe on the summit.

Access via Mt Gravatt Outlook Drive (UBD 201:B2).

Click to Register for Summit Cleanup.

Mt Gravatt Reserve is home to koalas, echidnas, fireflies and forty-five species of butterflies.

Clean Up Australia Day is an opportunity to experience this unique bushland and improve the habitat for our wildlife.

Two large pile of weeds have been removed so it is time for a cuppa with the Geutrude Petty Bushcare team. Around the table today are Judy, Ian, Sarah, Nancy, Brett, Morag, Susan and Mannix.

It is always interesting to sit down with the team at Geutrude Petty. The range of experience around the table is extraordianary. Today the group included a retired business owner, an expert in breeding frogs, an envrionmental restoration professional, Meals on Wheels volunteers and a person who hiked into the Stinson wreck to clean up and carry out rubbish: a 35 kilometre treck climbng 1040 metres.

Gertrude Petty restoration is creating an amazing picnic opportunity you normally only find in a national park outside the city. Our Australian wildflowers are often small and easily overlooked. Visit Gertrude Petty virtually any time of the year and you will find amazing flowers. The Native or Ivy-leaf Violet Viola banksii are flowering at the moment.

The Gertrude Petty team meets 8am to 10am last Saturday of each month and 3pm to 5pm every Wednesday. For details/contacts see 2011 MEG Calendar.

Mycena lampadis Luminous Mushroom

Fireflies now glow-in-the-dark mushrooms!

 

Same mushroom under torch light

Carol, who sent the firefly photos, called me late the other night inviting me to see the glow-in-the-dark mushrooms in their gully. Extraordinary, spooky and a very very special experience: walking thought the dark with the only light these amazing fungi.

Seeing these luminous mushrooms during the day they look like just another delicate white fungi.

The Springbrook Research Centre has information on bioluminescence.

The Mountain continues to surprise and delight. Listen to my interview with Kelly Higgins-Devine: 612ABC Drive.

See more of our amazing mushrooms: read my article on Forest Fungi.

Thanks to Bill and Alison Semple we have photographic evidence that echidnas are still active on the Mountain.

Alison photographed this prickly character foraging for food last week. Bill and Alison were walking on the mountain when they were made this special find.

Echidnas Tachyglossus aculeatus is one the few ground dwelling mammals found in the Reserve. Commonly called Spiny Anteater, for obvious reasons, dig into ants nests and termite mounds using their long tongue to search out dinner. Like the platypus these fascinating mammals lay eggs like reptiles then nurture their young in a pouch feeding them on mother’s milk. It never ceases to amaze me that we can find special animals like this only ten minutes from Brisbane CBD.

Keep an eye out for the beautiful Blue Tiger butterflies – Tirumala hamata visiting the mountain at the moment. Note the tiger like spots on the head.

When I could not identify any caterpillar (larval) food plants in the Reserve for these butterflies I contacted Dr Carla Catterall who kindly shared her extensive knowledge. It turns our Tigers are tourists just visiting Brisbane on holidays.

Dr Catterall advises that the Tiger Blue is a migratory species – so to understand why we are seeing them we need to search for info about its migratory habits rather than its food plants.

Because of these large-scale coordinated movements by many individuals at once (which are poorly understood), this species appears and disappears in large numbers from time to time (and apparently there are a lot of them in the Brisbane region at present).  It is also known to migrate over water (for example, I [Carla Catterall] have seen them flying across the ocean between Gladstone and Heron Island).

The larvae would have hatched, fed and pupated somewhere else, probably a long way away from Toohey Forest (tens to hundreds of km).

Thank you Dr Catterall.

In February, Mt Gravatt Environment Group proposed an alternative approach to tree clearing on the mountain: Restoring Unique Scenic Outlook Below is a copy of the Letters to Editor section of Southern Star – June 9, 2010. Click on image to enlarge for reading.

MEG is already working closely with BCC Habitat Brisbane on restoration of four Mt Gravatt bushcare sites and has expressed interest in restoration of the Mt Gravatt Outlook. However, as a volunteer organisation with limited resources our activities are critically dependent on careful planning and co-ordination with other Mountain stakeholders: allows elimination of rework and other unnecessary work. While we provided detailed comment on the 2008 Draft Land Management Plan, we have not yet received a copy of the Interim Land Management Plan which we understand is currently being used to support decisions such as tree clearing on the summit.