First chemical free bitou weeding at Brunswick Heads

Hello to all you volunteers that braved the foul weather last Sunday, and came out to help weed the bitou at Brunswick Heads. We actually got the equivalent of about '4 tennis courts' (according to Cl. Richard Staples) in size, weeded!! That's quite a bite out of the bitou that's there. So if we can keep this up, we'll be done in no time, and can then move onto the little piece of land at the Cavanbah (next to main beach in Byron Bay).

 

These 2 pieces of land are quite visible to the public, so it's a wonderful opportunity for us to show what can be done in a relatively short period of time. Once we get the main weeds out, then it will just be a question of monitoring every 2 months or so, to get any new weed seedlings, and work on the Glory Lily.

 

We're planning to have our next workday on Saturday, the 19th June, and the crew will start around 9am. If you can make that time, great, if not, come when you are able, any little bit helps. It will be the same site: south of Brunswick surf club. There won't be a tent with refreshments this time, as that was the 'premier' start to our Chemical free weeding group. Alas I won't be at that workday, but I will at the next one, and I might tempt you all with some of my homemade raw chocolate delights!!

 

I will send a reminder email closer to the date, so please think of coming, and bring family and friends too. This is a great way to get to know a little bit of the coastal dunes, get some good exercise (Ellen calls it 'a bitou yoga'!) and get to know a great group of people. And yes, all the little critters big and small in that area can breathe easy because we're not dousing them in glyphosate.

 

We have a great "blog" site with the history of the journey so far over the past twelve months for any one who would like to go there the address is http://www.byronbitou.blogspot.com/

 

Cheers,

Hilary Bain

 

 

Rose Wanchap

Principal/Licensee

Red Rose Realty

P.O Box 466,

Byron Bay  NSW  2481

Ph: 02 6680 9505

Mob: 0427 016 451

 

Bureaucratic bitou battle

 

BUREAUCRATIC BITOU BATTLE

By Hilary Bain : hb@hilarybain.com

 

Committed volunteers are needed to keep authorities from aerial spraying pesticides to eradicate the Bitou bush on our Coastline

 

The newly formed Byron Shire Chemical-free Landcare Group  has been allocated 2 prominent sites:  the Cavanbah [next to Byron Bay’s Main Beach] and Brunswick Heads [south of the Surf Club]. The Brunswick Heads site is about 4 hectares, the Cavanbah site is about 0.5  hectares, and they both have very different weeds.

 

WE ARE NOW FINALLY GOING TO START WEEDING THE BITOU BY HAND USING THE ‘CROWNING METHOD’, AT THE BRUNSWICK HEADS SITE (NEXT TO THE SURF CLUB IN BRUNS) ON SUNDAY THE 23^RD MAY at 9.30am.

 

If you can come to this very important day for the Byron Shire Coastline, and we hope you can, please contact me, Hilary at:  6684-0508 or email me at: hb@hilarybain.com, so that I can see how many people will be attending, and can plan for that.

 

Ever since we succeeded in getting Byron Shire Council to put a ‘stay’ on aerial pesticide spraying in South Golden Beach last June 2009, a result of the work and pressure that Rose Wanchap and all you ‘Bitou Blitzers’ put on Council, there has been a lot of work put in place to continue the momentum that Rose created.

 

My name is Hilary Bain, I’m a filmmaker, and like you, concerned about the amount of pesticide being put out there in the environment, along the coastline, in the name of controlling the bitou ‘weed’. My partner Asa and myself got involved with this struggle when we went to the South Golden Bitou Blitz last May 2009, to film Rose and all those who were there trying to help by showing that, with enough volunteers, this Bitou problem could be eradicated by hand weeding.

 

I believe it was from this event and subsequent publicity, plus a demonstration in Byron Bay, with more publicity, along with Rose’s advertisements in the Echo, that, the Byron Council put a ‘stay’ on spraying. Unfortunately, the Byron Council only has jurisdiction over the South Golden area. The rest of the coastline is under the control of D.E.C.C., a national body.

 

Since that time, we have gone to Council, to get some land allocated to us, so we could form a Dune care Group, and start to hand weed the Bitou, as well as other weeds, and so restore some of the land along the coast.

 

As you’re all probably aware,  the coastline along Byron Shire, as well as the rest of Eastern Australia, has had significant destabilisation due to sand mining. As a solution to that, Bitou bush was planted extensively to try to stabilise the dunes. And now, Bitou has become a “weed of national significance” (WONS), high on the priority list for eradication.

Using aerial spraying of glyphosate is the method of dealing with Bitou, along with the ‘cut and paste’ method used on-ground.

 

This is where we, the newly formed Byron Shire Chemical-free Landcare Group  come in.  We’ve been allocated 2 prominent sites:  the Cavanbah [next to Byron Bay’s Main Beach] and Brunswick Heads [south of the Surf Club]. The Brunswick Heads site is about 4 hectares, the Cavanbah site is about 0.5  hectares, and they both have very different weeds.

 

We applied for and are receiving a grant from NRCMA, to pay a professional regen worker to co-ordinate volunteers, also for a website to inform the public about our projects, as well as educate the public about glyphosate, and to buy some loppers and gloves.

 

What we need now are some committed volunteers, to go out to both sites, with the regen co-ordinator and start the actual work of weeding. Ellen White (see below), has generously offered a workshop to demonstrate her method of ‘crowning’ the Bitou, to stop its spread, and use the Bitou as a mulch to enable the natural plants to germinate, and so restore the natural dune flora and fauna.

 

We have a wonderful opportunity with these 2 sites, to show how easy, cheaper and better it is to work without chemicals, and create areas that will make it obvious that this is the better method. The website will inform the public, locally as well as nationally, and aims to get as many people as possible to support our group. We plan to invite the other Dunecare groups to the workshop to show them how successful this manual, chemical-free method is.

 

We aim to set this program up as a pilot project, that can then be expanded to the entire shire, and be an example to the rest of the nation. Cr. Richard Staples, a longtime Green party member, who has been waiting for a long time to see something like this happen, is onboard as a consultant and Regen worker/volunteer.

 

We’ve been very lucky and privileged to have Ellen White, who is a Botanist, and exceptional Dunecare Worker, as a consultant. She has restored almost 40 hectares of the Dirawong Reserve, down in Evans Head.   It is well worth a trip down there to experience what a restored coastal dune looks and feels like. It’s gorgeous!!

With some dedicated work on our sites, Byron Shire too can have a gorgeous chemical free coastline!!

 

WE ARE NOW FINALLY GOING TO START WEEDING THE BITOU BY HAND USING THE ‘CROWNING METHOD’, AT THE BRUNSWICK HEADS SITE (NEXT TO THE SURF CLUB IN BRUNS) ON SUNDAY THE 23^RD MAY.

 

Ellen White will be on hand to give a demonstration on this method of weeding the bitou at around 10am. We will then start weeding the bitou, with the assistance of 2 experienced regen workers.

 

This site is ‘clean’, that is, it has never been sprayed with chemicals, so people who have those kinds of concerns needn’t worry!

 

We will have refreshments available, but we do advise that you bring with you: sun protection gear, good boots, gloves, water to drink, and if you have a good pair of loppers and/or secateurs, bring those along. We will have some on hand, but may not have enough.

 

If you can come to this very important day for the Byron Shire Coastline, and we hope you can, please contact me, Hilary ASAP at:  6684-0508 or email me at: hb@hilarybain.com, so that I can see how many people will be attending, and can plan for that.

 

We’ll meet outside the Surf Club at Brunswick Heads at 9:30am on Sunday, 23^rd May

 

We’re hoping to bring out some of the Councilors, the press and even the mayor for this event/workday.

 

This has taken us a full year to implement, but we do now have a bona fide chemical free landcare group in the shire!!

 

Come and join us, and let’s show the skeptics that weeding without chemicals is not only possible, it’s safer, healthier, both for people and the environment, and cheaper in so many ways!!!