Major project to tackle African Olive underway

The project will control weeds in areas of native bushland at the Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute and Camden Park, a property owned by the Macarthur-Stanham family.

Rebecca Mooy, Community Support Officer with the HNCMA, said African Olive was growing so densely in these areas that natural regeneration of the native trees, shrubs and groundcover was not occurring.

"For the bushland to be kept healthy, light needs to be available to encourage regeneration of the native plants," said Ms Mooy.

"That has been prevented from happening in these areas due to the presence of the weeds, particularly African Olive, which blocks light from getting to the new seedlings and out-competes the native species."

The bushland being protected at Camden Park is Shale Hill Woodlands, one of the vegetation communities that make up the NSW Government-listed endangered ecological community Cumberland Plain Woodland.  Less than 12% of this woodland currently remains in western Sydney.

John Macarthur-Stanham, owner of Camden Park, said he was very pleased to be able to "do his bit" to protecting this important bushland in Camden.

"My wife and I were keen to control African Olive on the property because we wanted to be able to leave good quality bushland for future generations to enjoy," said Mr Macarthur-Stanham.

In the past, the Macarthur-Stanham's have worked to control African Olive using a chainsaw and bulldozer.

"But it's the regrowth of the weed and keeping on top of it which is critical as with any weed control work.

"There is a drainage line that flows from our property directly into Barragal Lagoon on the adjacent EMAI site. If we control the weeds here, we will prevent re-infestation of the lagoon downstream where the Barragal Landcare volunteers have already been controlling the weeds," said Mr Macarthur-Stanham.

Roger Giles, President of the Landcare Group, hopes that one day there will be a healthy bushland corridor between Razorback and Mt Annan Botanic Gardens.  The Barragal Landcare group has been battling African Olive and revegetating areas of the EMAI site for the past three years.

"There are many pockets of native bushland in this area that need to be kept weed free and then linked to each other through replanting," said Mr Giles.

"This project will help us on the EMAI site to employ bush regenerators to continue managing weeds on 37 hectares of the property, taking in a couple of areas near Barragal Lagoon and Sawyers Reserve.

"Along with African Olive, we'll be controlling Honey Locust, Privet and Balloon Vine which have all contributing to reducing the quality of the bushland here," said Mr Giles.

Media contact: Peter O'Malley 0414 611 792