Friends of Mount Majura (FoMM) July 2011 Newsletter (pdf)
Working party Majura Paddock – Sunday 17 July
National Tree Day 2011 – Sunday 31 July
ChemCert training course – Tuesday 9 August, please register your interest asap
Possible FoMM stall at the Majura Primary School Spring Carnival
Dear Friends
Preparations are in full swing for our major annual planting event on National Tree Day on Sunday, 31 July. This year we will extend the shrub and ground cover planting at the Majura paddock which we started in 2010. We need more help to make the event a pleasant experience for everyone.
Join the working party on Sunday 17 July and help prepare planting sites. The Gungahlin Eagles rugby team will be helping digging planting holes, and we will be backfilling some soil and direct-seed native grass around the planting sites. We will also retrieve guards and stakes from previous years’ planting and – if there is still time – remove persistent horehound from around the planting sites (not much left though). You can also help by promoting the event; please use the poster from our website for publicity.
And we’d need volunteers who could help on National Tree Day. Please contact admin@majura.org or phone 62477515 if you could assist with any of the following tasks:
Registration of volunteers using the FoMM sign-on sheet.
Assisting novice planters as a Steward or Planting Buddy. Your task will be to help and direct participants to ensure the plantings are done at a high standard. This scheme has worked very well in the past. Ideally you have experience with planting in the field, but this is not a must. Take part in a session on “How to plant” at the 17 July working party between 3.00 – 3.30pm or arrive for instructions an hour before the National Tree Day event starts.
Distributing stakes, guards and seedlings before the event.
Liaising with PCS rangers to distribute water from the Parks and Conservation Service water tank.
As in the last two years, students, teachers and parents of the local Blue Gum School will be planting at their dedicated site in the northern part of the Majura paddock on the School Tree Day, Friday 29 July. It would be great if someone could help with assisting the school. There will be a morning session from 10am to 12noon and an afternoon session from 12.30pm to 2.30pm. Some of the participating teachers and parents were involved in previous School planting events organised by FoMM.
A Chemcert Training Course will be held for members of ParkCare on Tuesday, 9 August from 8.30am to 4.30pm. Anyone interested in learning how to use chemicals safely and effectively in our conservation work please contact me asap as the course usually fills up quickly. It would be great if we could increase this expertise in our group. The cost is covered by Parks and Conservation Services.
Lyn Parkinson from the Majura Primary School invited FoMM to have a stall at the School Spring Carnival held on Saturday, 10 September from 10am to 2pm. This is a great initiative. Anyone who is interested in getting involved in preparing and staffing a stall, please contact me. Lyn wrote: “The Carnival is a much-loved annual event which consists of a mixture of stalls, activities and community displays offering something to all members of the community from the young to the young at heart. This year we would like to extend an invitation to the Friends of Mt Majura to have a stall at the Carnival as part of our community displays program. We introduced the concept of community displays to the Carnival for the first time last year as an adjunct to our more traditional attractions and with a view to broadening the Carnival’s appeal to the wider community. The displays proved very successful and we are again offering local community organisations an opportunity to participate in our event. We envisage that you could display promotional material/information about what the FoMM does in the local area and perhaps have some members available to talk to Carnival participants, but we are open to ideas.”
Warm regards,
Waltraud
Ph: 62477515
Email: admin@majura.org
When: Sunday 17 July, 1pm to 4pm
Where: Meet at the Hackett reservoir off Rivett / French Streets
Bring: Sun protection, sturdy shoes, gloves, and a mattock if you have one
We will be preparing the planting sites for the National Tree Day 2011 community event to be held on 31 July and broadcast seeds of local native grasses and forbs. Volunteers who could help assisting novice planters on National Tree Day are invited to take part in our “How to plant a tree” introduction session at around 3pm.
Tools and afternoon tea will be provided.
National Tree Day 2011 Planting Party on Mount Majura
When: Sunday 31 July 2011, from 1.00pm to about 3.00pm
Come for an Introduction on how to plant at 1.00pm
Where: Majura paddock behind Rivett Street in Hackett.
What to wear: Garden gloves, appropriate clothing and foot wear, wrap up warmly.
What to bring: Bucket, trowel or mattock if you have one; please label items with your phone number.
Enquiries: ph 6247 7515 or e-mail admin@majura.org
If it rains on the day, we will be celebrating and will postpone the planting to the following Sunday, the 7th August.
At the event, rangers of ACT Parks and Conservation Service will provide warm-up drinks and the Majura Mountain Scouts will throw a thank-you BBQ for volunteers.
FoMM gratefully acknowledge the support and help from the North Canberra Community Council, the Molonglo Catchment Group, Greening Australia, the Hackett Community Association, the Mount Majura Mountain Scouts and the rangers of the Parks and Conservation Service.
