Environmental Repair 

Background – pre community

When, in the early 1900s the Fowler family settled the land in Fowlers Lane, Bangalow, Northern NSW (now known as Jindibah Community), in order to promote farming in the area, government policy required that they removed every tree standing. As the first white settlers here, they did just that.

For the next 90 years, the Fowler family operated a dairy farm here, and later it became a beef cattle property. Parts were used to raise peanuts, pigs, fruit and vegetables, and many loose basalt bolders (or “floaters”) had been laboriously cleared away from potential pasture land, and used to make rock walls around major paddocks.  

The community focus: the early years: 1994-2002

When the land was purchased for a potential community in 1994, the land, though well cleared, was eroded with very few original native trees remaining. Camphor laurel trees had been planted to provide cows with shade, with a few pockets of indigenous trees found in steep creek-side slopes. 

In 1996, members of the Jindibah Community decided to initiate a program of environmental repair and enhancement. That year we developed an initial program, and with the help of an ENVITE team, planted 1000 seedlings along the Sleepy Creek flats. Three weeks later, there was a “once in 10 years” flood, and the majority of the seedlings were swept down the creek. We learned the hard way! 

On that occasion and in the following few years, we slowly learned more about property management. What sort of soil we had, and what we could plant on it. When to plant native trees and where. How to mulch and fertilise them. How to maintain and repair the degraded slopes. How much it cost to slash the paddocks, build and repair fences and pumps. Whether to run beef cattle, or plant cabinet timber, or macadamias, or mangoes. What areas of the property were suitable to allow for cattle grazing. How to run cattle and regenerate native rainforest too. How to find the money to do that… 

In those early years as a community, as we first became a Multiple Occupancy then went on to apply for and become a Community Title, we all felt strongly about repairing and caring for the land which we were slowly turning into a beautiful place where 12 families or households could live in as much harmony as possible with each other and with nature.  

In 2001-2002, we asked Mark Dunphy and Rob Fleetwood of Firewheel Rainforest Services to prepare a formal and Environmental Enhancement and Management Plan (EEMP). This comprehensive document became the blueprint for all our subsequent environmental repair work.  

From 2002

The initial EEMP was designed to meet the following long-term objectives: 

·         Meet or exceed the requirement of the Byron Rural Settlement Strategy to plant a minimum of 900 trees per residential dwelling, or carry out equivalent environmental enhancement works.

·         Map native flora on the subject property, including locations of rare or threatened species.

·         Protect and enhance areas of vegetation with significant conservation value, especially areas of high conservation value (HCV) identified in the BBCS.

·         Protect and enhance the habitat of rare or threatened plant species and endangered ecological communities within the property, and the potential habitat for rare or threatened fauna.

·         Protect sensitive riparian areas and restore their original forest cover, control stream bank erosion and enhance water quality in Sleepy Creek.

·         Provide a wildlife corridor across the community development, with the potential to link into other wildlife corridors within Byron Shire in the future.

·         Stabilise and restore steep, degraded areas of the property.

·         Preserve the genetic resource of all existing native plant species within the community development.

·         Control problem environmental weeds within the community development.

·         Provide appropriate visual screen and agricultural buffer plantings within the community development.

·         Retain large areas of the property for cattle grazing and horticultural pursuits to provide an income from the property and reduce maintenance costs.

·         Achieve a balance between restoration of Sleepy Creek and retention of riparian pasture for dry season grazing, and cattle access to permanent water in emergencies.

·         Provide recreational opportunities within the community development that are congruent with the other environmental enhancement objectives of this EEMP.

·         Complement the proposed fire management plan for the residential development, by minimising the fire risk to proposed buildings and infrastructure without compromising the other environmental enhancement objectives of this EEMP.

2002-2011

Once our EEMP was delivered and approved by Byron Council to meet statutory requirements, we started its implementation.

The EEMP assessed and mapped out the property and selected appropriate indigenous species to plant. Vegetation management units were identified, and detailed work required within management units was specified. Work was prioritised in stages, and cost estimates were calculated, as well as a monitoring system to keep us on-track.

The EEMP contains year by year planning and timetables, with species lists recommended according to the location of the each planting units. For instance, different species are needed in frost prone creekside areas than in the areas above 160m, where strong winds prevail for several months a year. Environmental weed control techniques are spelled out, as well as tree planting techniques and post-planting maintenance. 

In the early years of implementation, we relied heavily on external qualified bush regenerating contractors, but as more and more houses were built and lot owners moved on site, the program has been running primarily by residents with some external help as required – building fences, digging holes, etc.