© Inala Foundation 2020-2022. All rights reserved.

STAY UPDATED

Join our newsletter to keep updated on all of our projects and to find out how you can help.

Riparian areas within the Inala Nature Reserve support remnant native vegetation dominated by white gum, Eucalyptus viminalis. This species of tree is the near-exclusive source of food for the population of endangered forty-spotted pardalotes, Pardalotus quadragintus, that inhabit the reserve. While the trees growing beside the creeks are in excellent health because of the availability of water, they are vulnerable to damage from any wildfire that may enter the reserve.

We are reducing the fire risk to habitat that is critical to the forty-spotted pardalote.

To protect the white gums from fire, the Inala Foundation is supporting the removal of fire hazards around the trees. This mostly entails the removal of blackberry, Rubus fruticosus, which is one of 32 invasive species of plants that have been identified as Weeds of National Significance in Australia. 

Blackberry thickets are highly flammable, particularly because of the amount of dry material that accumulates within them, and any fire burning in the thickets along the creeks would potentially threaten the white gums.

We are replacing blackberries with native species of shrubs.

After removing the blackberry, the Foundation is revegetating the creek-lines with local native species of shrubs that we have propagated to provide habitat for birds that inhabit undergrowth. We are selecting species for revegetation that have low flammability such as native laurel, Anopterus glandulosus.

Would you like to help?

Sign up to our newsletter and join our foundation volunteers on our working-bee days.

Brad Moriarty

Riparian habitats within the Inala Nature Reserve are being restored through the removal of invasive weeds and revegetation with native plant species.

Dr Andrew Hingston clearing blackberries