shift behaviours
Volunteering to restore urban ecosystems Dr Tony Scalzo Research Scientist
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ommunity and volunteer groups are an essential part of many organisations. Over the last 40 to 50 years the number of people volunteering to help with ‘Friends of’ groups has grown considerably. These groups help with the conservation and restoration of remnant native bushland, growing plants and assisting scientists with field and laboratory experiments. The contribution of these groups has made a significant difference in preventing the decline of biodiversity and natural ecosystems, and in research breakthroughs.
Urban bushland restoration The Friends of Kings Park and Friends of Bold Park have been working with staff on ecological restoration projects for more than two decades. These efforts have focused on a range of ecological outcomes including working on high profile and often visited sites to prevent their degradation, removal of woody weeds and targeting specific weed species to assist in their eradication. For example, the Friends of Kings Park Bushland Carers has contributed to weeding out Watsonia meriana, an introduced invasive bulb from southern Africa, from the bushland. Collection of seed for restoration projects and planting out tube stock has also contributed significantly to enhancing natural populations of plants and restoring these species in degraded areas.
The Friends of Kings Park Bushland Carers team remove Watsonia meriana from Kings Park bushland.
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For People & Plants | Special Issue | Spring 2021
Growing Friends and urban conservation The Growing Friends and Friends of Kings Park plant sales have been operating since 1995. This group was initially set up, in part, to provide a fund-raising mechanism for the Friends of Kings Park. Over the past two and half decades the Growing Friends has grown healthy tube stock of native Western Australian plants mainly for people in Perth and the south-west to plant in their gardens and verges. Since the 1970s, more people have embraced the notion of growing Australian native plants to attract local wildlife by providing them with habitat and food. Growing local plants and other native plants from the region is an important conservation measure, particularly as the construction of cities has led to continued clearing of bushland. The use of local and regional native plants in private gardens and on verges is also critical to provide connectivity between patches of remnant bushland within urban areas and cities, such as between Kings Park and Bold Park. These vibrant and essential garden resources provide pitstops along highways for fauna to travel between bushland patches. They also provide mechanisms for gene flow (via transfer of pollen and seeds) between fragmented bushland, leading to enhanced genetic resilience of plant and animal species through the process of outbreeding.
The site after the weeds were removed.
