BEVERLEY FAIRLEY’S Restored Forest

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By SARAH WATERS

IN a time when the environment faces ever increasing threats, a Murwillumbah local has made sure her property area for native forest to flourish.

“It was rather wonderful growing up on the farm,” Mrs Fairley said.

“It had an original forest that was never cut beloved forest much of her childhood was spent in.

When she returned home to settle on the farm in 2000, the feeling of life that once existed in the forest was no longer there.

“As a farmer’s daughter and having played in the forest as a child, I knew about native trees and weeds.

“When I returned, I realised something was wrong.

“Weeds were choking the forest, the birds were gone, it looked like the forest was dying,” she said.

BEVERLEY Fairley’s restored forest will be part of Tweed Shire Council’s Bringing back flying fox habitat to the Kynnumboon floodplain project.

The eight-year conservation project involves planting 12,000 native trees, shrubs and groundcovers on 3.2 hectares of former sugar cane land to create rainforest and wetland habitat on the bank of the Rous River.

A major aim of the project is to provide flying foxes with a new habitat.

Tweed Shire Council Project Officer (Waterways) Matthew Bloor said the presence of flying foxes in urban areas can often cause conflict with humans, but they are a keystone species, and Australia’s only long-distance pollinator.

“Flying foxes will be able to come and feed in the short term,” Mr Bloor said.

“It’s just a case of creating the habitat and encouraging them to come to the area.

“The area is located within 5kms of the existing sites of flying fox camps in Murwillumbah and located on the riverbank, which is their preferred habitat.” will thrive into the future.

Beverley Fairley has spent the last 19 years restoring the land on her family’s fourth generation farm, along the Rous River, in Kynnumboon, into a thriving native forest.

The 12-acre farm has mostly been used for growing crops since 1862, when Mrs Fairley’s greatgrandfather settled on the land.

But, about two acres of land was kept as an down.

“It was just magical – as kids we swam and played in the river, mucked about in boats, caught fish and enjoyed the wildlife, especially the birds.

“Back then, the river was the lifeblood of the community.”

In 1965, Mrs Fairley left the farm to study at teacher’s college in Armidale.

She would often come work.” home and visit the farm, but over the years she noticed changes in the

After four years of seeking advice on how to restore the forest, Mrs Fairley called upon some trusted friends and relatives and decided to get to work.

She joined Landcare and received help from a local bush regenerator to work out what the weeds were and how they were degrading the forest.

The first aim was to get rid of the cat’s claw creeper, an exotic vine that can smother entire trees.

“Even with herbicide, controlling it was laborious,” she said.

“The largest vines were so big we had to dig them up.

“We dug up most of the vines and also controlled giant devil’s fig, morning glory, lantana and camphor laurel.

“Over 19 years, we have dug up 59,760 cat’s claw tubers.

“We dug them up because poison was expensive and didn’t

Mrs Fairley also planted thousands of native trees endemic to the local area, including Blue Quandong and Hoop Pine to create the now thriving forest.

It has attracted an array of wildlife back, including at least 29 different species of birds, which were recorded in the forest.

“We wouldn’t think we would live to see the huge height of the trees, but now we’ve got the most beautiful riparian forest, that only needs occasional maintenance,” she said.

“The trees provide extra habitat, a nice climate around the house and they help stabilise the riverbank.

“And now we’ve got plans to put the rest of the farm under forest.” Mrs Fairley also had some words of advice for anyone who is considering changing their backyard.

“If you’re going to plant a tree, make sure it’s the right sort of tree –and put in a beehive for pollination.”