Friends make beach squeaky clean
FRIENDS of the Prom recently spent a productive Saturday removing Sea Spurge weeds from the southern end of Squeaky Beach in Wilsons Promontory National Park.
Twenty-five volunteers, from juniors to seniors, spent six hours finding and pulling out the invasive pest.
After a grand total of 150 working hours in temperatures of 25 to 30 degrees, the Friends and seasonal ranger Simon Tedder managed to extract a massive 300kg of the weed.
Parks Victoria’s area chief ranger Brett Mitchell said it was a terrific effort and a great result.
“I’d like to say ‘well done and thanks’ to everyone in the group. Their amazing work on Squeaky Beach is a real reminder of how valuable our volunteer groups are in keeping the Prom environment healthy and cared for,” he said.
“Their commitment to keeping the park in good shape is a great example of our Healthy Parks Healthy People approach.”
Ranger Jeremy Cicero, who helped organise the volunteers and helped them in their mammoth effort, said the mass removal of this weed was positive both for Squeaky Beach and the team.
“Sea Spurge has the potential to reduce the biodiversity of fragile areas by invading and smothering native plants,” he said.
“It also causes damage to the natural shape and structure of beach sand dunes, affects Aboriginal heritage sites and damages the nesting habitat of threatened shorebirds.
“As a group we felt a great sense of achievement, getting outdoors and doing something for both our own health and the environment.”
If you would like to volunteer in Victoria’s parks, stay in touch with Parks Victoria at www.parks.vic.gov.au.
To join the friends group or find out more, email [email protected] or follow them on Facebook.
Young and helpful: Thomas and Emily Watts, Jack Grundy and friend join in the weed removal effort at Squeaky Beach.
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Posted by Tayla Kershaw on Feb 24 2015. Filed under Community. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
