What's On

• Environmental events in Warringah
  

• 2008 World Environment Day Expo
• New Long Reef & Narrabeen Lagoon Resources
• Narrabeen Lagoon Creating a Sustainable Catchment Grant
• Campaign to Clean Up our Sportsfields
• Food Waste Focus
• Caring For Our Country Grants
• Sea Level Rise Seminar
• GrantsLINK

• Seeking High School National Tree Day Volunteers
• Possum Magic in the Glen
• Manly Dam Catchment Teaching Resource
• National Solar Schools Program
• New Crunch & Sip Schools Program
• Keep Australia Beautiful’s Sustainable Cities Awards Open
• Enviro Inspiro
• The Australian Women’s Weekly Environmental Heroes Competition
  

Sustainable Living

• Winter Warming with GreenPower
• What’s Fresh in Winter
• Water Saving Rebates and Offers
• Love Your Garden
• KAB Sustainable Garden Challenge

Bushland & Biodiversity

• Warringah Council Swift Parrot and Regent Honeyeater Survey
• Dee Why Wetland – A ‘Green Web’ Sydney Project
• Students to Take Care of their own Bushland
• The Volunteer Working Group was formed to help Council manage the issues that arose in last October’s volunteer forum and to address the stated objectives before this year’s forum
  

Focus On

• Weed of the Month
• Photo of the Month

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What's On

All of the following Council events are free. More details can be found here

GrantsLINK
GrantsLINK is an excellent website to help individuals, businesses and communities to find Australian, state and local government grants and funding programs. Check it out at www.grantslink.gov.au

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Sustainable Schools

Seeking High School National Tree Day Volunteers
Calling enthusiastic high school students to be part of Planet Ark’s National Tree Day event on Friday 25 July. It is hoped that over 1000 trees can be planted in Warringah this year with your help.

Trees will be planted at Nolan and Passmore Reserves to compliment plantings undertaken there on National Tree Day in previous years.

The program is being coordinated by Tom Hazel, Coordinator of

Manly Dam Catchment Teaching Resource
Free Manly Dam teaching resources are available for primary school teachers working in the Warringah Council local area. This valuable resource was developed to raise awareness of this unique place that houses water, bushland and native animals.  It has been specifically designed for Stage 2 (Years 3 and 4) and Stage 3 (years 5 and 6) students and focuses on teaching the value of the urban bushland and what students can do to ensure its preservation.  A range of topics and activities are covered that will relate to key learning areas of the curriculum, with main focuses on Science & Technology and Human Society & Its Environment (HSIE).

The Manly Dam Catchment Teaching Resource can also be found on Warringah Council’s website where you will be able to download specific chapters.  If you require additional information, please contact the Environmental Education Team on 9942 2111 or environmenteducation@warringah.nsw.gov.au

National Solar Schools Program
The Australian Government is introducing a new more flexible initiative that will replace the current Green Vouchers for Schools Program.  Under the new National Solar Schools Program, every school in Australia is eligible to apply for grants of up to $50,000 to install 2 kilowatt solar panels and a range of energy and water efficiency measures, such as:

• lighting upgrades
• sky lights
• shade awnings
• solar hot water systems, and
• rainwater tanks

The new National Solar Schools Program will be in place from 1 July 2008. See http://www.environment.gov.au/programs/greenvouchers/index.html for more info.

New Crunch & Sip Schools Program
Crunch&Sip is a new program encouraging set breaks to eat fruit or salad vegetables and drink water in the classroom. Students 're-fuel' with fruit or vegetables during the morning or afternoon - assisting physical and mental performance and concentration in the classroom.

There are currently over 100 registered schools throughout NSW engaging in the Crunch&Sip program. More schools are expected to take up the program as it is promoted throughout the year and it will soon be promoted to the Northern Sydney schools.

Check out the program at http://www.crunchandsip.com.au/default.aspx or contact Lyndal on lyndal@healthy-kids.com.au for more information.

The Australian Women’s Weekly Environmental Heroes Competition

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Sustainable Living

Winter Warming with GreenPower
Warming up in winter needn’t involve destroying the environment. With winter upon us, many people automatically haul their heaters and electric blankets out of storage to cope with the increasingly cool nights and early mornings. But there is no need to add to global warming simply to warm ourselves up. Simple actions such as dressing appropriately around the home, sealing doors from draughts, installing window coverings and planting deciduous trees in the garden to let in winter light all help us cut down on the amount of energy we use during winter to keep warm.

Another way to help the environment in terms of energy is to purchase GreenPower, which is government-accredited energy sourced from renewable sources. Sadly, Australians get only 8% of their energy from renewable resources, and 92% from polluting fossil fuels such as coal. But choosing the right Green Power product can be confusing. How can you tell which product is best? Luckily for us, Green Electricity Watch, a collaboration between the Australian Conservation Foundation, Total Environment Centre, and WWF-Australia, produces a report which provides a ranking of GreenPower electricity products to help consumers choose which ones make the most difference to Australia's and their own greenhouse gas emissions. Check it out at www.greenelectricitywatch.org.au

What’s Fresh in Winter
There are three advantages to buying food in season. They taste better, cost less and help save the environment. Buying fresh cuts down on the energy and pollution associated with transporting and storing food.
Fruits: grapefruit, oranges, lemons, mandarins

Vegetables: Asian vegetables, beans, broccoli, cabbage, chinese cabbage, cauliflower, lebanese cucumbers, leek, lettuce, parsley, radish, rhubarb, silverbeet, spinach, tomatoes, white turnips.

Did you know – frozen food uses 10 times more energy to produce than fresh food!

Love Your Garden
Sydney Water is offering a new program, where for between $33 and $55 a qualified horticulturist will visit your home and evaluate your garden's precise watering needs. They look at things like soil type and quality, position of plants and trees, type of lawn, how much sunlight and shade your garden gets and aspect (the slope of your lawn and garden).

Participants receive a rain gauge, tap tags and a detailed report that outlines the unique watering needs of your garden. The report also includes vouchers for water saving products and services. See www.sydneywater.com.au

KAB Sustainable Garden Challenge
Dust off those gardening gloves and get ready to enter Keep Australia Beautiful’s Sustainable Garden Challenge. The program is open to individuals, community groups, schools and councils and rewards creating and maintaining gardens that not only look good but achieve positive and sustained outcomes for the environment.

Prizes will be awarded to state winners and overall first prize is $3000! The competition opens 9 June and closes 9 July 2008. Email Salore Craig at Keep Australia Beautiful for more details scraig@kabnsw.org.au

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Bushland & Biodiversity

For the last few years Council have been involved with National Surveys for Swift Parrots and Regent Honeyeaters and we need your help.  The Swift Parrot (Lathamus discolor) is a threatened species, largely due to the loss of its habitat. It occurs in south-eastern Australia. It is a migratory bird which only breeds in Tasmania and over winters on mainland Australia. It is slightly smaller than a rainbow lorikeet and is mostly bright green with red patches under the wings when in flight.

The Regent Honeyeater (Xanthomyza phrygia) is beautifully patterned with black and yellow lacey scalloping on its breast and back. They occur in the Warrumbungles of NSW and migrate during winter. It is classified as endangered due to habitat loss. It is estimated that there may be fewer than 1500 Regent Honeyeaters in Australia today.

During May and August the main local food source for these birds, the Swamp Mahogany trees (Eucalyptus robusta), are in flower and the Warringah Council area contains a few remnant pockets of these vegetation communities.

The National Survey dates for this year are 17th & 18th May and the 2nd & 3rd August. Swift Parrots were recently sighted over Mona Vale and last year there were sightings near Narrabeen Lagoon where there are Swamp Mahoganies near Cromer Golf Course. It is also useful to record any other species, particularly other significant species that might be sighted over the weekend.

If you are interested in volunteering to help with the survey please contact Council on bushlandandbiodiversity@warringah.nsw.gov.au

A recording of the Swift Parrot's call can be heard by visiting the website of the Department of Environment and Climate Change http://www.threatenedspecies.environment.nsw.gov.au/tsprofile/profile.aspx?id=10455
and the Regent Honeyeater call can be heard at: http://www.threatenedspecies.environment.nsw.gov.au/tsprofile/profile.aspx?id=10841

Warringah Council will collect the data that is recorded on these weekends and send it on to be collated by National Parks and Wildlife Service. Hopefully this will contribute to a greater understanding of these threatened species.

NOTE: The Department of Environment and Climate Change have generously offered to run free workshops on these threatened species. Warringah Council will host a Training Workshop on Swift Parrots and Regent Honeyeaters on the 24th July in the Council Chambers from 4 - 6.30pm. RSVP Council on 9942 2579 or bushlandandbiodiversity@warringah.nsw.gov.au

A Saturday workshop is being hosted by the Coastal Environment Centre in Narrabeen. To attend this workshop please RSVP by the 23rd July on (02) 9970 1675 or CEC@pittwater.nsw.gov.au

The ‘Green Web’ initiative is about the formation of habitat corridors to link disjointed areas of bushland and facilitate the relocation of wildlife and spreading of native plants.

As the native vegetation of Warringah becomes more and more fragmented, it is increasingly important to maintain and to re-establish vegetation links between the larger areas of remnant bushland. If this area of Dee Why Wetland is not re-established and the weeds removed flora and fauna populations in this area will decrease and may even become extinct. 

Works began in September 2007 to remove the weeds and regenerate the remnant vegetation within the wetland. These works are being undertaken by Friends of the Bush volunteers and bush regeneration contractors. This work will enhance earlier works undertaken in the early 1990s by community volunteers and Council.

Students to Take Care of their own Bushland

On 7th April, Warringah Council presented Manly Vale Public School with a Vegetation Management Strategy to help them manage their unique remnant bushland. 

"Warringah Council manages large tracts of bushland - including beautiful Manly Dam which is situated right next to Manly Vale Public School - and recognises that our bushland is one of our greatest assets." said Warringah Council Administrator Dick Persson.

"We are well aware that many local school communities enjoy the bushland within their boundaries. We also recognise that many of these schools don't have the specialist knowledge to manage their bushland appropriately."

"As a result, Warringah Council has produced several site-specific Vegetation Management Strategies in consultation with each school community - including Mimosa Public, Wakehurst Public, Terrey Hills Public, NBSC Manly Selective Campus, Davidson High and now Manly Vale Public."

Manly Vale Public School was presented with its very own Vegetation Management Strategy which will provide advice on caring for its two hectares of remnant bushland, and educational aids to help students appreciate their special environment. The document includes pictures to enable easy identification of plants and animals found in the area, such as echidnas, possums, birds and frogs.  Manly Vale Public School received $2,500 this year as part of Warringah Council Eco Schools Grants Program. Supported by the Friends of the Bush program, a group of the students’ mothers will be carrying out some bush regeneration and this grant money will help the school and these volunteers implement some of the strategies outlined in the document to maximise their efforts.

At the first volunteer forum held on 30 October 2007, it was requested that Council give direction for the aims and goals of the Friends of the Bush Program.

To provide advice and help facilitate this process, Warringah Council took nominations for members interested in being part of a Volunteer Working Group.  The group will meet four times a year, with the role of the group to involve people with a proven interest in the Friends of the Bush program and bushland management to assist in Council’s planning and decision-making processes in an advisory/consultative capacity.  The Working Group was formed to help Council manage the issues that arose in the volunteer forum and to address the stated objectives before this year’s forum.

The members of the Volunteer Working Group and the groups they work with are:
Ms Judy Boyden: Friends of Dee Why Lagoon
Ms Conny Harris: Belrose Rural Community Association
Mr Tom Hazell: Nolan Reserve/Manly Lagoon Volunteers
Mr Michael Houston: Mermaid Pool, Allenby Park & Gumbooya Reserve
Ms Phyll Morris: Belrose Rural Community Association

The inaugural meeting was held on 29th January 2008 at Cromer, with the second meeting occurring recently on 20th May.  So far there have been many issues raised, including:

• Volunteer recruitment
• OH & S training requirements
• Targeting & prioritising sites
• Use of Council’s draft Bushland Policy and Local Habitat Strategy as working documents for Council’s planning and decision-making in relation to bushland management.

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Focus On

Weed of the Month
Cedar Wattle (Acacia elata)

Cedar wattle (Acacia elata) is a particularly invasive, spreading tree to 10m with grey to blackish bark. The large (up to 25cm) bipinnate leaves are a dark glossy green and look very much like fern leaves. The globular cream flower heads are produced in spring in racemes borne in the leaf axils. A garden escapee, it is spreading along creeklines and road verges. It is native to NSW but not the Warringah area.

As well as being beautiful, wattles can be weeds.

When taken out of their native environment to other parts of the continent, some wattle varieties can take over or even wipe out the local native bush as effectively as any introduced plant pest, warns Sandy Lloyd of the Weeds Cooperative Research Centre.

"Wattles are prolific seed producers, so when you take them out of their

Photo of the Month
Swamp Mahogany (Eucalyptus robusta) in flower

The Swamp Mahogany (Eucalyptus robusta) flowering in abundance at Dee Why Lagoon.  The flower nectar is an important food source for two species of threatened migratory birds, the Swift Parrot (Lathamus discolour) and the Regent Honeyeater (Xanthomyza phrygia) during the winter months.

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