Capertee Valley Tree Planting

We have just completed the delivery, laying out and watering of 4,000 trees in a corridor linking groves of habitat trees used by Regent Honeyeaters in the Capertee Valley. Over the past five years, LROC members have developed logistics support for the Regent Honeyeater Recovery Group, a body of birdwatchers and conservationists from all over NSW & the ACT. Indeed, one very keen planter came from Victoria for the event. This large group of around 115 people plant feed and shelter trees for the birds on farms in the valley, and LROC has now delivered a total of 53,000 native plants for the project. By doing this, the club members have successfully demonstrated that 4wds can be useful and friendly to the environment. The combination of skilled drivers, the vehicles themselves and our radio communications has been the key to changing perceptions about four wheel drive club members and to a tenfold increase in the group’s productivity.

Hauling the 4,000 seedlings 90 kilometres from the nursery at Breakfast Creek to the site in box trailers is no mean feat. Speeds must be kept low to prevent the plants being wind burnt. Trailers of all sizes with capacities ranging from 300 to 1,200 seedlings are used for the road haulage and the operation usually runs very smoothly. This time, the operations were disrupted When Wayne’s (by far the largest) trailer’s chassis collapsing, fortunately only about five kilometers from the site. While Wayne planned to lash the chassis together I scrounged a suitable dry old branch form under a nearby tree which looked strong enough for the wood welding and location of chassis rails and springs. Meantime, our drivers with smaller trailers came back to the scene as soon as theirs had been offloaded and transshipped the 1,200 seedlings from Waynes broken unit to theirs. Remarkably, this caused no problems on site as they arrived just in time to prevent any delays to the laying out of the seedlings. Meanwhile Wayne & I, with a few unspoken words to the spirit of Len Beadell, lashed the log in place and neatly sawed off the the protruding to prevent the wholesale destruction of the roadside guide posts. With the job finished, we stood back and reckoned we had done a pretty good job considering the nearside chassis rail had completely broken off behind the rear spring hanger and then buckled near the front spring eye. When it has to be done, it’s surprising what can be fixed with a log, some tie down straps and some twitching wire.
	The planting site was pre-ripped by a bulldozer, which resulted in many large limestone boulders being lifted through the shallow soil to the surface, providing us with a few challenges. We had plenty of fun driving along these lines, each vehicle pulling a trailer load of seedlings so that we could place them where they were to be planted. A second pass to distribute sticks and cardboard guards and then the plantings began. It took some time to discipline the planters to methodically work along the lines so that the LROC crew could then haul in the water for the initial watering of 5 litres for each plant. There have been many problems with water delivery and the Group’s Committee recently won a grant based upon LROC proposals to use water bladders, petrol powered pumps and hoses which could be carried in the members’ trailers. This particular planting program was to be the first time using the new equipment, which worked very well on the job. As often happens with information passing across committees, the best of plans can come unstuck and this happened because of an unusual council fitting on the nearby water supply main. The first round of 2500 litres had to be pulled from the camp ground at Glen Davis, about 25 kilometres away, which resulted in an unacceptably long turnaround time approaching two hours per load. Fortunately a local NPWS ranger dropped in to help and he was able to arrange for the water to be collected from Goolooumboin Station, only 8 kilometres down the road. Once the watering was under way on the steeper side slopes, the heavily loaded trailers carrying the water bladders tended to sideslip into the rip lines and onto the plants. Groups tended to form around vehicles where the drivers were faced with such challenges. It was almost like any other club trip, especially to be rewarded with smiling faces and cries of “well done” as we pulled the trailers back on line.

The work started by LROC on Thursday afternoon continued right through until the plantings were complete by Saturday, but the weekend was not all work. The Glen Davis P&C cater for us all on the Saturday night with a two course meal in the Community Hall. We knew we had really changed peoples’ opinions when during the usual series of credits which drew polite applause for the various tasks people take on, the acknowledgement of LROC’s efforts resulted in cheering over the top of the applause.

Sunday is usually the day most volunteers do a little organised bird watching, but when asked at the dinner, a small group of them volunteered to help us finish the watering and the site cleanup. By Sunday afternoon the job was drawing to a close, with last minute instructions by our Group’s Manager to the property owner regarding the ongoing care for his new tree lot. LROC members were not done yet though, and one last job saw the members who were travelling back to Sydney dropping off the hired toilet at Coates Hire in Lithgow. The technique has been developed from previous experience when there is no crane or forklift around. The loo is judiciously snatched from the trailer after carefully snigging it to near the balance point.
The next planting will be in August.

Five years ago, we came to our first tree planting to provide radio communications, seedling transport and rubbish removal as the result of a challenge from some members of the Regent Honeyeater Recovery Group. Before we joined the group, individual volunteers drove to the plant nursery, collected a boot load of seedlings and then drove to the site, where they carried five or six seedlings at a time in a bucket to where they were to be planted, often walking more than 100 metres or so from their cars. The volunteers carried the plastic tree guards and bamboo sticks with them in their pockets to set up around each seedling. Then they filled their buckets with water and delivered five litres to each plant. That is if they didn’t slip and spill the lot. Their dedication was undoubted. When we showed up the first time there was considerable consternation that we would trash the area with our vehicles amongst the plantings. By the end of day one, the more reasonable ones were acknowledging our efforts in delivering the seedlings to where they were to be planted. Toady, we are a part of the team and are now known affectionately as “Mervyn’s mob”.
Rob Kelly
10/05/05