A crucial native regeneration project improving Western Sydney | Discovery | Gardening Australia

Clarence explores a project in Western Sydney providing a crucial corridor for native plants and wildlife. Subscribe 🔔 http://ab.co/GA-subscribe
Clarence is in the Western Sydney Parkland, Australia’s largest urban park, which covers 5,000ha of facilities, attractions and bushland, all set aside for public use alongside some of Sydney’s biggest new developments.

It’s quite leafy now but in the 1950s the area was all bare paddocks.

Environment Manager David Kirkland explains how the open spaces are being planned.

In some areas, where a lot of superphosphates had been used and there were lots of weeds, the topsoil was stripped back to remove the chemicals and weed seeds, then it was reseed with native grasses and wildflowers.

The plan is to recreate the original ecology of the Cumberland Plains, much of which has been mostly lost as Sydney has expanded. They cover 1400ha now and are aiming for 2,000ha.

“The other year alone, I planted up well over 60,000 trees,” David says.

Beyond recreational activities, it's also the green lungs of the area, helping to cool the West in the heat of the summer months and reduce heat island effect.

There is even a patch of dry rainforest in a gully where it is protected from sun and wind. David aims to recreate this habitat in other gullies.

One of the biggest threats David and his team face is invasive species. African olive (Olea europea subsp. cuspidata) is a major problem, producing 20,000 seeds per plant per year, all perfect sized for birds to eat and drop, forming a dense monoculture that is hard to eradicate.

However some areas have been cleared, with a lot of effort, proving it can be done – eventually!

Bringing back cultural burns involving by local community is a goal for the team.

About 1500 ha of bushland has been restored, and biobanking local species for conservation is another key goal.

About 20ha is set aside to focus on diversity and habitat, and already some plant species are reappearing and local fauna returning.

Future plans include creating wildlife corridors under the adjacent freeway to link it to other corridors.
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