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There are lots of things that need doing. The offering here is a selection of topics which are pressing and/or interesting. If you would like to contribute to any of these, or have another topic that you would like to put forward, please contact us.
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Einbunpin Lagoon. Surely there is no sadder water body in the midst of a suburban shopping centre. Instead of a delight, our lagoon is a polluted eyesore. Issues that require addressing include the quality of the water, the deteriorating banks, the clump of Swamp Cypress which should never have been planted, the number of people still throwing bread into the lagoon and the fact that there are too many animals for such a small water body. It has been this way for a long time, of course, so this project is about trying to lever some action from our council.
Cabbage Tree Creek Foreshore. This is arguably the last significant piece of open space in our area which remains in public hands and is, as yet, unallocated. It has great potential to relieve congestion along the Sandgate foreshore if developed appropriately. Nevertheless, there are many stakeholders and this project would aim to bring them all together to determine a way forward for this land.
Old Trees Project. This is an idea, not yet fully formed, which is based on the following:
- Our old trees are disappearing. Brisbane has lots of trees, perhaps more now than before European settlement. But very few old trees. By old trees, we mean those that were here around or soon after the founding of Brisbane in 1824, in other words, older than 150-200 years. Nearly all of these will be gum trees. In fact, the project could try to identify our oldest trees.
- There is no doubt that there is little official concern for old trees. The Lemke Rd roadworks should be enough evidence of that. Maybe what happened was unstoppable but this project would allow us to be proactive in marking some trees as special.
- We received correspondence recently from Darren Thomas of Tasmania who, as young boy, won a school competition run by KSBA in the mid-1970’s. Looking back on a life involved with “various Landcare projects and similar local community initiatives”, he believes that that initial project and prize generated a process of “igniting lifelong interest & involvement in keeping the local habitat beautiful”. A project involving schools and children in identifying our oldest trees might have a similar effect on our newest generation.
- A colleague recently told me about the Melbourne “treemail” phenomenon, refer http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33560182. Amazing. It gives a link (at the bottom) to a Melbourne City Council website with more information. This simple project really did get people noticing and valuing their trees.
