Large old trees scattered across paddocks are an iconic image in our rural landscape and can provide significant and potentially irreplaceable benefits. Many landholders appreciate these magnificent trees for maintaining the productive capacity of our land through providing shade and shelter for stock, reducing the risk of salinity and improving soil properties. Fewer people are aware of their value in conserving biodiversity. Scattered paddock trees provide an important role for our wildlife including:

• Hollows for many birds, mammals, reptiles, frogs, insects and spiders. It takes at least 60 years for hollows to develop, therefore we need to conserve mature trees, including those which are dead, to ensure the survival of animals and plants that depend on them.
• A stepping stone for the movement of wildlife through the landscape especially between areas of remnant vegetation.
• Food Sources - honeyeaters, sugar gliders and many other animals depend on nectar and pollen whilst leaf eating animals like koalas, possums and gliders need a range of trees to choose from.
• Nesting sites - paddock tree provide nesting sites for a variety of small to large bird species.

Resources on Paddock Trees from Hovells Creek Landcare Group:

As part of its linking paddock tree project implemented between 2016 and 2019 HCLG produced two notes:

• Paddock Tree Planting Notes
• Paddock Tree Species

View John Baker's discussion paper Risks Arising from J-Rooting of Eucalyptus Trees which reports that nearly half of a sample of trees from six nurseries failed to meet the relevant Australian Standard.

HCLG Discussion Paper on J-Rooting Risks

HCLG also produced five YouTube videos on different aspects of paddock tree planting:

Paddock Tree Planting at Hovells Creek, NSW (9.20 mins)

Provides an overview of how to plant tube stock paddock trees.

Hints on Using a Power Planter to Plant Paddock Trees (4.42 mins)

Using a Power Planter augur to drill holes for tube stock tree planting, especially in dry or hard ground.

Hints for Making Steel Mesh Tree Guards (8.25 mins)

Cutting up rolls of steel mesh to make tree guards for paddock trees.

Hints for Successful Kurrajong Paddock Trees (2.24 mins)

Growing on tube stock Kurrajongs for a year prior to planting out as paddock trees.

Paddock Trees: Autumn vs Spring Planting

Other Resources on Paddock Trees:

The Riverina Highlands Landcare Network and the Fenner School at the Australian National University with support from Riverina Local Land Services and the NSW Environmental Trust have produced the following two fact sheets:

1. Restoring the Missing Link Project
2. Steps to Successful Restoration

They also produced the following YouTube video on Scattered Paddock Trees featuring Mason Crane of the Fenner School at the Australian National University:

This workshop held at the Rye Park Memorial Hall and local properties in May 2014, was one of three held in the Lachlan catchment.

Craig Sponholtz, a designer builder and teacher of land restoration and erosion control techniques from the USA, was invited back after 2 popular workshops in 2013, including one at Frogmore.

Funding support came from LLS South East, through LachLandcare and the Regional Landcare Facilitator Program. Tea breaks and lunch were provided by the Rye Park Hall Community Group.

The Craig’s workshops focus on passive water harvesting, erosion control and stream restoration practices, using techniques that harness natural hydrology to self-repair riparian zones and watersheds. The program for the day was adapted to suit the unpredictable and inclement weather. The initial session was indoors, followed by a field visit to a local property, followed by a final indoor session as the weather closed in. Some key points from the workshop were:

• Good land management is the first step to controlling erosion.
• Degradation of a catchment, is the cumulative effect of the management decisions taken by every landholder within the catchment.
• Erosion is something that the average farmer can repair themselves with the materials available on their farm once they have a basic knowledge of the symptoms and causes of landscape degradation and how nature heals itself.
• A focus on management practices that prevent erosion in the first place is better than having to cure erosion as a result of detrimental management practices.

Feedback from the 24 local landholders who attended was very positive. They would like to have follow up, practical land restoration sessions to implement the techniques learnt during the workshop. Landholders were keen to implement on ground action on their own properties.

The Rye Park Workshop was organised by Boorowa based Landcare Support Officer, Heather McLeod.

The notes on the following website have been provided by Dryland Solutions Inc (USA) and Watershed Landcare at Mudgee.  http://www.upperlachlanlandcare.org.au/publications-downloads/erosions-control-workshop-notes

Erosion

Threatened species of Fauna and Flora within the K2W Corridor (NSW OEH 2013)

The entry page for threatened species information on theOffice of Environment and Heritage (OEH) website is: http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/threatenedspecies/

Hovells Creek Landcare is a member of:

Hovells Creek Landcare collaborates closely with:

K2W

The Kanangra Boyd to Wyangala Link is a major landscape corridor, connecting the sandstone forests of the Greater Blue Mountains with protected areas and treasured habitats on private land in the upper reaches of the Lachlan River catchment. The area is one of extraordinary natural diversity, rich in Aboriginal and post-settlement heritage.

The Kanangra Boyd to Wyangala (K2W) Link is vital to the long term survival of many species that are native to the Great Eastern Ranges. It provides a natural corridor used by migratory species as they move between the temperate woodlands of the central and southern slopes and tablelands, and the forests of the Greater Blue Mountains and beyond.

Find out more at https://www.upperlachlanlandcare.org.au/about/map-of-area/83-main/82-k2w