Willow massacre at Oaks Estate

Thinking back when there were those pesky trees along the lake outside Duntroon, actually close to where the foot/bike path used to be before it subsided. Then again could be coincidence.

astrojax said :

willows may be invasives, but peter andrews still gives them the time of day as very useful elements in his outrageously successful natural sequence farming [http://www.naturalsequencefarming.com/] – maybe the local council, oops government, ought to consider the works of some honoured australians before it decimates an environment…

Some great ideas out there in the world of natural sequence farming that more people should be paying attention to, and I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiments expressed by others that we should have established native replacement trees to fill the same role of stabilising riverbanks first before ripping out all the willows and then planting saplings which will take years to establish fully.

As I understand it, the floods earlier this year did massive damage along the riverbanks that have had willows and blackberry removed, as Peter Andrews, as well as locals at Mulloon Creek talked about on Australian Story recently [1].

Glen Takkenberg
Pirate Party ACT for Ginninderra

1. http://www.abc.net.au/austory/content/2012/s3492283.htm

HenryBG said :

Ideological vandalism.

The willows do a great job at protecting the land from erosion and providing habitat for platypus and yabbies.

100% agreed.
I remember catching yabbies and redfin from Ginninderra Creek and the ‘tributary’ that runs through Giralang at various points in my childhood.
The part of Ginninderra Creek that runs alongside William Slim drive used to be a very nice little environment thank to the willows – it was full of life. Fish, yabbies, birds, ect. Around 1999/2000 they cut down all the willows, now there’s nothing there but grass. There’s still nothing there, 12+ years later.
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=william+slim+drive&ie=UTF-8&hl=en

Ideological vandalism.

The willows do a great job at protecting the land from erosion and providing habitat for platypus and yabbies.

mossrocket said :

hate crime against Willows…

Yes. That’s exactly what it is.

You’ve gotta be kidding. Some very uniformed opinions on this thread thus far.

willows may be invasives, but peter andrews still gives them the time of day as very useful elements in his outrageously successful natural sequence farming [http://www.naturalsequencefarming.com/] – maybe the local council, oops government, ought to consider the works of some honoured australians before it decimates an environment…

They did this at Mills Creek in Narrabundah years ago. I went there the other day and it looks great. There is plenty of water in the creek – which used to just be a trickle when the willows were there – and the saplings they planted after they removed the willows are growing up nicely. I cannot wait to see it in another 10 years time.

I don’t think they could really plant new trees before they removed the willows as a. there would be no room for them to grow and seedlings wouldn’t be able to compete for sun and water and b. they have to use very strong poisons to kill the willows so they won’t come back. But I’m not an expert…

And I must admit I am always sad when I see a weeping willow die. Awesome trees those. And they don’t appear to be as invasive as the ones that cause the snow clouds in spring.

The river corridor is been transformed – transgression? – not sure.

Once the area was cleared, it was the subject of a major tree planting project, managed through the local Land Care group and with the participation of many Oaks Estate residents. It was a great day with more than 30 people in attendance.

The big challenge for the river corridor now is its ongoing maintenance – so when the call for volunteers and assistance is made, rather than write a pithy response, perhaps grab your gloves and lend a hand.

Clearing of the river corridor of both willows and blackberry, which was the predominant species will in time, result in a reinvigorated landscape. I do not disagree that the short term ‘aesthetic’ is diminished – but it is changing for the better. Illustrated by recent sightings of Platypus.

Willows are quite successful at slowing down the speed that rivers flow, which is a good thing.
Clear felling them will lead to much more erosion, which has been know for many years. Willows are used internationally for the purpose of bank stabilization and anti-erosion.

While planting native trees will be better for the native environment, eventually filling the same niche, it will take decades to be as effective as the willows were…

Unfortunately, this destruction will destroy more of the native wildlife’s habitat – platypus for example…

We used to have platypus in the river near the waterskiing area in the lake – now they aren’t there anymore… A friend of mine helped smuggle live platypus over the border into NSW as the willows were trashed around the lake – he also found dead ones in the ACT as a result of the destruction of their homes by careless ACT officials in their hate crime against Willows…

EvanJames said :

Bloody tree police. Wrecking the riverbanks, watch the erosion now. If they’d asked the platypuses and other bush junk, they’d have heard about how useful willows are. The tree police tried this stunt in Bungendore, and the real environmentalists stopped them, demanding that they establish “good” trees first, then remove the willows.

That has little to do with the “plant and animals and stuff” environment, and more to do with the “but all the nice pretty shady trees” environment.

EvanJames said :

Bloody tree police. Wrecking the riverbanks, watch the erosion now. If they’d asked the platypuses and other bush junk, they’d have heard about how useful willows are. The tree police tried this stunt in Bungendore, and the real environmentalists stopped them, demanding that they establish “good” trees first, then remove the willows.

+1 Once the willows are gone it will take them years to establish anything to stablise the riverbanks, thats as long as that section of the river doesn’t flood which happens everytime someone sneezes in the river and then the new trees will end up washed away along with the riverbanks.

EvanJames said :

Bloody tree police. Wrecking the riverbanks, watch the erosion now. If they’d asked the platypuses and other bush junk, they’d have heard about how useful willows are. The tree police tried this stunt in Bungendore, and the real environmentalists stopped them, demanding that they establish “good” trees first, then remove the willows.

That’s the way to do it without removing the habitat of the local species. Willows ARE pests, but ham-fisted scorched-earth removal policies aren’t the way to go.

Bloody tree police. Wrecking the riverbanks, watch the erosion now. If they’d asked the platypuses and other bush junk, they’d have heard about how useful willows are. The tree police tried this stunt in Bungendore, and the real environmentalists stopped them, demanding that they establish “good” trees first, then remove the willows.

Think of all the cricket bats which could be made!

Beautiful they may be but invasive they surely are…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willow#Ecological_issues
http://www.weeds.gov.au/publications/guidelines/wons/salix.html
http://www.weeds.gov.au/publications/guidelines/wons/pubs/salix.pdf
http://www.weeds.org.au/WoNS/willows/
http://www.weeds.org.au/cgi-bin/weedident.cgi?tpl=plant.tpl&ibra=all&card=T27

FTA… “Most species of willow are Weeds of National Significance. They are among the worst weeds in Australia because of their invasiveness, potential for spread, and economic and environmental impacts. They have invaded riverbanks and wetlands in temperate Australia, occupying thousands of kilometres of streams and numerous wetland areas…”