Paul Melehan Environmental Services

17/11/2016

Out today looking at some River Red Gums.

22/10/2016

The discovery of more night parrots in a remote national park in central-west Queensland increases the known range of the bird by four times, Australian Wildlife Conservancy says.

17/10/2016

Change of Date: The Riparian Health/Veg/Weed Day for Martindale date has been changed to Friday the 4th of November, 9:00 to 12:30.

I'll probably be talking on w**d and native plant ID and w**d control tools and techniques.

Further details as they become available.

09/10/2016

Want to know more about soil carbon?

A soil carbon field day will be held at Mirannie Community Hall on Friday October 28

09/10/2016

You'd think that botany would be a fairly sedate pursuit, a bunch of (generally) wizened, elderly men looking through hand lenses and muttering in latin. In truth it involves some serious bushwalking and the odd dispute and rivalry, recently there's been the argument over whether "Acacia" should be applied to Australian or African plants (Australia won the argument and African "Wattle" species are now in the Valchellia and Senegallia genus), locally there is an ongoing dispute over whether Kangaroo Grass is called Themeda australis or Themeda triandra (the latter favoured by the Victorians and the South Africans).

Locally there is an ongoing argument over the status of the Hunter Valley's population of Weeping Myall (Acacia pendula), the most legislatively protected species in the Hunter, critically endangered under both State and Federal legislation, with Stephen Bell and Colin Driscoll arguing that the Myall is a later introduction to the region and should be delisted (https://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/RoyalBotanicGarden/media/RBG/Science/Cunninghamia/Volume%2014%20-%202014/Cun14Bel179.pdf. ), they do make some quite interesting arguments, some of which, to me at least, aren't that convincing.

In subsequent issues of Cunninghamia there has been argument and counter argument from Bell and Driscoll and Mark Tozer and Anita Chalmers, the latter being members on the NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee.

One thing they do agree on, however, is the need for genetic testing of the local variant (which is more rigid and less glaucous than the usual ones) to determine if it really is Acacia pendula, a hybrid, or as I suspect a currently undescribed species.

The local variant is sparsely flowering and has, as yet, not been recorded as setting seed. A couple of months ago I found a new stand at my day job and about a month back they were flowering.

Let's hope we get some seed set and settle this argument.

03/10/2016

Not the first to do it but it's a good example of a win-win for both the community and environment.

On the outskirts of Darwin, burly men, retired teachers and the long-term unemployed make new homes for native wildlife.

02/10/2016

For almost 20 years scientists have been monitoring patches of trees preserved by farmers and the collation of the results have revealed overwhelming benefits.

01/10/2016

Photos from some recent vegetation surveys, mostly from around the Denman area.

29/09/2016

A fly with a forked p***s is accidentally discovered by a scientist in New South Wales.

28/09/2016

Upcoming event: Saturday 29th October, Martindale (via Denman), Riparian Vegetation Management and Water Quality workshop.

Further details soon.