Botanic Gardens Project Plans
A meeting held on site recently discussed future project plans for the TM Landcare group who are helping develop the natural rainforest areas of the Botanic Gardens.

The July 1st meeting was attended by Botanic Gardens site coordinator, Wendy Morgan, site volunteers, management committee member and gardens curator, Brian Davison. Regeneration subcommittee members, Cornelia Meesters, John Bestevaar and Alan O’Neill also participated in the discussions.

Various operational issues were discussed along the lines of effective methods of ordering materials and funding allocations.

The Botanic Gardens forest regeneration is currently receiving the benefits of funding from the SEQ Catchments round two grant, which is drawing to a close.
A new priority has been set to venture into specialised planting to attract butterflies in a defined segment of the site. Other materials and supply of labour were also approved.

Some extra funding will be made available thanks to the income generated from The Piccabeen Bookshop. A gesture of thanks will be sent to the volunteers who run the bookshop in recognition of the value of their efforts.

Regeneration Subcommittee Meets
1 July 07: A meeting in the Forest (Café) made note of concerns over use of herbicides by TM Landcare volunteers.

Discussions determined that it would be reasonable to consider best practice techniques for herbicide use. Training and monitoring may be useful, and warning signs should be displayed in public areas during and after spraying. John Bestevaar has designed signage and a request will be made to Scenic Rim Regional Council for funding or an inkind contribution for the signage.

Various requests for site project plants, labour and materials were raised and carried. These include: Contour Road: 100 plants each month, including National Tree Day celebration plant supplies; tools and planting stakes. Ohia Court: the allocation of $500 for advanced sized plants; $200 for mulch; and $50 for consumable items. The Botanic Gardens items for the butterfly garden and associated labour, some of this project will be sought from inkind supporters. Much of the funding for these requests will be sourced from the SEQ Catchments round 2 grant which concludes in December of this year.

The concerns raised by volunteers for ordering plants, labour and consumables was recognised and a new system for ordering will be introduced as soon as possible with clear instructions for same. In the short term, requests may be made by contacting Cornelia Meesters or Alan O’Neill.

Further discussions considered the diversity of species of new plants which are currently in supply. The meeting determined that the current supply is sufficient. Attended by: Cornelia Meesters, Doug White, Dorean Erhart, Steven Ward, Julie Lake, John Bestevaar and Alan O’Neill.

Management Committee:
22 July 2008: The meeting commenced with an ex-officio presentation by Andrew Todd of SEQ Catchments who are offering to apply for a grant on behalf of TM Landcare to investigate ground water resources. Water forum proponent, Ian Shephard, also attended the discussion ex-officio. The meeting later decided to carry a motion to send a letter of support for the grant application. This was in the absence of the ex-officio attendees.

Financial accounts are being compiled by MYOB accountant, Jane Pollard. Jane has requested specific site and project names be better defined to support income and expense tracking.

Education: Enquiries from students requesting environmental information have been increasing recently and while Brian Davison is handling the requests individually, it was suggested that Peter Kuttner videos and directing students to library books would reduce the workload.

Other agenda items included correspondence, minutes of previous meeting, financial reporting.

Extraordinary Management Committee Meeting
Tuesday 19th July 2008: The meeting attended to various extra discussions for the SEQ Catchments round 3 grant for private land projects. The project has agreement from four land holders with one extra being considered for the Aagard property on Cedar Creek.

Four applications have been received for subcontracting work within this project and the committee resolved to leave considerations to a subcommittee.

Funding Continues
The president, Tony Lambert, advised that he had news of the funding for public projects including the project officer will continue. The amount of $25,000 being crucial to the operations of TM Landcare.

Herbicide certificates: Two volunteers will receive chemical certification training to the value of $275 (approx) each. The decision was made after considering that knowledge of trained chemical handling will lead to safer and responsible herbicide practices. The volunteers be notified.

A management committee structure which will include one extra vice-president has been carried. The objective is to reduce the amount of workload for the current position of vice-president. Two extra positions are being considered on the committee all up. The call for management committee nominations is to be made by Friday, August 15th.

It may be that a ballot will be required as nominations are likely to increase to beyond the required number of committee members. A brief C.V. would be helpful for members to better understand nominees credentials.

Commemorative garden. A concept for commemorative gardens was received from active volunteers.

The concept developed from the idea of individuals who may want to plant a tree in recognition or memory of an event, a person or for any other reason. The concept was well received by the committee and the meeting resolved to acknowledge the concept and encourage the proposing TML members to further develop the project.

Botanic Gardens – special project: Brian Davison raised the concept of a boardwalk (previously planned) in defined areas of the graden’s project. The project is beyond current funding, but Brian requested a watch for suitable funding opportunities.

Next meeting: Tuesday, August 19 at 5pm at the Heritage Centre, Wongawellen Rd Eagle Heights.