Greening Bathurst - Chairman’s Report - 2010

The 2009 – 2010 year has again seen Greening Bathurst take an active role in protecting and enhancing vegetation in the Bathurst area. As a strictly volunteer group we have worked within our individual and group capacities on a range of activities outlined below.

A voice for the community.

Greening Bathurst has met with Council and Country Energy during the year to raise concern over removal of certain trees and also to discuss pro-active ways of working together. It is pleasing to note that both of these organisations take vegetation management as an important concern and we must recognise the great progress that has been made over the years. As well as fielding multiple calls within the group, such is the importance of vegetation to the wider community now-days that Council and Country Energy receive calls and e-mails almost every time a tree is touched! The poor pruning by a contractor in Esrom Street was a good example of this.

Communications

Greening Bathurst received significant coverage in the media this year ranging from TV news, local papers and a fortnightly slot on local radio. The TV news was for comment in relation to environmental issues and most recently in support of Macquarie Rivercare to progress re-instatement of the weir.

Newspaper coverage occured for works on Brooke-Moore reserve, comment on issues including "What's a Tree Worth", the Treesnaps photographic competition, the Jo Ross memorial Award, the weir, etc.

The fortnightly slot on 2BS covers a range of local issues dependent on 'what's hot', promotes the activities of Greening Bathurst and hopes to stimulate residents with facts about "Amazing Nature"

Events

This year we have set up our stall and attended 3 events. A fund-raiser at Bunnings, the Country Energy Green Living Expo and most recently the CENTROC Summit. At all of these events we have given away plants, sold booklet and added an "I planted a virtual tree" sticker which has raised a small amount of money for us. The local vegetation guide continues to be popular and we always meet people interested in our activities.

Street Tree Audit

In the second half of 2009 we became concerned that many mature street trees were being removed from Bathurst's streets and undertook an independent audit of Council's works against the Vegetation Management Plan and Street Tree Audit that had made recommendations to Council. Pleasingly, we were able to report that in the vast majority of cases Council were sticking to the audit recommendations and were in-fact replacing more trees than identified. It was never-the-less a useful activity in that we were able to demonstrate our watchfulness and gain a more detailed understanding of our local streets.

Brooke-Moore Reserve

Brooke Moore again received attention from the group as we planted a further 400 trees on the western boundary, undertook some weed management and installed a seat to honour the late Jo Ross' contributions. The reserve is recovering well and becoming an ever-more healthy and valuable remnant of Grassy box woodland within the urban zone.

Treesnaps

Treesnaps was our major community event this year and was a great success. With a wider reach and higher number of entries the photographic competition again connected us to school-age people and re-enforced the importance of our local trees. The standard of entries was high and with support of Digital Prints and Images, an exhibition and award ceremony was held to acknowledge the winners. Special thanks are due to Wayne and Aileen Feebrey for a great deal of time and dedication to making this project a success.

Jo Ross

The winner of this prestigious award for 2009/2010 was John Fry, well known locally for his great practical contribution to enhancing Bathurst's vegetation. Over many years John has planted ten's of thousands of trees and provided opportunities for people to get involved through his management of Conservation Volunteers Australia locally. John said that he was honoured to receive the award as it represented one of the only times he had been officially recognised for his work by the community. The award was presented at the Australia Day award ceremonies run by Council in the Peace Park.

In summary I would like to acknowledge Council and the people of Bathurst for ongoing financial support, 2BS and the Western Advocate for continuing interest and most importantly, the members that make up the enthusiastic team at Greening Bathurst. In particular the Vice Chair Alison Charters for managing communications, our secretary Hugh Gould for keeping track of us, our highly organised treasurer Michael Germech who helped us spend all of our funding allocation this year, Public Officer Phillip Warner and executive members Wayne Feebrey, Darryl Taylor and John Fry. Gillian Baldwin deserves special recognition for attending almost every event and continuously providing insight at meetings.

We look forward to an even better year ahead.

Thanks and regards,
Ashley Bland