Spotlight on Friends of Wellington Park

Wildcare Friends of Wellington Park

By Stephen Mattingley

Peter Franklin (L) and Stephen Mattingley – leaders of both Friends of Wellington Park and Friends of Mt Field.

The Friends of Wellington Park were formed in 2002 as the “Wellington Park Bushcare Group”.  They are both a Wildcare branch and a Hobart Council Bushcare Group.

With more than 100 members, the group works in many areas of Wellington Park from north to south (see map below) and nearby Hobart and Glenorchy Council reserves.

This group is powered by the dedication of a core active group of about 15 members who have achieved a great deal with very little grant-funded work.

The backbone of their work is conducted during monthly working bees held on the first Tuesday of each month and focussed on track work and weed control.

 

 

 

Track work (mainly away from eastern face of mountain)

  • Trimming vegetation
  • Re-routing tracks to reduce trampling damage
  • Hardening tracks (especially with rocks)
  • Improving marking of existing tracks

Major projects have been carried out at the following sites:

  • Thark Ridge track (~8 km marked, and shorter sections, re-routed, hardened or trimmed over 21 working bees 2009-2022)
  • Devils Throne track (~1.6 km re-routed and more trimmed over 13 working bees 2017-2021)
  • Mt Connection track (~3 km trimmed over 6 working bees 2016-2019)
  • Collins Bonnet track (~1.5 km trimmed and hardened over 5 working bees in 2015)

L & R photos by Chris Woods

Weeding (mainly on Eastern fringes of Wellington Park and nearby council reserves)

Spanish heath and gorse are the main weeds being tackled, with others including:

  • broom
  • boneseed
  • caper spurge
  • radiata pine
  • foxgloves

Major weed projects have been conducted at the following sites:

  • Goat Hills (30 working bees weeding Spanish heath 2003-2022)
  • Inglewood Fire Trail (at least 19 working bees weeding gorse 2007-2015)
  • Main Fire Trail around head of McRobies Gully and Old Farm Rd (at least 18 working bees, mainly weeding Spanish heath, 2002-2021)
  • Tolosa (at least 14 working bees weeding Spanish heath 2005-2017)

The Friends of Wellington Park work in partnership with staff from:

  • Hobart City Council
  • Glenorchy City Council
  • Wellington Park Management Trust
  • Parks and Wildlife Service

and with other groups such as the Australian Plants Society, students (including those visiting from overseas) and a horticulture class.

The future

Friends of Wellington Park are looking forward to continuing to have a positive impact both on the conservation values of Wellington Park, and the satisfaction of those who volunteer with them.