Oct 19, 2020
- Horticulture Services
- Natural Areas Management
- Technigro
A great job by our Natural Areas team on successfully installing 5000 native plants in place of approximately 100 mature established (and hundreds of saplings) Chinese Celtis trees.
This area was heavily infested with Chinese Celtis (Celtis sinensis) which needed to be removed from the site and treated so that they would not re-shoot. Chinese Celtis is a restricted invasive plant under the Biosecurity Act 2014.¹ It is a fast growing tree that forms dense infestations (particularly along creek banks), preventing the regeneration of natural vegetation.¹ Infestations of this species use large amounts of water and also have the potential to affect populations of native animals through habitat destruction.¹
Over 5000 endemic species were planted in place of the removed weeds including 800 Forest Red Gum (Eucalyptus Tereticornis) – a favoured Koala food.²
It was vital to have the plants installed immediately after the weeds had be en removed to prevent erosion caused by exposed soils and minimal vegetation on the site.