The Snow Gums Natural Heritage Site

Friends of the Aranda Bushland’s Snow Gums project began with Peter Ormay’s vision to conserve, protect and interpret Aranda Snow Gums as the best remaining example of a frost hollow with its stand of Snow Gums and native vegetation  zones largely intact. On Saturday October 27^th 1990 he took members of the newly formed Friends of Aranda Bushland on a familiarisation walk of the Aranda Snow Gums.

The Friends were galvanised into action when in the summer of 1992/3 drift from the spraying of sweet briars caused the loss of about 70% of the foliage of the Snow Gums present, including 3 very ancient snow gums. The three subsequently died and their skeletons remain.

In 1994 Friends of Aranda Bushland began negotiations with the Parks and Conservation service management as to the best way to save the rest of the snow gums and to rehabilitate the area.  It was agreed that Friends of Aranda Bushland would submit a proposal for Heritage Places registration. It was dated February 22^nd 1994.  The original proposal was for the whole of the rural lease south of the Aranda Bushland to William Hovell Drive
 
The Aranda Snow Gums Heritage Site was included on the interim Heritage Places Register, which was gazetted in June 1998. The citation was only for the stand of Snow Gums, which is only a small part of Block 1399, taken out of the rural lease for soil conservation purposes during the development of Lake Burley Griffin.

A site work plan for a Natural Heritage Trust grant was prepared in co-operation with Parks & Conservation Services. It included fencing to secure the area, rabbit control, replanting and weeding and a permanent monitoring program. In October 1999 the Friends of the Aranda Bushland Inc. received an initial Natural Heritage Grant for this project. As Friends of Aranda Bushland convenor at the time Jean Geue was also project officer.

In February 2000 the Minister for Urban Services, Brendan Smyth launched the Management Plan for Canberra Nature Park on the site and also announced that the area containing the Snow Gums Heritage Site, i.e. Soil Conservation Block 1399 was to be included in Aranda Bushland.  At a separate event, Senator Margaret Reid announced the award of NHT grants and presented Friends of Aranda Bushland with a “Work in Progress” roadside sign.

Students from Lake Ginninderra College germinated seeds from snow gums on the site and grew them to the planting stage. On August 30^th 1999, Friends of Aranda Bushland and the students planted a total of 45 young seedlings to replace the loss of the three old mature trees, killed as a result of briar spraying.

The first draft management plan was produced by Barry Griffiths in February 1999. There have been a number of changes to the original draft and we are currently working  on is a set of draft guidelines dated 2001.  The committee feels that the final listing on the Heritage Register an opportunity to update and finalise the Management Plan.

Working parties of Friends of Aranda Bushland monitored the trees and flora of the area and weeded by hand the ground adjacent to and within the drip line of the snow gums and much of Block 1399 itself.   St. John’s wort, thistles, wild mustard and Paterson’s curse are major weeds in the area, together with a heavy infestation of phalaris. Where weeds are not removed before flowering, their seed heads are collected and removed from the site to reduce the seed burden of the area.

Friends of Aranda Bushland developed the Frost Hollow to Forest Walk to display the beauty and diversity of the natural environment in the area of the bushland.  On a gentle/moderate 2 hour walk it is possible to experience several distinct vegetational zones: the natural grassland of the frost hollow, the snow gums, the yellow-box/red gum grassy woodland and the dry scherophyl forest of the Aranda Bushland itself.  Ten different species of eucalypt may be seen on the walk.

Guided walks have been organised since Arbor Day 1996 and each year since 1999. A brochure was printed to add to the pleasure and information gained from them.  In 2000, the rural lessee gave permission for Friends of Aranda Bushland to fence a walkway, using NHT funds, through his property making it possible for visitors to complete the walk from the Snow Gums to the Bushland.  In exchange, Friends of Aranda Bushland have a working party each year to remove woody weeds from the rural lease adjacent to the bushland.

NHT funds enabled work to begin on the design and construction of interpretive signs for the walk in 2001 and in June 19^th  2002 the Frost Hollow to Forest Walk was officially launched by Wayne Berry MLA and attended by more than 65 members of the community. This finalised the Natural Heritage Trust Aranda Snow Gums Project and the grant was acquitted on February 7^th 2003.

Since the year 2000 a total of 3,700 volunteer hours have been attributed to the Snow Gums project, showing an on-going commitment to the area. That concern for the care and maintenance of the Site has not waned is illustrated by the fact that in the Year 2004/5,  8 of our 11 monthly work parties were held in the Snow Gums Site, with on average more than ten members present each time and small groups and individuals work on a casual basis.

In 2004, we were awarded an ACT Environment grant to progress with our current major project The Frost Hollow to Forest Education Kit. Its aim is to prepare exciting and structured  web-based activity sheets for use by visitors to the Aranda Snow Gums and Bushland. It aims to enhance the usefulness of  Our Patch and the Frost Hollow to Forest brochure and to broaden the range of experience into an appreciation of the biodiversity of the area in new, creative, fun, sensory and intellectual ways.

Our current concern is that the Snow Gums Heritage Site is preserved in the ecological context of the transitional zone. An important issue is the welfare of the endangered Yellow Box/Red Gum grassy woodland adjacent, which in an integral part of that transitional zone.  The ALP called it The South Aranda Woodland  in their 2004 election platform on the environment. It was one of the natural sites, which they promised to protect.  Friends of Aranda Bushland would like to see it incorporated into the Canberra Nature Park.