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AUSTRALIAN
PLANTS IDENTIFICATION COURSE
The North
Shore Group of the Australian Plants Society is pleased to
announce that the Australian Plants Identification Course
is to be presented again later this year - a repeat of this
event in the popular Saturday morning format.
Dates:
Over four Saturdays Sat 16/23 Aug and 6/13 Sept 2008- each
session 9am to 1pm
Venue:
Education Centre, Ku-ring-gai Wildflower Garden, St Ives
Presenter:
Dr Joan Webb
The course
will last a total of 16 hours - each session will have 3 hour
of lecture and practical work, including microscope investigation
of plants, followed by an hour of plant ID in the Gardens.
The presenter, Joan Webb, has an enviable reputation as an
engaging and enthusiastic, skilled educator with a vast wealth
of plant knowledge - see profile on the Group web site.
Course
content and outcome: Will cover plant and flower structure
and botanical nomenclature in general, leading into the use
of eye, hand lens and microscope inspection of any specific
species, together with keys, for positive identification.
The major families and their species specific to the area
will be covered. The course outcome is the ability to positively
identify common flowering plants either readily or by educated
reference to a field guide, with added pleasure of knowing
your flora more intimately.
Should
I attend? The course will appeal to those who wish to start
or improve their knowledge of plants and identification skills
or want to refresh those skills. The course should be of interest
to the layperson, to the professional engaged in bush care,
bush regeneration, parks and garden management, etc, and to
students training in such areas.
The course
will have a limit of 24 attendees. The course fee, including
notes and plant identification keys, reference book and refreshments,
is $125.
Registration:
Registration for the course can be made with Fred Langshaw
9449 1541 or email secretary@blandfordia.org.au , download
the registration form from the Group web site www.blandfordia.org.au
Register without delay - the 2007course was oversubscribed
and many had to be denied.
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Training
courses for Bushcare volunteers
There
is some Bushcare training coming up through Ryde TAFE and
some local councils. Most are on Saturdays and all are on
weekends. If you are interested in attending any of these
courses please complete the attached application form (even
if you are unable to attend any of the current dates), and
return it to me.
All training
is provided by Ryde TAFE and I would highly recommend it to
everyone, even if you have done some training before but would
like a refresher. The intermediate and site strategy courses
will require that you have already done some introductory
training. The intermediate one focuses on plant ID skills.
Most of these will require travelling to the hosting council,
though that may be closer to home for some of you anyway.
Click
here to download the attached flyer (180Kb) for
more information on the courses being offered and please email
or call me if you have any questions about them. Not all the
dates below are on the attached flyer.
If you
have selected a particular date then I will need to confirm
with the organising council that there are places available,
and if there are no places available Ryde TAFE will keep the
application form and organise other days if there is enough
interest. They will contact you directly if they have organised
any new days.
Download
the application form as a Word doc (editable) 41 Kb
Download
the application form as pdf (printable only) 43 Kb
Sat and
Sun 16th/17th August Plant - Propagation Basics – Marrickville
Council
Sat 30th
August - 1 day Bushcare Essentials – Canterbury Council
Sat 27th
September – 1 day Bushcare Essentials – Hornsby
Council
Sat 18th
October – Fauna Friendly Bushcare – Liverpool
Council
Sat 25th
October - 1 day Bushcare Essentials – Randwick Council
Sat 1st
and 8th November – Plant Propagation Basics –
Fairfield Council
There
may be more dates added to this and I am very interested in
hosting one or two courses this year. Let me know if you are
particularly interested in any of these courses, especially
the Plant Identification, Site Strategy, Plant Propagation
or Fauna Friendly training. If there’s any training
area you are interested in that isn’t covered here also
please let me know – eg first aid training?
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Lord
Howe weeding tours
The bookings
are strong for the first three Lord Howe weeding tours this
year to continue tackling the Asparagus fern on Transit Hill.
However seats are available July 12 to 19, August 16 to 23
and August 31 to Sept 7.
If you
are thinking of joining a trip this year, please contact Ian
Hutton via email ianhutton@clearmail.com.au
to secure a seat ASAP
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Arakoon
Bush Regeneration 2008
A
note from Alan Hill to let you all know that this year they
are again offering free accommodation at Arakoon House to
volunteer bush regenerators. For those of you who have already
been you already know how it works, and he thanks you again
for your past efforts. I’m hoping to get back up there
for at least a few days this year – had a great time
there in 2006!
South
West Rocks Dune Care, have undertaken to control some major
invasive weeds, mainly Bitou, Lantana, Passion Vine and Senna
over an extensive area in Hat Head National Park. So this
offer to anyone, or group of people, who may be interested
in helping, is free accommodation at Historic Arakoon House
in exchange for bush regeneration (usually 4-5 hours per day,
but longer if you like!). As a background, Arakoon House was
built as a guest house in 1886, and has now been converted
to four self contained apartments. Each apartment has 2 bedrooms,
one with a double/queen and the other with 2-3 singles beds.
It is located in walking distance of the beaches and Trial
Bay Gaol. The only things people would need to bring are linen,
towels and food (although in the past few years NPWS has provide
some of the food basics). South West Rocks township is about
two km. away from Arakoon House. The town has several supermarkets,
restaurants, a pub and a tavern. Some beautiful surfing and
swimming beaches are in easy walking distance from the house,
others are easily accessible by car.
There
are a range of work sites we can offer this year from dramatic
coastal areas to relatively flat and easily accessible sand
dunes, rainforest to banksia woodlands. There will be something
for everyone, whatever your fitness levels!
So
the offer is that they will make all four units at Arakoon
House available between the end of March to the end of September
2008 for groups of up to 16 (larger groups may be possible
but would need to discuss it first). Individuals and couples
are of course welcome, however we will try to group the bookings
to the following dates so we can better co-ordinate our support.
At this stage we have set aside the following dates, the first
Sunday for each week listed coincides with our regular Sunday
dune Care workdays.
19th
July to 26th July 2008
16th
August 23 August 2008
20th
Sept To 27th Sept 2008
Other
dates may be possible, so contact Alan Hill if you can’t
make these dates.
If
you are interested, could you let him know as soon as possible
so we can book the units and plan for any support which may
be required from NPWS.
Please
contact Alan Hill, by email at hillyuille@bigpond.com or phone
Sydney 99976973 (there is an answer phone), 0419012640 (mobile)
or 0265667013 (Arakoon, so that he can arrange bookings.
Check
out the AABR website for other bush regen holidays at http://www.aabr.org.au/images/stories/BushcareVolunteering/VolunteeringOpportunities.pdf
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