Welcome to 2024. Hoping that the Christmas/New Year break has been kind to everyone.
I wanted to start the year by acknowledging and thanking Judy Tulloch for the wonderful job that she has done as President of MBBA over the last 7 years. She has led the organisation as it matured and has grown to be a voice within the community and a respected contributor to environmental issues in our area. Luckily, Jude is staying on as a Committee member.
Michelle Wilson
MBBA President
As we start 2024 we reflect on the achievements for 2023 including:
In March 2023 MBBA (led by Jude) submitted a comprehensive response to the draft Eastern Beaches Coastal Management Plan. The plan was a culmination of an extraordinary amount of work and consultation. The council has now approved the plan with many of the MBBA recommendations included in the final document. https://mbba.org.au/eastern-beaches-plan-progress-report-and-mbba-submission-with-appendix/.
Amongst the many issues raised in the MBBA submission was the encroachments into the coastal reserves. Noosa Council is continuing its review of incursions along the coastline. MBBA continues to provide feedback on this issue including an upcoming presentation at Friday Environmental Forum (23 February 2024)
MBBA donated to Sunshine Coast University to support Javier Leon to collect the drone data for his paper on “Coastal change along Noosa, Australia, during a triple back-to-back La Nina (2020 – 2023)” – presented at the Australasian Coasts and Ports 2023 Conference Monitoring coastal change along Noosa_C&P23.pdf
Chris Hansen from Hansen Botanical Assessments Pty Ltd completed the Preliminary Terrestrial Flora Survey of Dune Vegetation Between Baech Access 50 & 52, Peregian Beach, Queensland. The report identified the species within the area and tracked, with great precision the broad-leafed pepper trees that have invaded the area. This will enable the Bushcare group working in this area to develop a comprehensive plan to reduce the impact of the broad-leafed pepper – where the broad-leafed pepper out-competes the native vegetation (both canopy and ground cover) leading to a monoculture. A huge thank you to Chris for this pro bono work.
Wesley Manson (Coordinator at Beach Access 51) gave the Marcus Group some help with removing broad-leafed peppers from the pathway along David Low Way. Wes also gave a demonstration to Marcus Beach and Peregian Beach Bushcarers of his technique for treating pepper trees safely. It is always good to share the collective wisdom of the groups. Thanks to Laura Ellis who designed the tree tag to help educate people on our weeds and to make things fun too.
We’re a talented team at the MBBA.
The Coastal Connect grant is in the final stage of completion of the 3-year cycle. The grant funded extensive weed control and re-vegetation at Peregian Creek, Marcus Creek and Castaways Creek
Paul Ryan (Coordinator Peregian Creek Bushcare Group) produced his comprehensive annual report on the work of the group (https://mbba.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Per-Creek-Annual-report.2023.pdf). Paul, in consultation with the Bushcare Coordinators at Noosa Council, has prepared the 2024 work plan concentrating on weed removal and planting at Beach Accesses 48 & 49. Paul’s another Broad-leafed pepper Champion.
At Beach Access 43 Chris Shannon has been trialling management strategies for Gloriosa Lilly. From the summer of 2021 to December 2023 he has employed a variety of techniques including collecting seed pods, heading flowers cutting plants and spraying. With the wonderful result of 95% effectiveness in the 10sqm trial patch. This is in addition to Chris’s ongoing war with the mother-in-law’s tongue.
