Tree-mendous Hughes Group
The Tree-mendous Hughes Group is a volunteer group registered in 2019 under the Urban Parks and Places Volunteer Program (UPPVP).
The Group's aim is to improve the natural environment in Hughes, especially in the Urban Open Space, and to foster a sense of community and connection.
The Group has planted and cared for around 100 native trees and shrubs, in partnership with the TCCS Urban Treescapes, and has taken on the care/maintenance of the Birdwood St embankment.
The Bird and Buddy Bliss in Hughes - helping protect gang gangs, superb parrots and other native wildlife in Hughes Urban Open Space project
The Group has applied for project assistance through the 2022-23 ACT Government Environment Grants and the 2022/23 Adopt A Park grants.
The aim of the project is to create a more biodiverse, sustainable habitat for at risk native birds, especially gang gangs and superb parrots, which frequent the Hughes urban open space (s50) and adjacent nature reserves/woodlands, through appropriate planting and weeding.
The Group would like to commission a site plan to inform plant choice, habitat zones, and project staging, taking account Dr Michael Mulvaney’s recommendations to: plant more suitable trees and understorey plants as food sources for gang gangs and superb parrots; provide an understorey wildlife corridor for thornbills, wrens and honeyeaters, as well as other native birds; develop a more extensive habitat for native invertebrates, especially on the NW slopes of section 50, and consider native planting or other strategies to deal with water seepage issues in some areas. If successful the Group would undertake a consultation process to engage the local community and relevant areas of the ACT Government.
Given the urgency of extending habitat for gang gangs and superb parrots, and the need to address some existing problems in the open space, the project also seeks to:
protect gang gang/other nesting sites through use of possum-excluding rings around relevant trees
use signage to inform the community about the project and participation avenues
connect community with nature through hosting citizen scientist events
create a small native protected zone around the eucalypts adjacent to the pre-school to protect the trees and increase children’s engagement in nature.
