Hornsby Shire Council

Attachment to Report No. EN39/08 Page 0

Hornsby Shire Council Community Nursery

Yearly Report for 2007-2008

Table of Contents

1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. 3

2.0 OVERVIEW.. 4

3.0 VOLUNTEER AND PLANT PRODUCTION STATISTICS. 5

3.1 Nursery Volunteer Program.. 5

3.2 Plant Production. 5

4.0 NATIVE PLANT DISTRIBUTION. 6

4.1 Bushcare Program.. 6

4.2 Other Council Programs and Plant Recipients. 7

5.0 ACHIEVEMENTS AND NURSERY IMPROVEMENTS. 9

5.1 Achievements. 9

5.2 Nursery Facility Improvements. 9

List of Figures

Figure 1. Bushcare plants 2007-2008 by Catchment or Area (Total 4329) 6

Figure 2: Total distribution of plants by customer area. 7

Figure 3: Distribution of plants across Hornsby Shire. 8

List of Tables

Table 1: Volunteer Hours. 5

Table 2: Plant sales to Council projects and associated environmental programs. 7

Table 3: Breakdown of plants by customer and area. 8

1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Hornsby Shire Council’s Community Nursery is an integral part of the Hornsby Bushcare Program. The nursery operates within the Bushland and Biodiversity Team of the Environment Division of Hornsby Council.

The nursery aims to showcase best practice operations across the wider community. This is achieved through many initiatives including full water recycling system capturing on site runoff rainfall, solar power, minimal waste production, recycling of materials and a low chemical reliance.

To emphasise this commitment to environmental sustainability the nursery was awarded in the prestigious Yates Nursery & Garden Industry Awards for the Environment Category Award for the State of NSW (2008).

Awareness of nursery facility across the broader Hornsby Shire community has increased markedly in the past financial year. This is highlighted by the increase in the numbers of plants given out at the Community Nursery & Environmental Information Open Days during this timeframe. Numbers this year were up 80% on the previous year to a total of 3522 plants distributed to residents.

Other popular community events have also increased considerably; National Tree Day this year saw 49% more plants go into the ground over the previous year.

The nursery also continues to foster relationships with other councils and industry professionals including tours conducted for Leeton Shire Council, North Sydney Council, Fairfield Council, Sydney Harbour Federation Trust and an ongoing educational partnership with Northern Sydney Institute of TAFE Ryde College.

2.0 OVERVIEW

The Hornsby Community Nursery aims to provide native plants to the Hornsby Shire through Community programs such as the Bushcare Volunteer Program, Community Open Day/giveaway days, Rural Lands Incentives Program, Gardens for Wildlife, citizenship ceremonies, schools, community groups and a variety of environmental workshops, events and activities across the Shire including National Tree day.

The nursery also provides provenance native stock to bushland restoration projects such as the bush regeneration program, Catchments Remediation Rate (CRR) devices, parks projects (Fagan Park Rural Sports Facility) and other projects that are run within Council’s core business.

The nursery aims to encourage the community to learn about the values of native plants, for biodiversity conservation goals, and to support Councils projects with the provision of sound environmental restoration techniques and technical advice to Council and associated project staff.

The nursery operates under the main outcomes of the Hornsby Biodiversity Conservation Strategy, the Environmental Education Strategy and Bushland Education Strategy and the Bushland and Biodiversity Team Action Plans.

The nursery operates on a budget of $16K (operational) per annum and aims to achieve an income of $15K per year to support the ongoing maintenance of the site and required resources. The nursery operates under the Bushland and Biodiversity Community Programs Team, with one full time Nursery Co-ordinator, and over 35 dedicated volunteers.

The nursery achieved accreditation with the NIASA (Nursery Industry Accreditation Scheme Australia) complying with strict standards of environmental best practice nursery management. It has maintained accreditation since 2005, and aims to continue accreditation as a showcase of best practice to other nurseries across NSW. The Hornsby Community Nursery was the first local government run nursery to achieve this accreditation.

The information recorded in this report is for the financial year 2007-08, and illustrates the various areas that the nursery operates.

3.0 VOLUNTEER AND PLANT PRODUCTION STATISTICS

3.1 Nursery Volunteer Program:

Table 1: Volunteer Hours

VOLUNTEER HOURS	VOLUNTEER HOURS WITHIN THE NURSERY
Number of vol hours –Bushcare (Sat & Wed)	1985
Wednesday Volunteers (339 total individual participant visits by 17 people)	1488.5
Saturday volunteers (159 total individual participant visits by 14 people)	496.5
Number of volunteer hours –RLIP: hours	138.5 (incl. in above figs)
Other volunteers hours (Greencorp, School groups)	94
TOTAL HOURS	2079
NO. VOLUNTEERS
Active volunteers for the year: (17 on Wed: 14 on Sat)	31
New Volunteers joined Program:	11

3.2 Plant Production

Production

Seed lots collected: 185

Number of seed lots propagated: 311

[Provided 89% of total production]

Number of cuttings propagated (& no. of spp.): 6500 (109)

[Provided 11% of total production based on an average 75% cutting strike rate]

Total Number of tubestock produced July 2007-June 2008: 32397

Plants Supplied

Total Plants Dispatched for Year:

25115 (1655 pending to go out in July) Grand Total: 26770

Total number of residents that received plants through Nursery Open Days and Community Fun Days: Grand Total: 4062

Square metres revegetated * Grand Total: 25,112 m2

*Based on an average of 1 plant per square metre

4.0 NATIVE PLANT DISTRIBUTION

4.1 Bushcare Program

The Bushcare program is one of the main community programs that relies on the nursery for on site maintenance of volunteer restoration sites. Volunteers are trained in the appropriate use of native plants for revegetation purposes, and are asked to submit a plant order form to assist the Nursery Co-ordinator to propagate and prepare appropriate plant species. Details below highlight where revegetation occurs within the Shire through this program.

Figure 1 shows the distribution of indigenous plants across HSC broken down into catchments and regional sub areas relevant to the Bushcare program only. A total of 61 Bushcare sites received plants from the Community Nursery this financial year, this represents 45% of the total number of Bushcare sites across the Hornsby Shire. The Lane Cove River catchment encompassing the suburbs of Beecroft, Cheltenham, Epping and along the east side the of Pennant Hills Road ridgeline; Pennant Hills, Thornleigh and Normanhurst used the majority of plants for revegetating poor to medium quality bushland (1993) across 24 Bushcare sites. The strong and active commitment by volunteers in the Bambara bushland corridor aiming to enhance fauna habitat accounted for a lot of these plants.

The upper Berowra Ck catchment covers the suburbs of Cherrybrook, West Pennant Hills, small areas of Castle Hill and southern Dural then includes west of the Pennant Hills Road ridgeline; Pennant Hills, Thornleigh, Westleigh, Normanhurst and Hornsby. This area received 1120 plants, where there is less activity within the HSC Bushcare program.

Figure 1: Bushcare plants 2007-2008 by Catchment or Area (Total 4329)

4.2 Other Council Programs and Plant Recipients

Table 2: Plant sales to Council projects and associated environmental programs

Customer	No. of plants	$
Bushland Management Operations	5866	8212.40
Bushcare	4329	NIL
Open days; plants to private property	4062	NIL
Catchment Remediation Rate projects	2600	3640.00
Other	2064	1843.15
Donations	1757	NIL
Rural Land Incentive Program	1398	1677.60
National Tree Day (2007)	1184	NIL
Citizenship	1080	1512.00
Parks	705	987.00
Works Division	70	98.00
TOTALS	25115	$17,970.15

Figure 2: Total distribution of plants by customer area

Figure 3: Distribution of plants across Hornsby Shire

Table 3: Breakdown of plants by customer and area

Bushland Management Operations 5866		Open Days 4062		Rural Land Incentive Program 1398
Lane Cove River Catchment	840	Lane Cove River Catchment	798	Lane Cove River Catchment
Upper Berowra Ck	2041	Upper Berowra Ck	949	Upper Berowra Ck
Lower Berowra Ck	1120	Lower Berowra Ck	1621	Lower Berowra Ck
Cowan Ck Catchment	780	Cowan Ck Catchment		Cowan Ck Catchment
Brooklyn/Dangar	520	Brooklyn/Dangar	90	Brooklyn/Dangar
Rural areas	565	Rural areas	324	Rural areas	1398
Extras		Extras	280	Extras
Bushcare 4329		Other 3214		National Tree Day 1184
Lane Cove River Catchment	1993	Lane Cove River Catchment	307	Lane Cove River Catchment	118
Upper Berowra Ck	1120	Upper Berowra Ck		Upper Berowra Ck	150
Lower Berowra Ck	795	Lower Berowra Ck	390	Lower Berowra Ck
Cowan Ck Catchment	181	Cowan Ck Catchment		Cowan Ck Catchment	40
Brooklyn/Dangar	40	Brooklyn/Dangar	300	Brooklyn/Dangar	416
Rural areas	200	Rural areas	40	Rural areas	320
Extras		Extras	2177	Extras	140
Parks 705		Donations 1757		Catchment Remediation Rate 2600
Lane Cove River Catchment		Lane Cove River Catchment	100	Lane Cove River Catchment	1160
Upper Berowra Ck	175	Upper Berowra Ck	129	Upper Berowra Ck	1000
Lower Berowra Ck	500	Lower Berowra Ck	100	Lower Berowra Ck	440
Cowan Ck Catchment		Cowan Ck Catchment	30	Cowan Ck Catchment
Brooklyn/Dangar		Brooklyn/Dangar		Brooklyn/Dangar
Rural areas	30	Rural areas	121	Rural areas
Extras		Extras	1277	Extras

5.0 ACHIEVEMENTS AND NURSERY IMPROVEMENTS

5.1 Achievements

· July 2007 water recycling tour for Leeton Shire Council

· July 2007 Nursery Accreditation through Nursery Industry Accreditation Scheme, Australia (NIASA) continued

· July 2007 49% increase in National Tree Day (NTD) plants over 2006 NTD

· August 2007 Vegetation communities training by ecologists Smith & Smith

· August 2007 Nursery Bushcode undertaken

· September 2007 Amber Perez utilising nursery facilities for Fire Ecology PhD through University of Wollongong

· September 2007 Ryde TAFE nursery tour for Cert III Conservation and Land Management

· September 2007 Successful Open Day Area 2 south - 700 plants

· October 2007 Nursery awarded Yates Nursery & Garden Industry Award for Environment Category

· October 2007 Florabank Training for National Seed Collection Accreditation

· November 2007 Seed workshop undertaken for Australian Association of Bush Regenerators (AABR)

· November 2007 Nursery tour for all senior management of Hornsby Shire Council

· December 2007 Successful Open Day for Renters of Hornsby Shire Council

· January 2008 Grasses & Groundcovers workshop delivered

· January 2008 Leucopogon lanceolatus mass germination

· February 2008 Nursery tour for North Sydney Council

· February 2008 Nursery tour for Fairfield City Council

· February 2008 Nursery propagation workshop for Hornsby Environmental Network for Schools (HENS).

· March 2008 Vegetation communities workshop delivered

· March 2008 Loan of plants to Easter Show for combined council’s Bushcare stall

· March 2008 Successful Open Day for Area 2 north - 819 plants

· March 2008 Participation in inaugural EcoFair 565 plants distributed

· April 2008 Repeat delivery of grasses & groundcovers workshop

· April 2008 Successful Open Day for Area 3 - 1621 plants

· April 2008 Scientific license for propagule collection re issued

· May 2008 Nursery tour for Sydney Harbour Federation Trust

· May 2008 Afternoon tea for Bushcare/Nursery volunteers

· May 2008 Greening Australia ACT Provenance workshop

· June 2008 New Greencorp team commenced at nursery

5.2 Nursery Facility Improvements

· November 2007 7 new benches purchased for Station 4 (Grasses area)

· January 2008 New seed bag labels created

· April 2008 Cutting propagation spreadsheet created to guide best months for propagation

· April 2008 Nursery work plan initiated

· June 2008 Create a Native Garden Guides updated and printed

· June 2008 Drainage holes fitted to Plant Growing Media (PGM) bay

· June 2008 Station 2 roof cleaned substantial increase in light and heat retention

· June 2008 Gravel re-laid in Station 6 by Bushland crew