Teams of tree planters from the City of Hobart’s Bushcare volunteer program and local residents will plant up to 600 native plants along the Hobart Rivulet on Sunday as part of this year’s National Tree Day events.
“Our experienced City of Hobart Bushcare volunteers will use their special skills to plant native trees, shrubs and ground covers on the steep embankments of the Hobart Rivulet as part of a wide-ranging landscape restoration project,” City of Hobart Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds said.
“Today’s special National Tree Day event is part of a long-term project run by the City of Hobart to remove highly invasive and weedy crack willows from the Hobart Rivulet and replace them with native plants.
“Crack willows are a highly adaptable species that have pushed out native vegetation, smothered the stream bed with their roots and created choke holds on water flows, worsening the impacts of major flood events.
“This weedy willow overloads natural waterways with dead organic matter, sucking oxygen from the system and damaging the health of this waterway for aquatic plants and wildlife, like the local platypus.
“Willows also drop limbs, erode banks and can damage infrastructure.”
Controlling willows to protect the natural environment requires a well-planned, long-term approach.
Most willows spread when stem fragments or twigs break off the main tree and grow new roots in water. Pieces can travel many kilometres before taking root at a new site.
The City of Hobart is carrying out a staged removal of willows from the Hobart Rivulet, replacing the weedy trees with native species that will create wildlife habitat, improve water quality and restore the health of the stream bank corridor.
