JUBILEE RESERVE

Jubilee Reserve is the only bushland in the Town of Bassendean with an understorey in
good condition.  This understorey is very diverse, providing a colourful array of wildflowers during spring.  Very few local understorey plants are more than 500 mm high.  Plants in the
western piece of bushland indicate that the area was seasonally waterlogged. The eastern
bushland includes species such as Donkey Orchids, Blackboys, Western Australian
Christmas Trees and Dryandra.

The Town of Bassendean conducts some weed control but more comprehensive
management is needed.

BINDARING PARK

Bindaring Park is a linear park which follows a creek to the Swan River.  In most suburbs, creeks such as this have been filled, the water put through a pipe and the natural beauty lost.

Bindaring Park is valuable to wildlife by providing places to hide, rest and to search for food. Tortoises, Purple Swamphens and Black Swans still use the creek and associated wetlands.

BENNETT BROOK

Bennett Brook is part of a vegetated corridor which links the Swan River to Whiteman Park.
A wide range of fauna can be found in Bennett Brook.  Fish spawn in the upper reaches and
frogs are common.

Where the Brook forms a wide swamp it contains large stands of paperbarks, several species
of sedge and four samphire species.  Waterbirds such as Ibis and Ducks feed or rest in the
shallow open water of the swamp.  Dense stands of Flooded Gums and Paperbacks along the
brook are used by birds for breeding.  Purple Swamphens abound in the shallow areas of the
swamp.

This area has significant Aboriginal and conservation value recognised by the State Government.  Land along Bennett Brook is currently leased or private property but will be bought by the State Government which may then provide public access.

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SUCCESS HILL

Success Hill is dominated by the Firewood Banksia and also has some resprouted coastal plain Jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata). The understorey is significantly degraded by weeds, although rehabilitation is probably possible. Success Hill has significant Aboriginal and European heritage values.

ASHFIELD FLATS

The significant conservation value of the Ashfield Flats has been recognised in State Government reports. The Flats are large and have saltwater wetland vegetation in areas flooded by tides and freshwater wetland vegetation where water seeps from the steeply
rising land to the west.

Since European settlement, construction of a drain has increased the area of freshwater wetland vegetation on the west side of the flats, dairy farmers cleared and then grazed cows
on the higher land, and the erosion of the riverbank has caused trees to fall into the river.

Saltwater wetland vegetation includes samphire heath, often in association with Swamp Sheoak (Casuarina obesa). Three types of samphire heath are found, the Halosarcia
complex, the Sarcornia complex, and the Sarcornia blackiana community which is found
on the Swan River only at the Ashfield Flats and Bennett Brook.

The Ashfield Flats are valuable for birds and features in Birding Sites Around Perth.
Australian Kestrels are regularly recorded and can be seen hovering over the flats, hunting
for insects, reptiles, small birds or mammals.

See Natural Vegetation

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BANKSIAS: IDENTIFICATION .....

Banksias can be identified just by their leaves.  The Swamp Banksia which grows only in wetlands, has similar leaves to Candle Banksia, but no specimens remain in Bassendean.

ECOLOGICAL VALUES

The Firewood Banksia and Candle Banksia are the two most common Banksias in Perth and together
they provide a year-round supply of nectar for honeyeaters such as the Singing Honeyeater and
Red Wattlebird.

The Firewood Banksia flowers from late summer to late winter, producing flower spikes which change in colour from light green, through orange and pink as
the flowers mature. Firewood Banksias also provide habitat for insects eaten by birds. Moth larvae burrow into the flower spikes and the cones are used by the burrowing larvae of two species of weevil.

PAPERBARKS: IDENTIFICATION

Wetland vegetation, including paperbarks, grows in zones that reflect maximum water levels. Banbar (Melaleuca teretifolia) grows in the innermost zone and can tolerate flooding for several years, whilst Freshwater Paperbark (Melaleuca rhaphiophylla) grows further upslope where it is usually flooded each spring. Dense thickets of the salt-tolerant Melaleuca hamulosa are a distinctive feature at the Ashfield Flats.

ECOLOGICAL VALUES

The dense canopy and branch structure and the protection given by the ground flooding in spring makes Freshwater Paperbark a favoured nesting
tree for waterbirds.

Freshwater Paperbark will only survive and shade
out bulrushes if the wetland is not often burnt.

Some Melaleucas are bushes, such as Robin
Red-breast shrub (Melaleuca lateritia) which
has a stunning red bottlebrush-like flower providing
a food source for birds and insects.

See also Beeliar Regional Park

MARRI (Eucalyptus calophylla): IDENTIFICATION

Marri trees are easily identified by their 'honky nuts'. They also have chequered bark.

ECOLOGICAL VALUES

Marri is a most remarkable tree. Some of its values include:

Food for fauna

1. The flowers' abundant nectar and pollen attract Lorikeets, Silver-eyes, honeyeaters, bees, ants, beetles, moths and other insects.
2. Australian Ringnecks ('Twenty-eight' parrots)
   eat the softer, immature fruits.
3. White-tailed Black Cockatoos eat seeds
   from inside the nuts.
4. Insects such as Long-horned Beetles, burrow into the trunk causing kino (the 'gum') to ooze out.

Heritage

1. May Gibbs' gum-nut babies 'Snugglepot' and 'Cuddlepie' are closely -associated with the marri's nuts.
2. Aboriginals used flowers to make a sweet drink.  Other parts were used to cure diarrhoea.

Other values

1. Sheer beauty - calophylla means 'beautiful leaf'.  The leaves are a different colour on each side and have close-spaced parallel lateral veins spreading from the mid-rib at a high angle.
2. The Marri is an excellent shade tree, growing
   to 30 metres.
   

FLOODED GUM (Eucalyptus rudis)

IDENTIFICATION

Flooded Gums are 'half-box' trees - the bark on the larger branches and trunk is persistent and therefore rough, while the upper branches have a deciduous and smooth bark.  Trees with this 'half-box' characteristic on low lying land or near streams, with the nuts like those illustrated below, can be confidently identified as Flooded Gum.

ECOLOGICAL VALUES

The value of the leaves to insects such as leaf miners, scale insects, aphids and bugs often make Flooded Gums look brown or ailing to a European eye, but the tree invariably continues to grow.

The leaf-eating insects provide food for a range of predatory insects and birds.  Aboriginals ate the waxy, sugary scales on the leaves as well as the insect underneath.

In older trees, deep hollows form which may be used as homes by birds, possums or bats.  The Flooded Gum is like a reef or rainforest in that it supports many animal species.

'Nature will take care of itself' is a view still widely held in the community but it is not true for urban bushland and wetlands.  Even for an area to remain the same there must be some management.

Each piece of bushland should have a management plan which considers the issues and provides a framework for people who want to help care for the bush.  A management plan
would consider issues such as replanting, weed control, visitor education, trampling,
vandalism, rubbish dumping and removal, control of disease, insects and fire.

One reason that nature cannot take care of itself is the introduction of plants and animals
from other countries.

Many introduced plants, free from their natural controls, are able to reproduce more successfully and vigorously than our own native plants. A basic understanding of weed ecology is needed to determine the best control method; pulling certain types of weeds only helps them to reproduce more successfully.

If you would like to help look after a piece of bushland you should contact
the Bassendean Council (08 9377 8000) or join the Bassendean Preservation Group.