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Disa Gorge Hack for Intl Mountain Day

Conservation 11 December 2017 Disa Gorge Hack for Intl Mountain Day

A small but dedicated group of six members and two guests marked International Mountain Day by tackling Australian blackwoods in Disa Gorge. Conservation Convenor, John Watermeyer, coordinated the group’s efforts on Sunday 10 December.

John has been working with SANParks to identify areas where Club members can assist with the eradication of alien vegetation. Disa Gorge is one area of concern to the MCSA, being environmentally sensitive, and badly infested with blackwoods (Acacia melanoxylon).

Following a constructive meeting between members of the General Committee and SANParks on Wed 6 December, John visited Disa Gorge with a SANParks ranger on Thurs 7 Dec, to identify an area of the Gorge allocated to the MCSA to clear on this and future hacks.

During the hack, the group cleared (i.e. pulled, lopped or ring-barked and treated with Confront) the gorge of blackwoods to a little way downstream to beyond a dead eucalyptus tree which had been set as a target marker. In addition, they cleared the river course of material that had been cut on previous occasions to a point a bit further down than the dead tree. Much of that material was cut up and roughly stacked between the path and the river course. Some bramble was also cleared from the stream.

There is still material in the gorge below the western terrace that needs to be sectioned and stacked, and this task will be carried over to February 2018, when we hope to have a strong group assembled for the next stage in this clearing effort.

[Image of Acacia melanoxylon foliage and flowers © Hamish Robertson, Iziko]

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