Bush regeneration

Bush regeneration, a form of natural area restoration, is the term used in Australia for the ecological restoration of remnant vegetation areas, such as through the minimisation of negative disturbances, both exogenous such as exotic weeds and endogenous such as erosion. It may also attempt to recreate conditions of pre-European arrival, for example by simulating endogenous disturbances such as fire. Bush regeneration attempts to protect and enhance the floral biodiversity in an area by providing conditions conducive to the recruitment and survival of native plants. Bushcare's Major Day Out is an Australian national day of community participation in the care of bushland. In 2012 nearly 100 bushcare sites participated in this annual event. For more information go to www.bushcaresmajordayout.org.

In the early 1960s Joan and Eileen Bradley developed a series of weed control techniques through a process of trial and error. Their work was the beginning of minimal disturbance bush regeneration in New South Wales. The Bradley method urges a naturalistic approach by encouraging the native vegetation to self-reestablish. The Bradleys used their method to successfully clear weeds from a 16 hectares (40 acres) reserve in Ashton Park, part of Sydney Harbour National Park, NSW. The process demonstrated that, following a period of consecutive 'follow up' treatments of diminishing time requirement, subsequent maintenance was needed only once or twice a year, mainly in vulnerable spots such as creek banks, roadsides, and clearings, to be maintained weed-free.

The aim of their work was to clear small niches adjacent to healthy native vegetation such that the each area will regenerate from in-situ soil seed banks or be re-colonised and stabilized by the regeneration of native plants, replacing an area previously occupied by weeds. The Bradley method follows three main principles,

The priority securing of the best quality vegetation aids in preserving areas of top biodiversity which provide regeneration potential to expand these areas and reclaim areas as bushland.

The adoption of minimal disturbance bush regeneration increased in the decades that followed the work of the Bradleys. Their principles have guided bushcare programs in Australia, although the inclusion of herbicide in modern bush regeneration is a notable deviation from the ideals of the Bradley sisters. In addition, rather than 'minimal disturbance', a more favoured and ecologically sound trend since the 1990s has been towards more 'appropriate disturbance' as many Australian plant communities require some level of perturbation to trigger germination from long-buried seed banks. This has led to a range of additional disturbance-based techniques (such as burns and soil disturbance) being included in the regenerator's 'tool kit' in dry forest and grassland areas. Field experience has found that, even in rainforest areas, a resilience to disturbance is evident, enabling regenerators to clear weed in a fairly extensive manner to trigger rainforest recovery. This is borne out by a thriving rainforest regeneration industry in northern NSW Australia, modelled on the pioneering work of John Stockard at Wingham Brush (Stockard 1991, Stockard 1999). The rule of thumb in all cases is to constrain clearing to that area that matches the project's follow up resources.

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