» Activities Red Hill Regeneration Group

The Group delivered over 1,300 hours of volunteer time to the Red Hill Nature Reserve in 2011/12 and again in 2013/14. The reports below provide a breakdown of the type of activities performed.

Aggregate reported work hours for the period 2015-22 are shown below. Work was heavily restricted in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid pandemic:

2015 1115 hours
2016 1202 hours
2017 1028 hours
2018 874 hours
2019 1067 hours
2020 662 hours
2021 933 hours
2022 1222 hours

Work Program

The dates for planned activities in 2023 are shown here… More details will be published closer to the date.

The major activities of the Group include:

- Weed Control – Red Hill has a history of grazing and is surrounded by urban development, consequently it has a very high weed diversity (150+ species). In one year we removed over 20,000 woody exotic shrubs through our monthly working bees and occasional mid week events.
- Walking track maintenance (building steps + roll overs).
- Monitoring woodland health. The Regenerators have five long term plots in which all plants and their cover are recorded. The plots indicate that we are winning the battle against the weeds. We also do periodic counts of a nationally endangered Button Wrinklewort daisy (Rutidosis leptorhynchoides) and 15 other threatened or regionally uncommon plant species. The Button Wrinklewort daisy has increased five-fold under our care and all but one of the other rare plants have had substantial population increases. Regular woodland bird surveys also occur, the population of the threatened Speckled Warbler has remained constant. Occasional surveys of the kangaroo and rabbit warren populations are also undertaken to help the ACT Government maintain an ecological balance within the reserve.
- Planting. In 2011 a grant enabled the Group to work with Greening Australia to plant over 300 tubestock trees and understorey shrubs in a part of the reserve previously grazed by cattle until the late 1990s. In 2014, as part of the Woodland Restoration project, the Group again worked with Greening Australia to plant over 200 tubestock at the southern end of the reserve. In 2017, another 200 tube stock were planted in and around the 2011 planting. Opportunities to restore parts of the reserve are taken whenever funding is available. The location of the planting sites can be found here (2015) and (2017) here
- Encouraging community appreciation/involvement through leading organised walks and spotlighting nights and giving talks to local community groups. The group also supervisors regeneration and education activities of local schools, scout and other community groups.
- Responding to threats to the Red Hill environment by liasing and consulting with government agencies which impact the area from time to time. The principal threats the the Red Hill environment come from proposed developments on or adjacent to Red Hill, activities on Red Hill carried out by utilities organisations and some government land management practices.
- Adopt a Patch: For those members who want to work on Red Hill when it suits them, we arrange for tools and herbicide to be loaned to the member so that they can maintain the environment on a specific part of Red Hill. All that is required for the member to apply via this form. Adopt a patch agreement v4