If you see plumes of smoke from the area of Byron Bay’s Clarkes Beach in the next few days you can rest assured it’s not the caravan park on fire.
You may also see people cutting down or poisoning trees – including some native ones – but it’s not so they can get a better view of the water.
Byron Shire Council is undertaking ecological restoration work in the rare Byron Bay Graminoid Clay Heath adjoining the caravan park and the works include removal of weeds and even some native trees.
That’s because the trees don’t belong in the heath and are threatening to take it over.
There will also be selected site burns as the heath requires fire to help it regenerate.
Byron Shire Council ecologist Andy Baker said the Byron Clay Heath is a rare plant community found in only a two locations in Byron and Tweed Shires and provides unique habitat to a range of threatened flora and fauna.
‘Less than five per cent of the heathland remains and it is now listed as an Endangered Ecological Community in NSW.
‘It is also a significant cultural landscape for the Bundjalung of Byron Bay Arakwal People who used fire to maintain the heathland as a vital source of bush foods including edible tubers,’ he said.
Mr Baker said nearly all heath plants need fire to reproduce.
‘Without fire many species are at risk of local extinction. Plus fire also inhibits weeds sand trees from spreading.
‘Without restoration, all Clay Heath is likely to be lost by 2040,’ he said.
According to council, the ecological restoration work is being guided by a detailed management plan that aims to restore the Clay Heath and the natural processes it relies on to survive.
The aim of the plan is to restore the structure, function, dynamics and integrity of the clay heath vegetation and the habitats they support.
Council’s acting Natural Environment Policy and Projects Officer, Greg Shanahan, said the project involves:
- Eradication of environmental weeds such as Camphor Laurel, Bitou Bush, Winter Senna, Singapore Daisy and Molasses Grass.
- Undertaking ecological burns at selected sites. Some sites have already had successful ecological burns in 2008, 2009 and 2015 with the help of NSW Fire & Rescue and the NSW Rural Fire Service. Council plans to undertake additional controlled burns on other sites in the future.
- Control of trees displacing the clay heath. Some weed and native trees shading out the Clay Heath are being removed or killed in-situ. This is being carried out in a targeted manner to secure core areas of clay heath vegetation where the opportunity to undertake burns is restricted.
The work is being undertaken as part of the Byron Clay Heath restoration project with funding from the NSW Environmental Trust.
I feel sorry for the poor struggling wildlife. With spring approaching a lot of birds etc will be nesting. What was it like before burning off, were there delicate flower’s like orchids, trees. Native people buried off so that the fresh regrowth would attract animals that they could eat. Sounds pointless to me.
Controlled burns are done strategically to allow wildlife to escape!!!
Pamela this burn is needed to try to make sure that this special type of heathland does not change into something else and disappear. Lack of fire over time is the main reason why the clay heath has changed – by reinstating fire there is a good chance of restoring and maintaining this type of heathland (which is restricted to areas close to Byron).. It is a good news story for all the plants and animals that live within the clay heath… if the clay heath goes then all these species go with it…
Well done Andy, great achievements !