The clearing of over 50 trees at the end of Eltham Road, next to the Teven golf course raised the concern of some locals who contacted Echonetdaily saying that what ‘Was once a beautiful start of Eltham Road now looks more like a movie war movie set’.
Assurances have been provided by local Tuckombil Landcare group who have clarified that they have been working at the Teven Memorial Park for five years and this is part of a long term plan that will see the replanting of 3,000 native rainforest trees on the site.
‘We accepted an offer from a contractor to remove 40 Camphor Laurel trees from the park,’ said Barry Jeffress, Secretary of the Tuckombil Landcare group.
‘The millable timber was removed by the contractor and we then engaged another contractor to chip the remaining timber which I understand will be used to fuel the co-generation plant at Broadwater. Unfortunately the chipping was delayed due to weather and technical difficulties however work was commenced last week to clear the remaining debris from the park.’
‘The park is a public space so poisoning the trees and allowing them to fall was not an option,’ said Barry.
Camphor Laurels, native to China, are now identified as Class 4 weeds which need to be eradicated. The camphor is a large shade tree which casts thousands of seeds, dominating and eliminating other species. Camphors also impact the soil life reducing the variety of plant, insect, animal and aquatic species.’
‘While the camphor trees have provided some shade to the users of the park, they have done so at the expense of the native vegetation.’
The Tuckombil Landcare group has been working with Ballina Shire Council and the cost of the remedial work is being met by the Landcare group‘ continued Barry.
KSEAV memorial
The Teven Memorial Park is also the home of a memorial dedicated to the memory of all who served and saw action in Korea, South East Asia and Vietnam (KSEAV). The memorial was dedicated in 1993 and KSEAV have also assisted with the work to restore the site.
Prior to 2010 the park was a degraded area of riparian rainforest. Progressively KESEAV, Tuckombil Landcare and Ballina Shire Council have been restoring this riparian rainforest area along Maguire’s Creek by removing exotic tree, weed and vine species and extending areas of pioneering rainforest and increasing diversity of rainforest species, including rare, threatened and endangered plant species.
‘Residents are welcome to contribute towards provision of a suitable rainforest variety tree which may have special significance to them,’ said Barry.
‘The area will eventually be restored to pristine rainforest with the hard work of all our volunteers,’ Barry said.
If you would like to get involved in the project or find out more about what they are doing you can contact the secretary@tuckombillandcare.org.au or visit the Tuckombil Landcare group website.
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