A little bit of history

The UNE campus has been the focus of on-ground works for nearly two decades. Like the rest of Armidale, most of the land has suffered from extensive clearing and intensive use.

With relatively intact bushland remnants and a large riparian area there have been plenty of places to do regeneration work on campus. There are two Ribbon Gum/Mountain Gum/Snow Gum grassy forest/woodland endangered ecological community (EECs) remnants in good condition, a few other bushland remnants needing some assistance to regenerate, and a degraded waterway which is part of the mighty Macleay Catchment.

So, a bit of history:

1994-1995 Armidale-Dumaresq Landcare Group seeks funding, and a partnership with UNE, to revegetate an area east of Elm Ave below what is now known as Wright Village (check out their newsletter)

June 1995 ‘The New Englander’ runs a front page story about UNE, ADLG and Greening Australia making the creeklands a “top priority”

August 1995 A proposal is developed for the planting at UNE. The plan involves removing some willows and hawthorn, before replacing them with 8.5ha planting of native bushland species. A detailed planting map is included, and shows where species will go at the site.

March 1996 2000 trees were planted at the site below Wright Village by Greening Australia, the Armidale-Dumaresq Landcare Group and Estates and Facilities staff from UNE, with funding from the Department of Employment, Education and Training.

1999-2002 UNESA Landcare rehabilitated the Snow Gum EEC remnant above the northern carpark, removing box hawthorn, cotoneaster and other exotic species.
A rehabilitation plan is developed for Dumaresq Ck, called What once was: Rehabilitation of Dumaresq Creek, at the University of New England (UNE). This amazing document, prepared by Bruce Taylor with the UNESA Landcare Group and others.

September 2004 Riparian planting done near the Goat Track Bridge

July-September 2006 UNE Landcare is awarded $5500 from the Bundaberg Rum Bush Fund to repair and protect the Dumaresq Creek adjacent to SportUNE and the University of New England. The project attracted support from UNE Facilities Management Services (FMS), the Armidale Urban Rivercare Group (AURG), Southern New England Landcare (SNEL), the Natural Resources Society (UNE), and the Armidale Tree Group. Work started in July with site preparation, and 640 seedlings were planted  by the project and volunteers.

November 2006 150 PLC Croydon students come up and plant a tree each with the help of the AURG to the west of the plantings done earlier in the year.

February 2011 A native grass ID workshop is held in the Snow Gums remnant above the northern carpark, with help from DPI.

July-November 2011  UNE Landcare holds 4 planting days, putting another 630 seedlings into the Goat Track site. UNE FMS prepared the site, including slashing and spraying the grassy weeds which had completely overtaken the site.
Two bush regeneration working bees are also held, in the bushland remnant below Robb College and in the Snow Gum remnant below Trevenna Rd.

2012 UNE FMS, AURG and UNE Landcare  entered into a partnership to clean up the creek west of the Goat Track. This is a huge project and will involve the removal of woody weeds including willows, poplars, privet, hawthorn and more; and the revegetation of the  creek banks.