After a great community campaign and proposal from Commonwood Farm, QPRC has agreed to create a ‘Braidwood Common s355’ to manage the Braidwood Common on behalf of our community into the future!
Commonwood Farm’s proposal (item 9.10) was accompanied by 25 letters of support from various Braidwood Community groups, businesses, and individuals, and was recommended for approval by council staff. Thank you and well done to all!
We’d especially like to thank Cr Katrina Wilson and Cr John Preston for presenting and seconding the proposal on behalf of our community, and for their words of praise and encouragement at the council meeting. We very much appreciate their interest and personal effort in visiting the common earlier this year, and we hope to welcome them and other councillors again soon.
This new community management committee is a wonderful outcome after years of increasing local engagement and interest on the Common, and a great step towards more diverse community involvement and benefits in future.
Commonwood Farm are EXTREMELY excited to invite the Braidwood community to see and try the new walking trail on the Common today, between 10am and 2pm. The path starts near the Flood Creek footbridge below the Braidwood community gardens off Bombay road. Or you can walk down from Garvey Street through the Judith Wright Gardens. Hope to see you there!
Commonwood Farm are thrilled to announce receipt of a $23,000 BCRRF grant from the bushfire recovery fund to support our Green Wedge initiative. NSW Deputy Premier and Member for Monaro, John Barillaro, and QPRC Mayor, Tim Overall, announced the new funding.
The project will establish two permanent firebreaks of fire retardant species, enabling fire truck access, and supporting capacity to respond to fire threats from the west of Braidwood. We are looking forward to starting preparations for Spring planting and installation of water infrastructure.
We’d like to thank all of the community members and groups that wrote to support our application for funding: The Upper-Shoalhaven Landcare Council; Braidwood St Vincent de Paul Conference; Braidwood Central School; Braidwood Life Centre; and the Braidwood Community Association. Special thanks to Braidwood RFS Captain, Scott Hart, for support and advice.
Project background
In late November 2019 when the North Black Ridge fire threatened Braidwood township from the West, firefighters cut fences and scraped a firebreak across the Braidwood Common in preparation for an advancing fire front that had jumped the Shoalhaven River. After the fire threat passed Commonwood Farm members had the idea to ensure permanent access for firefighting appliances, to help emergency services defend the town if another threat approached from this direction.
We decided to establish a permanent planted fire break, using fire-retardant species and to install irrigation to make suppression easier for attending fire crews. We met with Scott Hart, Braidwood RFS Captain, to discuss the design to ensure it satisfies operational requirements. The project involves establishing two permanent firebreaks on the Braidwood Common using fire retardant tree species. One will be located near the Waste Transfer Station and another further out along Bombay Rd. (see map below).
Braidwood Common extends from Boppins Crossing Rd. (at left) to Garvey St. (at right) and straddles Gillamatong and Flood Creek beside the Golf Course. The pink shaded bands represent the proposed Green Wedge plantings. Bombay Rd. is at the bottom of the image.
We will fence two wide strips across the Common from Bombay Rd to the riparian zone of Gillamatong Creek. Appropriately sized gates and turning circles will enable fire trucks to access from Bombay Rd. to respond to any fire threat that comes to Braidwood from the west. Access will be on the leeward side of a planted tree lane of selected fire-retardant species.
These planted strips will function to resist and suppress approaching fire. They will incorporate irrigation including a dedicated water storage tank, which will initially help to establish the plantings and can be used to soak the area and increase fire suppression capacity in a fire event, as well as being a source of water for fire appliances.
On May 1st, Commonwood Farm Inc. and The Braidwood Urban Landcare Group had another successful tree planting day on the Braidwood Common.
Volunteers with some of the new trees and shrubs.
We were blessed with a bright and sunny autumn day and a great turn out of 30 enthusiastic volunteers. All worked hard to plant another 140 advanced casuarinas along Flood creek, and about 40 smaller shrubs below the golf course lookout.
The goal of the plantings is to increase biodiversity in this forested riparian zone. The casuarinas will provide feed and habitat for Glossy Black Cockatoos and the shrubs will help protect smaller birds, like the Scarlet Robin. All plants were securely guarded against local wombats and swamp wallabies who regularly use this corridor.
We would like to thank all volunteers who came along and got their hands dirty helping to protect and improve this wonderful piece of community land. We would also like to acknowledge support from the Communities Environment Program, administered through the Department of Industry, Science, Energy, and Resources. We appreciate the efforts of our former local member, Mike Kelly, and his staff who recommended our project for support.
This funding enabled all of us who volunteer our time to plant a total of 280 Casuarinas and 100 shrubs on the Braidwood Common.
Images from our first planting day for the Communities Environment Program project, October 2020.
Our first big planting day as part of the Federal Government Communities Environment Project grant we secured will be held tomorrow. Little elves from Commonwood Farm and the Braidwood Urban Landcare Group have been busy getting things ready for the big day. We have 140 casuarinas to plant. All will be introduced to the lower floodplain section of the Braidwood Common targeting habitat provision for the glossy black cockatoo.
A section of the lower floodplain on Braidwood Common.
The site is all prepared with mown paths and bridges. Stakes and wire guards for every tree. Here’s the flyer we’ve shared on our Facebook and Instagram feeds–come one, come all! It should be a great day out.
If you can’t make tomorrow, don’t worry. There’ll be more planting days over the next few months as we add more native trees and shrubs as habitat for other local birds, including the scarlet robin. Subscribe to this blog below, or follow our Facebook and Instagram pages to be kept informed of upcoming events and other news from Commonwood Farm Braidwood.
We were invited to apply for funding under the Federal Government Communities Environment Program by former Member for Eden Monaro, The Hon Mike Kelly. Our application for funds for native trees and shrubs to improve local bird habitat on the common was successful. We obtained a grant of almost $10,000. We will be targeting improvements for the glossy black cockatoo in particular with a large planting of casuarina trees on the lower floodplain beside Gillamatong Creek. We also hope to encourage small birds, like the scarlet robin, with a range of other trees and shrubs elsewhere.
Glossy Black-Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus lathami). David Cook Wildlife Photography, licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
Commonwood Farm Braidwood 