When undertaking plantings in beachfront bushlands, one of the questions we are often asked by suspicious neighbours (often rather abruptly, I might add), is “How high will it grow?” I am often tempted to reply, “Oh, at least 20 metres of dense, snake infested, fire prone, foundation cracking, mosquito harboring, gutter clogging, impenetrable jungle”, just to get a reaction.
However I smile, and politely reply, “Only half a metre mate, don’t worry, it won’t block your view”. If I’m feeling particularly cheeky I might add, “We are only planting small stuff anyway, because somebody keeps killing all the trees and shrubs”!
Such is the importance of “the view”, that people are often willing to take to public parkland with their chainsaws, handsaws and herbicide to create a viewing corridor. The justifications for the vandalising of public parklands are often based on the same old story which usually centre’s on tidying up the rubbish.
The word rubbish is defined as a) worthless material that is to be disposed of, and b) to attack strongly. How is it, that we have come to see the bushland of this amazing country we call home as rubbish? Even if we forget for a second that the rubbish is made up of a huge variety of native plants; is home to an array of native animals; is part of the complex web of life etc…etc… they at the very least need to absorb the fact that the rubbish is the only thing between their house and the immensity that is the Pacific Ocean.
Coastal vegetation is under threat from the view, and there is often very little that the authorities can do. This is mostly a crime without witnesses and with victims that can’t speak up for themselves. At the end of the day we all pay for the view, because the clearing of vegetation on public land (our land) to improve the view, costs you the rate payer extra money in rates, to tidy up the dangerous, weedy, mess that these areas are often left in.
In the meantime, the hard working bush regenerators are out there weeding out the environmental weeds and replanting native groundcovers to try and restore some stability to these coastal ecosystems. In spite of the damage suffered to some of these areas, life still manages to struggle on. Only last week we were rewarded with the company of a bearded dragon, two blue tongue lizards and two legless lizards on a site we are rehabilitating in Redcliffe, which made all of the “how high will it grow?” comments somewhat more bearable.
Ph 0428 130 769 www.brushturkey.com.au
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