Chockstone Forum

      Sponsored By
      ROCK
   HARDWARE

Chockstone Photography

Australian Landscape Prints

Chockstone Forum - General Discussion

General Climbing Discussion

Author

the big bitou bush bash

Superstu

16-Aug-2012
9:15:20 AM

Bitou bush is a weed from South Africa which causes havoc with our coastlines in south-eastern Australia. It's a pest because once established it grows quickly and forms dense stands, replacing native plants and destroying the habitat of native animals. It also messes with coastal dune formation resulting in beach and coast erosion. It's a declared weed of national significance and there are concerted efforts by land managers including NPWS and local councils to remove it from around Sydney. The program involves removal or killing of bitou throughout the area, then ongoing surveillance for outbreaks.

Victorian climbers who have climbed at the You Yangs will be familiar with its very close cousin Boneseed which for many years made climbing there a pain until control programs started to have an effect.

Bitou tries to establish itself on coastlines, and as we know the coast around Sydney contains lots of cliffs, some of which we like to climb on. Because of this, the NPWS is interested in seeing climbers become involved in the bitou bush eradication program. This is a great opportunity for climbers to put back into the areas they climb, build some good relations with key land managers, and lay the ground work for more positive outcomes for future plan of management reviews for areas with access issues.

NPWS are currently targeting bitou bush on the Barrenjoey headland, and we're in the process of organising a few weed bash & climb days out there. Walk around the headland (very very pretty) killing a few bitous, have a barbie, then go cragging for the afternoon. If you would like to be part of this, post here or email me and I'll keep you in the loop. If its a success we can move onto other climbing areas around north sydney.

If you have a rope access ticket (IRATA, ARAA any level) or a guiding qualification, I'd especially like to hear from you. As well as ground-based weeding (a no-brainer, anybody can do it after 3 mins instruction) there are some locales that will need rope access, and if I manage to get some climbers with rope access tickets involved, this will have a big impact on the program ~ and on the NPWS's attitude towards climbers. So if you want to see the status of climbing improved in national parks and council lands around Sydney, get involved!

Superstu

16-Aug-2012
9:24:52 AM

As well as the active weeding & cragging days, there is another big way climbers can help out with this program, and it doesn't even mess with your climbing time.

Mel Hall, the senior ranger & pests controller for northern beaches, wants to know where it is on cliff lines in National Parks in North Eastern Sydney. It is widespread in Botany Bay National Park but is being targeted, also on Barrenjoey Headland, West Head and Lion Island where they have significantly reduced its density and distribution. Most other spot locations in Ku-ring-gai Chase and Garigal National Park have been eradicated but it does have the potential to invade new areas. They are targeting boneseed on the cliffs and headlands of Sydney Harbour National Park also. Local councils in NE Sydney are also targeting bitou bush and boneseed on coastal headlands.

So please learn to recognise bitou bush, and if you spot it while climbing around north sydney, please report it. For the moment just send your reports to me and I'll funnel them onto NPWS, but eventually I'll set up some formal way of doing it.

Superstu

16-Aug-2012
9:25:07 AM

Here is a pic of the flowers. Also note the serrated edge of the leaves which helps distinguish it from similar native species. You'll also find a bit of fur on the back of the smaller stems.

A blurry set of images that shows the seeds:
http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/bitouTAP/bitoubushandboneseed.htm

nmonteith

16-Aug-2012
10:06:52 AM

I always thought it was some sort of native! It's certainly in plague proportions.

Superstu

16-Aug-2012
1:04:14 PM

OK here is a web page people can use to add their name to an email list to get updates on the program, find out about weedbash&climb days, or report sitings in the areas of interest.

http://sydneyclimbing.com/bitou

Superstu

16-Aug-2012
1:09:32 PM

On weeding days, everybody can use ropes etc. for safety while working unstable slopes. Its the bits where you need to abseil in to get at a bush that we need people with rope access tickets. I'm guessing some walkie-talkie/SMS/yelling from others below will be required to coordinate the abseiling, as its pretty hard to get the right spot from above.

Here is a patch high up on the North Palm Beach crag at Barrenjoey, next to some pretty bizarre rock formations:

Superstu

16-Aug-2012
1:25:06 PM

The largest patch I've found on the Barrenjoey peninsula is right beneath the "disorder corners" crag.

Superstu

16-Aug-2012
1:35:59 PM

Some more pics of the cliffs on the west side of Barrenjoey...

A 15m high corner and an inspiring face...

On one side of the boulder some themeda native grasslands, on the other side an invader....

pmonks

16-Aug-2012
1:52:59 PM

Any way non-locals can contribute? Bitou (and lantana) are a fscking plague.

Nice photos of Barrenjoey btw - I remember seeing some awesome honeycomb ("Tafoni" for the pedants) around there, but had forgotten just how awesome it looks. If only it were solid enough to climb on...

martym

16-Aug-2012
2:11:08 PM

what date is the first bash Stu?

Superstu

16-Aug-2012
2:46:18 PM

On 16/08/2012 martym wrote:
>what date is the first bash Stu?

Need to take some numbers to Parks and then I'll get a date. Hoping for something in September.

If anybody is interested and available on the 4th Sept (yep its a Tuesday) there is a works day for fit, agile people at West Head. Not part of this bitou program, but there is a contingent of climbers heading along to join in, could probably finish the day with a bit of adventure bouldering as they usually finish up after the barbie lunch. I've never bothered to go beyond the lookout at West Head, apparently there is an ancient tramway down the cliff to an old fort hidden under the scrub.

Richard Delaney

16-Aug-2012
3:45:03 PM

Awesome effort Stu.
Great to see some action - it is efforts like this that really count with gaining the respect of managers.
Richard

IdratherbeclimbingM9

16-Aug-2012
5:05:28 PM

On 16/08/2012 pmonks wrote:
>Nice photos of Barrenjoey btw - I remember seeing some awesome honeycomb
>("Tafoni" for the pedants) around there, but had forgotten just how awesome
>it looks. If only it were solid enough to climb on...

You mean it's not?
~> Bugger. I wasted a lot of my youth on it then!
;-)

On 16/08/2012 Superstu wrote:
>West Head.
>(snip) I've never bothered to go beyond the lookout at West Head, apparently there is an ancient tramway down the cliff to an old fort hidden under the ~~scrub~~ bitou bush.
>
Fixedthatforyou!
;-)

There was a submarine cable / net strung across the entrance to Pittwater during WW2 to keep hostile subs out. The 'tramway' you refer to was (among other things), also the slip-way for raising and lowering that cable.
Interestingly the Jap mini-sub that got away after attacking Sydney Harbour shipping, was located many years later not far off Lion Island in the deeps...

There is more than one 'Pill box' (concrete gun emplacement bunker), located in the area as well.
All good stuff to explore, but I doubt you will find much there other than history, as it was well picked over before I got there as a teenager.

The other end of Pittwater was also a torpedo firing range for the Australian Navy to test torpedoes and their motors...

Post edit.
Hey Stu, I reckon you should leave the pic of the gun bunker up...
☺

Paulie

17-Aug-2012
7:40:32 PM

Good work Stu! I employ a contract abseiler to do our coastal cliffs bitou control but am probably going back to heli spraying on some of more remote headlands. We've targeted it here for 30 years and have finally beaten it down to maintenance levels, but man you really need to stay on it every season coz it just gets away so quickly. If anyone wants more info download the manuals here: http://www.weeds.org.au/WoNS/bitoubush/

Superstu

7-Sep-2012
10:31:48 AM

The West Head works day was a lot of fun. There are several WW2 gun emplacements down on the north side of the headland, apparently to protect the entrance to the Hawkesbury River. The railway bridge at Brooklyn was the main transport link to Brisbane and FNQ back in the day, so it was considered a significant military target.

The higher observation tower emerging from the scrub.

One of the lower gun emplacements. Lion Island in the distance.

The working bee.

Exploring inside one of the bunkers. Photo by Wollemi.

We mostly did weed control in preparation for a prescribed burn next autumn. There is no track down to the forts yet although eventually the NPWS plans to put in a track and add it to the list of walks in the area. If you are interested in checking it out, just find the rope line running down the old tram tracks, behind the road barrier on the north side parking.

If you're looking for a great full-body cardio workout, I can recommend a few runs up and down the rope line. It's about 200m long and apparently the SAS use it for hard-man training. It's a blast!

Here's a photo of George Kijirom getting a workout hauling up the incredible endless rope. It was originally used to get cement and the giant guns down there when building everything.

You can see a fair amount of cliff when looking at West Head from Barrenjoey. I checked out a number of the cliffs around the forts, they are pretty substantial but unfortunately everything I looked at was too chossy for climbing.

To finish the day off George and I went for a climb at Terrey Hills on the way back. The crag is dry (yay). I am contemplating re-bolting this little Bangor of the Northern Beaches. Routes like FTH are good, but the bolts are poo.

climberman

7-Sep-2012
10:49:49 AM

Great work guys.

Bitou was brought in to act as an erosion stabiliser.

It's one of the smells of my yoof, along with coconut oil, board wax and fiberglass resin.

Superstu

7-Sep-2012
10:53:38 AM

On 7/09/2012 climberman wrote:
>Bitou was brought in to act as an erosion stabiliser.

Yeah, as token remedial works after sand mining! Thanks guys!

Access T CliffCare

7-Sep-2012
3:23:13 PM

Great work Stu and team. Pest plants are a massive problem and really require a concerted effort in smaller areas in order to manage them. The efforts at managing Boneseed down at the You Yangs has been more successful since they targetted what they decided were priority areas, mass attack it and then as you said, have an ongoing surveillance. It is something though that really isn't possible with only a couple of park staff. Requires volunteers. Would be great to get the Barranjoey area Bitou free. Good luck with more workdays out there.

cheers,
Tracey

lacto

14-Sep-2012
12:08:25 PM

boneseed has a natural control as it pulls the bushes out and eats them but apparently at the you yangs they considered that the cure may be worse than the problem . the animals for the control elephants !!

There are 19 messages in this topic.