Visitor Centre Plants

The path to Russell Falls at Mt Field National Park has recently been upgraded to allow easier access. There is now a new bridge and the track has been resurfaced and widened making it suitable for wheelchair users. Some of the area near the Visitor Centre sustained construction damage and consequently rehabilitation was needed. The Friends of Mount Field volunteered to do the work in collaboration with Parks staff. The main task was re-establishing native vegetation.

Thanks to a grant from NRM South, the Friends of Mount Field were able to buy forty five plants, stakes and tree guards. To make the site more attractive we selected musk (Olearia argophylla), dogwood (Pomaderris apetala) and myrtle (Nothofagus cunninghamii) which grow naturally in the area. In addition, a group of Tree Ferns (Dicksonia antarctica) had been placed (by the works contractor) in too uniformly spaced rows and Parks wanted them to be repositioned into a more natural looking arrangement. These tasks were completed by holding two working bees in late 2017. Most of the new trees were planted covering an area of approximately 0.1 hectare in a strip on both sides of the new path and those not required there were used to rehabilitate and area near the newly built bridge.

Report by Adrian Blackman January 2018