Neilsen Park She-Oak (๐๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ค๐ข๐ด๐ถ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ถ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ด)
For over 20 years a team of dedicated volunteers have worked in Neilsen Park, conserving the She-Oak and importantly dedicating thousands of hours to restoring bushland in the heart of Sydney.
Discovered in the 1980's when only a handful of trees remained, there is now a dedicated conservation program for the species and an ex-situ population stored at the Australian Botanic Garden Mt Annan. Actually translocating the plant and establishing a self-sustaining population has been a challenge. It took team leader Paul Ibbetson 10 yrs before they discovered how to help the plant thrive once planted, and although plants are now growing, there is no recruitment. This species requires fire for germination of seeds, and fires in bushland nestled amongst suburban Sydney are difficult to undertake. In 2020 the NSW Saving Our Species team planned the ecological burn for this species, to try and trigger germination and recruitment. It will be the first fire in perhaps 100 years. Without natural recruitment the translocation of this species can not be deemed self-sustaining, and will be managed in perpetuity.
Listen to the full story and meet Paul and the conservation team in our dedicated Podcast:
Find out more about the species as part of the NSW Saving Our Species program
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Supported by: Australian Network for Plant Conservation
Interviewees: Dr Peter Cuneo, Erica Mahon, Paul Ibbetson, Mark Viler and Trish McAlary.
Supported by NSW PlantBank, Saving Our Species (NSW DPIE), Australian Botanic Garden Mt Annan, UNSW & UniMelb.