Where is it? Gold’s Scrub is situated on the western side of Lake Samsonvale in the Pine Rivers Shire. It is a small remnant (1.3 hectares) of Araucarian (Hoop Pine) lowland dry vine forest which has never been cleared.  The former owners, the Gold family, left it untouched. This remnant has great value in being representative of a forest type that was once more abundant.

In 1998, attention was turned on the Scrub with the finalisation of MOTT’s planting of 15,000 trees over 12 years in the "buffer zone" circling the Scrub.  The condition of the forest had deteriorated over the past 50 years because of an infestation of Catsclaw Creeper, (Macfadyena unguis-cati). Catsclaw Creeper was climbing the trees and thickly carpeting at least half of the forest floor, preventing regeneration, which would inevitably result in the death of the forest.

After discussions between the Water Board and Ngairetta Brennan, President of Men of the Trees, and Maureen See, Vice President of Men of the Trees and Manager of Greening Australia Queensland, the project came into being with financial contributions from Men of the Trees from a bequest made to them by Jack Kalnins, and a Natural Heritage Grant of $5,600 for management of MOTT projects and a similar contribution from the Water Board (see "Twahamwe" August 1998), to provide a paid part-time co-ordinator through Greening Australia. Working bees commenced in July 1998, with volunteers from Men of the Trees and Greening Australia, and local people.

We were faced with a very daunting task – for years the Scrub has been thought to be too degraded by Catsclaw Creeper to maintain any real ecosystem values.

How was it done? The first step was to cut and swab the vertical vines which were climbing every major tree, to prevent future flowering and seeding. It took just over a year to work through that primary task.

Then the carpet of the creeper was gradually sprayed with a solution of 1:100 Glyphosate, and together with the work on the vertical vines, we could start to see a real change happening in the forest. As the Catsclaw on the ground disappeared, remnant patches of Ottochloa gracillima started regenerating and spreading, and the seedbank in the soil also started to germinate.

There were times when tree species regenerating were so numerous that one could imagine we would not be able to walk through the place in the future! However, in the very droughty times that the forest went through in the following 9 years not all this regeneration survived, and we realised that this profusion of seeds is needed to withstand the difficult times and build genetic resilience.

Many years of follow-up weeding have followed. This constant follow-up work has resulted in the present outcome. With every year, great strides are made for the Scrub to return to a healthy, self-regenerating ecosystem.

Gold’s Scrub is a good example of the process of restoration by natural regeneration. Because the remnant still had resilience, it has been possible to remove the cause of degradation - the weed presence - and the germination of the seedbank in the soil and from falling seeds is allowing the forest to repair itself naturally. This maintains its botanical and ecological integrity.

Work is concentrating at present more on the perimeter. It is possible to foresee the time when integrity of the forest can be maintained with fewer visits. Until then we must keep up monthly follow-up work.

The co-ordinators provided by Greening Australia have changed over the years, and all contributed something unique and have played a strong role in the results. And the amazing input by MOTT and GA volunteers has been absolutely vital to the project.

Success in a small area, can be used an indicator for larger sites.

April, 2008