Members of Merri-bek’s Bicycle User Group finished the Upfield Urban Forest bike ride at the Brunswick Road Orchard
See photos from our wonderful 15th October 2023 event at our Facebook page.
Hosted by the UUF, we were joined by 7 members of the Merri-bek BUG who wanted to learn a little about all the people who plant and maintain the gardens along the Upfield Shared Path (one of Melbourne's busiest cycle corridors).
More photos here from BUG member John Englart.
Write a submission to Heritage Victoria at https://www.heritage.vic.gov.au on the currently advertised permits page opposing the destruction of trees around Moreland station. Or put in a submission supporting the Upfield Urban Forest submission. Submissions close Wednesday 11 September
Your submission could include some of the following points
· Putting the station above and to the south of Moreland road would mean way less trees being destroyed plus lots of advantages in terms of access and safety. There is no evidence from the permit application by LXRP that it has seriously considered this option
· LXRP are only planning to retain just 18 of 128 trees – this is an outrage
· The heritage value of the station is greatly enhanced by the mature trees in the park
· Gandolfo Park itself has a huge heritage value as it came into being in 1911 by community action, was established via community action and right up to today is cared for by community action. Destroying the park will seriously diminish its heritage value
· LXRP even plan to remove the 2 giant sugar gums dating from when the park was first established in 1911
· We are not convinced LXRP has seriously considered the alternatives that would mean saving many more trees
Hi all, here's a great video made by Erika who lives near to Gandolfo Gardens (Moreland train station). It's the Coburg / Brunswick community on what this park means to them. We believe that many of the long-established trees in the gardens could be sacrificed unnecessarily during the sky-rail construction especially if the park is selected as the "lay down area" for the project's equipment. The Upfield Urban Forest made a submission to the LXRA that established vegetation be protected during the level crossing removals. We suggest you write to Jacinta Allan ( jacinta.allan@minstaff.vic.gov.au , Minister for Major Projects) and Richard Wynne (Planning Minister, richard.wynne@parliament.vic.gov.au) and that you also make a submission to the LXRA Planning Scheme Amendment before August 2nd.
You can also contact your Victorian MP (Lizzie Blandthorn, member for Pascoe Vale, lizzie.blandthorn@parliament.vic.gov.au) or Tim Read, member for Brunswick (
Tim.read@parliament.vic.gov.au )
The Upfield Urban Forest is extremely fortunate to have the Yarra Bend Park Ranger living next to the train-line and assisting our work. Tim Carver has been working for at least 10 years to create a wildlife corridor between Moreland Rd and Reynard St. He writes in May 2019:
The intent of my work, as much to beautify, was to create a continuous mid and upper storey indigenous habitat corridor to link between Ilma Lever/Gandolfo Gardens and the mixed species planting along Audley St. Looking at google maps aerial photos, its easy to see this as achieved.
This has encouraged the small insectivorous and nectar feeding birds that struggle so much in our urban environment. Birds such as new holland honey eaters eastern spinebills and pardalotes are now seen.
Grey headed flying foxes are a threatened species that also feed on the acacia and eucalyptus flowers in this corridor. It’s also supported the more common lorikeets, rosellas, wattle birds, magpie larks, crested pigeons, willie wagtails, magpies and ravens, all regular frequenters.
My son and I were surprised to find a dead boobook owl at Ilma Lever this week. Although sad, it shows the diversity that this link supports. The majestic eucalypts at Gandolfo Gardens would provide perfect roosting sites for these night predators and likely others such as tawny frogmouths. They would be looking for small possums, rats, mice, lizards and small birds and importantly demonstrate the makings of a functional urban ecosystem, hardly thought possible before our combined efforts and commitment in this built up space.
With the world’s biodiversity crashing around us, good news stories like this are so exciting and so worth every bit of community support.
Let’s protect our existing wildlife and make homes for more!
Campaign to save our urban wildlife habitat
Upfield Urban Forest and a number of other groups in Moreland are running a campaign to save as much of the vegetation around the trainline during the Skyrail process as possible. While we want to protect as many trees and plants as possible, our priority are the big old trees around Moreland and Coburg Stations.
These trees are a critical part of our urban community, providing much needed shade, bird and bee habitat. They shade paths and picnic areas. They provide a sense of calm and tranquillity so needed in urban environments. They are decades old, some half a century if not more. Replacing trees like this will take many, many decades as droughts and heat increase. Once they are gone, many of us won’t see trees like this in these spaces in our lifetimes. In light of the UN’s recent report on the dire issue of species extinction throughout the world, the protection of urban wildlife habitat is all the more pressing.
How can you help?
Come to a meeting at Coburg Library on 25 May 2019 from 1-3pm run by Moreland Community for Action on Transport.
Come the LXRA info sessions Saturday 25 May 10:00am to 12:30pm, Tuesday 28 May 5:00pm to 7:30pm Admiral Room, Batman Royale,14 Gaffney Street, Coburg North
Write to/ring as many politicians as you can:
· Call and email the Transport Minister Jacinta Allan - ph (03) 8392 6100; email jacinta.allan@parliament.vic.gov.au
· Contact your federal ALP member Peter Khalil Phone: (03) 9350 5777; Peter.Khalil.MP@aph.gov.au
· Contact upper house ALP members for the northern metro region
o Jenny Mikakos - ph 9462 3966; - jenny.mikakos@parliament.vic.gov.au
o Nazih Elasmar - ph 9456 9244; nazih.elasmar@parliament.vic.gov.au
Sign a community petition: https://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/538/122/209/?fbclid=IwAR1ZBiIIgxxdhqaJ-y1fYAv-rEFqIn1p_RN-xkLMO-sDGiV7R9SMI3pQAwQ
Sign a petition set up by Tim Read’s office
Buy a save Gandolfo Gardens T-shirt
Keep checking for updates on this website about what’s happening and join our mailing list.
Be creative, do chalk drawing about the trees, paint banners for the train stations.
Contact us if you are happy to leaflet your neighbourhood.
Dream about what you would like to see in the open spaces created by the skyrail…..frog ponds? Native grasses and flowers? Trees? Bike paths? Bubblers? Green walls? Walking paths? Bee hives? Tree hollows? Orchards? Community gardens?
We’ve written a letter to Minster Jacinta Allen detailing our concerns which you can download here.
You can download our submission to LXRA here.
Enough is enough….we’re doing everything we personally can to stop carbon emissions….we plant trees, we ride our bikes, we catch public transport, those of us who can have solar panels on our roofs, many of us are vegan or vegetarian, we buy from local farmer’s markets, we compost, recycle…but we all know this is not enough.
We are facing an emergency.
We need our Parliament to act now to address the emergency facing our planet or or we will face mass species extinction and mass starvation. These things are already happening in parts of our world. Unless our Parliament acts now, the future will not be a safe place for any of us.
On the other hand, if in the next 10 years our Parliament acts to legislate the changes we need, exciting things lie ahead for us.
We at the Upfield Urban Forest are working out strategies to get politically active. One of the steps we are taking is to start holding conversations in our homes with each other about climate change and what we can do together. These awesome and exciting conversations will be facilitated by Climate For Change
If you are interested, make sure you are on our mailing list so we can contact you.
And thank you!
You've heard of the world wide web...yeah sure...but what of the wood wide web?
Well...this is exciting stuff. Did you know that plants can form a symbiotic relationship with fungi that allows them to communicate with other plants? Did you know that these fungi can send water and nutrients to plants in exchange for sugars in a way that dramatically assists them to survive drought and poor soil? Do you know that this leads to increased carbon sequestration?
As foresters working in very bad soil conditions...we need to have a go planting with these fungi to see it it can help our work...
I've just ordered a batch of mycorrhiza from MAI Australia . I know that Diggers also sells these amazing creatures.
I'll report back on progress.... but let us know your experience and suggestions with creating a wood-wide-web....too!
As you may know, the crew at the Commons are petitioning for a pocket park at the end of Florence street to turn it from this, to this!
This is an important part of the Upfield Urban Forest....
Can you please Support Anstey Pocket Park here and spread the good word. Thanks!
Very sad to report that on 13 December, the Metro mowers took out a very happy and growing tree on the corner of Reynard and Station St Coburg. RIP lovely tree, hopefully you've sequestered a bit of carbon through your roots that will stay in the ground and assist more soil formation.
