Page 2674 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 7 August 2013
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group works closely with the ACT Parks and Conservation Service to manage the reserve, undertaking monthly weeding and planting activities and has also fostered support from local groups such as the Majura scouts and local schools to undertake regular activities on the mountain.
The national tree planting day event was a collaboration between the Friends of Mount Majura, ACT Parks and Conservations Service, the ACT Conservation Council, Greening Australia, Watson Woodlands Park Care Group, Village Building Company, North Canberra Community Council, Watson Community Council and the Majura scouts.
I take this opportunity to make special mention of the outgoing coordinator of the Friends of Mount Majura, Waltraud Pix, who has played a pivotal role in driving activities on the mountain over the last 10 years. Waltraud has recently announced she will be stepping down as the coordinator of the Friends of Mount Majura, a role she has performed since the inception of the Parkcare group in July 2003.
Waltraud has an infectious enthusiasm for the natural environment of Mount Majura and has been an effective advocate for the local environment. Under her leadership, the Friends of Mount Majura have invested thousands of hours of weed control, track and trail maintenance, habitat restoration work, rabbit warren monitoring and endangered species monitoring. Waltraud was instrumental in the delivery of the successful dragonfly project, which saw habitat enhancement work delivered in and around two old dams on Mount Majura. Many hundreds of plantings have gone in towards the summit of the mountain on the site of old sheep camps which were previously heavily weed infested.
More recently, Waltraud has coordinated the delivery of plantings around the Fair subdivision in north Watson. She was also instrumental in negotiating a financial contribution from the developers of the Fair, which has since been invested into the preservation of the nearby nationally endangered yellow box-Blakely’s red gum ecological community.
Probably Waltraud’s greatest achievement is the inspiration she has provided many hundreds of local residents. We need advocates like Waltraud to remind us how lucky we are to live in a bush capital and how important it is to preserve our unique natural environment. This is not the end, of course. Waltraud will continue her work on Mount Majura as a member of the friends, but I think she is relieved to no longer have the responsibility of coordinating the entire group.
As the Minister for Territory and Municipal Services and an occasional attendee at the working parties that Waltraud organised, on behalf of the ACT Parks and Conservation Service I formally thank Waltraud Pix for her years of hard work and for making a substantial difference to the Mount Majura reserve and the surrounding community.
National Disability Awards
MS BURCH (Brindabella) (5.45): I draw to members’ attention that on 25 July of this year, the Minister for Disability Reform, Jenny Macklin, announced 27 finalists
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