Thick and Green
An area at the Mount Mawson ski tow in Mount Field National Park had undergone some heavy earthworks in 2013 or early 2014 as part of slope grooming. It was then sown with alpine grass seed with some success and covered in a loose hessian. Naturally growth is slow at this 1200m altitude and animal grazing was also taking a toll on the herbs and grasses. Satisfactory recovery looked likely to be very drawn out.
The FOMF obtained a Wildcare grant laying out and pinning approximately 700 sqm of shadecloth on this alpine area to speed up revegetation. This was put down in February 2016 and now 3 years later is was taken up to reveal a lush green grassy slope. Small plants such as Pimelea were also growing in numbers.
Pins that held the cloth in place were plentiful and took some discovery and effort to prise from the earth. Surprisingly it was the task of rolling the cloth up that was the hardest part physically.
Before and after photos show the change. See this page
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