Bush regeneration work bees
with the Friends of Tomaree NP
The Friends of Tomaree National Park is a community group who believe we can improve the integrity and resilience of the national park through community action. We are part of the National Parks Association (Hunter Region), who initiated our group and supports us. The NPA is a community organisation that advocates for national parks and their management. You do not need to be an NPA member to participate.
The Friends of Tomaree National Park works in partnership with the National Parks and Wildlife Service, the NSW government agency who oversights our work program and supports our work operation.
Read more about the Friends of Tomaree National Park.
Our groups and bush regen dates
Our Friends of Tomaree National Park currently work in three areas. Many Friends attend one location, some a couple of locations. Friends attend one or multiple bush regen session each month, or come along casually, when convenient. All contributions are really appreciated, whatever suits you.
Our regular bush regeneration sessions are usually for a couple of hours in the morning. while we try to keep regular dates, occasional changes are necessary. Start times vary seasonally.
| North Tomaree: Zenith Beach / Tomaree summit / Box Beach, bush regeneration sessions each month are | Central Tomaree: Kingsley / Boat Harbour / One Mile areas, bush regeneration sessions each month are | South Tomaree: Fishermans Bay area, bush regeneration sessions, each month are |
| first Tuesday second Saturday third Thursday | second Monday (occasional changes) third Saturday | first Sunday third Tuesday (except in winter) |
| JULY Tues 2 Sat 13 Thurs 18 | JULY Mon 8 Sat 20 | JULY Sun 7 |
| AUGUST Tues 6 Sat 10 Thurs 22 | AUGUST Mon 12 Sat 24 SPECIAL 31 August One Mile Headland see below | AUGUST Sun 4 |
| SEPTEMBER Tues 3 Sat 14 Thurs 19 | SEPTEMBER Mon 9 Sat 21 | SEPTEMBER Sun 8 (changed date) Tues 17 |
| OCTOBER Tues 1 Sat 12 Thurs 17 | OCTOBER Mon 14 Sat 19 | OCTOBER Sun 6 Tues 15 |
| NOVEMBER Tues 5 Sat 9 Thurs 21 | NOVEMBER Mon 11 Sat 16 | NOVEMBER Sun 3 Tues 19 |
| DECEMBER Tues 3 Sat 14 Thurs 19 | DECEMBER Mon 9 Sat 21 | DECEMBER Sun 1 Tues 17 |
| Please contact Sue at tomaree-np-friends@npansw.org.au | Please contact Sue at tomaree-np-friends@npansw.org.au | Please contact Josephine at tomaree-np-friends-fbay@npansw.org.au |
Special activities – coming up!
August 2024: Saturday 31 AM, a community Coastal Forest Regen on One Mile’s Headland, Tomaree Coastal Walk
Following our July bitou.management activity, the Friends of Tomaree National Park are inviting you to a terrific morning of bush care — we’ll continue some bitou management, and plant in a few cleared sites — to give a helping hand to regenerate and improve the resilience of the coastal forest. From 8.30 – 11am, followed by morning tea.
You’re invited to join us to help with regenerate coastal forest at Tomaree’s One Mile Beach headland along the Tomaree Coastal walk
Bookings essential and for more information go to www.ecops.au/one-mile-august
Interested in coming to a bush regen session?
What to bring or wear on our work bees
Please wear old clothes and here’s some hints for a safer work bee experience.
- Gardening gloves
- Sunhat
- Old long-sleeved shirt, full-length trousers (preferably not tight stretch pants)
- Best to cover up for scratch and snake protection
- Good to tuck trousers into socks to help avoid ticks
- Old covered shoes
- Old rain jacket (if forecast is for occasional showers)
- Eye protection (old glasses, old readers or sun glasses – safety glasses available)
- Glasses help protect your eyes from stick injuries. Sometimes bending over and focussing on a cut branch to paint, you tend not to notice a cut stick pointing up, so please wear eye protection.
Tools we use
- Cutters – secateurs, pruning saws, loppers
- Pouches – carry our tools
- Herbicide in applicator bottles.
- Sunscreen, hand sanitiser, personal insect spray (ticks & mozzies) and disinfectant wipes
- First-aid kit including tick freeze and snake bite kits.
Given a bush regen session a try and interested in continuing?
Registering with NPWS My Impact
Our Friends program is managed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) NSW, who also provide most of our equipment. Our volunteers register on NPWS My Impact program. You may like to come to one or two work bees before registering.
There are several advantages for you to registering …
- Insurance cover when working on national parks
- Records your hours worked enabling benefits such as
- personal work shirts (issued periodically), hats and gradually other items
- training such as first aid or other if required for the work undertaken
- all parks vehicle pass (including Kosciusko NP) once you have accumulated 50 hours over 2 years
- Information on other conservation projects
- Your hours contribute to those of our Friends group enabling more support such as equipment, plants and so forth.
To register with My Impact program for the Friends of Tomaree National Park with NPWS,
please go to link >> MyImpact
- You will be asked about your … Contact information … then the Application form, includes …
- Which NPWS Branch is closest to you? Choose “Hunter Central Coast Branch
- Which volunteer position(s) are you applying for, go to “Friends of Tomaree National Park Volunteer Program
- If you have First Aid or Working with Children Certificates, you may like to include those also, so please have their number and expiry date handy.
Once you have submitted your information, please email Sue at tomaree-np-friends@npansw.org.au so that we know to then accept your application.
Herbicide training
After you have participated in a couple of work bees and registered on NPWS My Impact (above), please complete the online herbicide training: As we use herbicides to cut and paint bitou and other woody weeds, NPWS/DPIE requires us to participate in online herbicide awareness training. It takes a maximum 30 mins. You can access the training via this link: http://bttr.im/ziqs7. It includes a series of short videos and multiple choice questions. If you get a question wrong, you are offered the question again until it is correct, so not too difficult.
If you’re not sure of you’re My Impact login details, or have any issues, please contact the NPWS Volunteer Coordinator Nicola on: Nicola.Booth@environment.nsw.gov.au
More information about Tomaree that may interest you …
- Coastal Dune Plants along the Tomaree Coast
- About the Friends of Tomaree NP
- A helping hand at Kingsley
- Kicking the milestones for Tomaree
- Friends of Tomaree NP on Facebook — If you’re on facebook, you may wish to like our Facebook page! Even if you are not on facebook, you can see our page and read our posts (just ignore facebook’s request to join).
Special activities – past
Some of our special regeneration events and activities
Cleanup Australia Day in Tomaree National Park, 2024
Saturday 2 March — Box Beach, 8-10am
Join our community pick up along this dynamic beach, its rocky headlands, access roadside and walkway, and connecting bush land and trails. Bags and gloves supplied. Stay for a simple morning tea or enjoy a swim afterwards. Meet at the Box Beach carpark.
Please register by emailing your name, phone and the names of others in your group to tomaree-np-friends@npansw.org.au.
More event information on the Cleanup Australia site for Cleanup Box Beach
Sunday 3 March — Fishermans Beach 8.30-11.30am
Please join us for a clean up of Fishermans Bay to include it’s beautiful beach, National Park, bush walking tracks and rock platforms.
More event information and registration through the Cleanup Australia site for Cleanup Fishermans Bay, please include your name, phone and names of those in your group.
Planting the threatened native mint bush April or May 2024 date tbc
In May 2022, FoTNP selected a site for planting potted cuttings of the threatened (listed Vulnerable) native mint bush, Prostanthera densa. This FoTNP planting has been one of the most successful of the plantings. Now in 2024 we’ll select another site or two and plant new cuttings. All welcome to join us. More information to come. Please register interest with Sue at tomaree-np-friends@npansw.org.au
Local Land Services volunteers work on Tuesdays, giving a boost to landcare groups across the Hunter. They will join our each of our FoTNP groups to give a helping hand. Everyone is welcome to come along. These are longer mornings.
Workbees with help from Local Land Services (LLS)
- North Tomaree – Tuesday morning 2 April 2024
- Central Tomaree – Tuesday morning 14 May 2024
- South Tomaree 2024 date tbc. (LLS helped out in 2023)
2023 dates
Bush Regen SPECIAL – A helping hand at Morna Point, Boat Harbour!
Saturday 29 July 2023 8.30 – 11am
Around 20 enthusiastic volunteers attended our special workbee on Saturday morning 29 July around the Morna Point (Boat Harbour) lookout area and scenic walkway along the Tomaree Coastal Walk. With wow views, wildflowers and occasional whales, this was a great spot to work on the bitou and help the coastal vegetation along the rocky headland to thrive.
We spent a couple of hours removing new bitou seedlings and some larger invading bitou from this scenic spot. Thank you everyone.
Saturday 15 April 2023 The PLANTING! Rejuvenating Kingsley Headland, Boat Harbour
Check out our recent EcoUpdate article Rejuvenating Kingsley headland, highlighting the fantastic work of the Friends of Tomaree National Park and community supporters in our efforts over the last 12 months, helping repair environmental damage on the headland leading to Kingsley Beach carpark. You can also read about the plantings and their role in rejuvenating this ecosystem.
Clean up Australia Day activities 2023
Saturday am 3 March … Box Beach area. Please contact Sue at tomaree-np-friends@npansw.org.au
Sunday am 4 March … Fishermans Bay area. Please contact Josephine at tomaree-np-friends-fbay@npansw.org.au
