In focus - Friends of Longview Reserve

Published on 06 October 2023

My name is Del, and I am a father of two living in Croydon South.

I have always been passionate about the environment. I am probably most relaxed when I am in nature and I feel like protecting our ecosystem is critically important. With the pandemics, natural disasters and climate change, I wanted to help but the problems felt too big for one person. 

I watched a documentary once about farmers rewilding their land and the idea stuck with me. When I moved into my house in 2019, I noticed that the reserve next door could be the perfect candidate. I wanted to see whether I could re-populate the area with native plants and monitor whether I see an increase in wildlife. It had a lot of herbaceous weeds, dead trees and non-native plants.

I decided to reach out to Maroondah City Council, who were incredibly supportive and they recommended that I start a Friends Group for the reserve. The Friends of Longview Reserve group has been going strong since then and we've had multiple planting days, and many hours on my own spent on the reserve weeding and spreading mulch. I got to know my neighbours, and I feel like there is a greater sense of pride in the space now all of the litter and vines have been removed. I even roped in my work colleagues a few times to spend the day planting with me.

We are 3 years into our little experiment which is a blip in the life of a tree but we have yellow box gums, stringy barks, acacias as well as many other native plants and grasses. I've seen yellow-tailed black cockatoos, corellas, bats, galahs, lizards, scorpions and possums and will continue to monitor for more.

Image: Longview Reserve before and after volunteer work.

About 40% of the reserve has been regenerated and plans are in place to get that to 60% over the next couple of years. Working with Maroondah City Council, the amazing volunteers at CRISP Nursery and the community has been a really rewarding experience and it makes me proud to think about leaving a small legacy to the next generation. I am hopeful that lots of little acts will help to bring things back into balance and this is just one of them.

If you would like more information or want to join the Friends of Longview Reserve you can email me at longviewreservefriends@gmail.com

Longview Reserve is located at 106 Long View Road, Croydon South. 

For more information

Friends Groups in Maroondah