Mount Claremont Oval Bushland
Mount Claremont Oval Reserve is located within the City of Nedlands approximately 7.5 km west of the Perth CBD. It is bordered by Cleland Street to the north, Mount Claremont Oval, Alfred Road and Lake Claremont to the south, Lisle Villages to the west and Montgomery Avenue to the east. The bushland at Mount Claremont Oval Reserve is vested in the City of Nedlands as A Class Reserve.
Background Information and History
Mount Claremont Oval Reserve has a long history of disturbance. Originally part of the bushland was excavated to construct the playing fields along Alfred Road. This resulted in a steep embankment in the central part of the Reserve that has largely been planted with a mixture of exotic trees. Some existing remnant vegetation exists in the eastern and western portions of the Reserve.
The Reserve was completely burnt by a fire in 1983 and the eastern portion of the Reserve again in 1997. Other disturbance factors include the presence of old reticulation pipes from past irrigation of the Reserve, history of clearing with some parts of the northern portion of the Reserve still devoid of vegetation; and illegal dumping (primarily of garden waste) still occurring periodically long the boundary of Lisle Villages and the verge along on Cleland Street.
Currently the Reserve has a high proportion of invasive weeds dominating the understorey especially bulbous weeds.
Community Representation
Currently there is no formal registration of any community group associated with this bushland.
This small reserve and bushland is very well loved by the residents and general community in the surrounding area. Many children have played and explored there and it is very pleasing to walk along its boundaries for residents and community members alike.
Its condition in relation to neighboring reserve and bushland, is in many places quite poor, although the council has embarked on significant slope stability improvements, planting and weed removal programs to improve its condition.
Informally for a number of years local residents have arranged a yearly rubbish collection, which takes place around September and other ad-hoc efforts to preserve and maintain this bushland in the best state possible. Community involvement in these activities would be in the order of 20 plus people and in conversation with other community members there are many others who have expressed an interest in become more active and involved.
Recently there was a development proposal for the Mount Claremont Oval for additional sporting facilities and it was during that process when it came to light that the Mount Claremont Oval Bushland Reserve had no community representation. As a result there was no voice or representation to what impact (if any) this development may have had on this bushland. This was a significant concern and became a catalyst for the already active and interested community members to seek some sort of formal representation of this Bushland moving forwards.
Aims
Our general aims are centred around starting small and continuing with activities such as; litter removal and hand-weeding of invasive species, and hoping to build on this to include appropriate planting.
By creating a more formal community group and representation we would anticipate being able to leverage on existing expertise in the community and surrounds such as the nearby Friends of Lake Claremont.
Equally important would be to ensure this native bushland have representation and a voice at appropriate local forums in the future should this be required.
Contact
Kenneth Taylor 0400 822 385
7 Cleland Street, Mt Claremont, 6010