Shoalhaven’s own “old man river”, Charlie Weir may have retired from his role with Riverwatch but he is still doing his bit for the local environment.
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Last week Mr Weir released another potential generation of the endangered green and gold bell frogs into a specifically designed frog sanctuary at Worrigee.
For almost 20 years Mr Weir put his heart and soul into improving the health of the Shoalhaven River planting about 100,000 mangroves and 25,000 casuarina trees along more than seven kilometres of the Shoalhaven riverbank.
He gave up his role as the driving force behind the project in mid 2015, with former civil engineer Peter Jirgens taking over the reins.
“Many years ago, mangroves I had collected from the riverbank at Numbaa and was growing and raising contained some green and gold bell frogs,” he said.
“When you grow those trees and oak trees you have them in an inch or so of water all the time.
“It is the ideal environment for the frogs to breed and over the years that’s what they have done.”
Again this year when Mr Weir handed over his last bunch of oak trees there was another brood of tadpoles.
“I contacted council and was advised I could release them into the frog sanctuary at Worrigee,” Mr Weir said.
He invited the South Coast Register along last week as he released his latest brood.
“It’s important we continue to have frogs,” he said.
“Every home should have some green and gold bell frogs around. They do a great job in keeping the mosquitos down.”
Robert Crawford
Robert Crawford is a senior journalist at the South Coast Register, for Australian Community Media . Everyone's got a story, what's yours? Email robert.crawford@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Robert Crawford is a senior journalist at the South Coast Register, for Australian Community Media . Everyone's got a story, what's yours? Email robert.crawford@austcommunitymedia.com.au
