COMMUNITY minded Lithgow residents know that the Hassans Walls Reserve is a special place but according to leading botanist Bob Makinson few realise just how unique it is.
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Mr Makinson is the Conservation Botanist and Coordinator of the Centre for Plant Conservation at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney.
He was guest speaker at a function at the Beehive Centre in Lithgow to launch a magnificently presented new book dealing with the general flora of the reserve.
The book is a collaboration between Suzanne Lollback, Helen Drewe, ken Durie And Robert Coveny and is a follow up to their earlier publication dealing with the little known are orchids of Hassans Walls.
Mr Makinson said many of the books now available on botanical subjects around Australia are the result of collaborative efforts involving motivated community groups and individuals.
He praised the latest Hassans Walls publication as being of a particularly high standard.
“People want to engage with the environment, particularly involving birds and plants,” he said.
“It is good for the country and even better when there is a strong local base like the Lithgow Community Nursery.”
He said the Hassans walls reserve was a rich trove of biodiversity.
“The fact that there 73 species of orchid alone is a phenomenal density and many are not found in any other area as compact as the 800 hectares of the reserve,” he said.
“It is right out of the box.
“Lithgow has a treasure trove up there.
You know it as a nice piece of bush but it is much more than that.”
Other speakers included mayor Maree Statham; Peter Evans, from the Central Tablelands Local Land Services; Suzanne Lollback, Helen Drewe and George Quinell.
Mayor Statham said she had been astonished to learn that council does not have a plan of management for the reserve and this would be addressed.
Mr Evans was thanked for the CTLLS grant of $10,000 towards the cost of printing the book at Lithgow Industrial Printing.
Mr Evans said that while the donation assisted with the publishing cost the real contribution was the 6500 hours of voluntary work by the book’s collaborators, equating to a paid value of over $200,000.
“The book creates an appreciation of what we have in our own backyard and central Tablelands Land Services is satisfied they have delivered beyond our expectations,” he said.
The book launch was a popular event with standing room only in the Beehive at the Uniting Church Parish Centre.
Copies of the book were selling quickly at the launch and are now available at a number of locations including the community nursery in Coalbrook Street and the Visitor Centre.
Proceeds of sales will benefit the community nursery — and the next publishing mission.