Oyster Harbour catchment covers 3,000 square kilometers and stretches from Albany in the south to Tenterden in the north. Which contains some of the Great Southerns best natural assets. As an organisation we coordinate many project and workshops
New Stories
The Western Ringtail Possum Search
Pair of Western Ringtail Possums spotted by local honour student at UWA, Bronte Van Helden
Oyster Harbour Catchment Group (OHCG) is currently on a massive search for the critically endangered Western Ringtail Possum and any information about them.
We are focusing on 2 broad locations: the Porongurup's, the Albany suburbs around Emu point and Bayonet Head. If you see this cute little creature please take a photo and upload it to Inaturalist or if you live in these areas please adopt on of our backyard cameras or come to our spotlighting walks.
Read more on our projects page or follow us on facebook to keep up to date on all our events
On the Prowl for Weeds
Up-coming Events
Our catchment is rich in natural assets such as King river, Kalgan river, Porongurup national park, the Stirling ranges as well as 31 nature reserves and 38 heritage sites. It’s particularly known for its biodiversity, located in an internationally recognised biodiversity hotspot. Unfortunately, many of our endemic plants are at risk due to invasive weeds dominating the landscape. Do you know the difference between wonderful flora and a horrifying weed? Oyster Harbour Catchment Group has just finished making a weed booklet to help, if you would like one make sure you become a member.
Currently our main focus is trying to exterminate any Sydney Goldern Wattle, Bridal creeper and/or Watsonia as these pretty weeds are highly invasive and are detrimental to our local biodiversity and to our farmlands. Please if you see any of these species report it to us and we will do our best to get rid of them.
Meet the Pobblebonk Frog!
The Pobblebonk, or Western Banjo Frog, is a ground dwelling, burrowing frog which is native to the South-west of Western Australia. Like all burrowing frogs, it has clawed fingers and toes, and is not a strong swimmer or jumper (in fact, they regularly drown in pools, and ponds if there is not a sloped, rough surface for them to climb out on). They have an explosive 'bonk' call, from which they are named. this call can commonly be heard during breeding season (typically Winter and Spring).
Ferals, ferals, ferals...
On Saturday the 1st of April we ran a workshop on invasive fauna. We heard from speakers from the Department of Parks and Wildlife (DPaW) and the Department of Agriculture and Food (DAFWA) about the damage that ferals can, and are, doing to the environment and agriculture; and what we can all do to help reduce the numbers and the impact they are having. One thing that was a real eye-opener was the damage that feral pigs are doing in the wetter areas of our catchment, and how quickly their numbers are increasing. Speakers also discussed the difficulties faced in controlling feral cats, such as how there is limited funding due to not them not being a declared pest, and the difficulty of targeting them. read more...
Plantagenet Landcare Centre, Old Railway Station. Po Box 118 Mt Barker WA 6324 Office Hours: Mon-Fri 0830 - 1700 hrs (Office may be unattended as we are often in the field)