Council's small but mighty bush regeneration team is making a massive difference to the natural environment in the Byron Shire.
The team is currently working on 432 hectares of bushland reserves across 90 sites.
This includes 15 kilometres of the Brunswick River and its tributaries and more than nine kilometres of vegetation along the beaches.
Dave Filipczyk, Team Leader Bush Regeneration, said more than 9,000 hours of bush regen work was done in the last financial year.
"The team removes weeds from sites that are managed by Council, allowing natural regeneration to occur.
"It's hard work, especially in summer but when you look back you can see what a difference there is in the natural landscape then that's a great feeling.
"Fifty of the sites we manage, approximately 47 hectares, are now at maintenance level, which means they contain less than one percent of introduced species and the team now only needs to do minor work on these sites several times a year," Mr Filipczyk said.
Byron Shire residents can help the bush regen team by not throwing lawn clippings and garden waste in the bush, or over the back fence, because these plants often seed and spread very easily and quickly, and the natural environment suffers.
