Hundreds of trees and native mat rushes have been planted along South Cedar Creek at Ravenshoe as part of a war against weeds.

Landholder Anne Evans said she felt like she and husband Ivan had won Lotto when they were approached about planting trees along a creek bank smothered in lantana and guinea grass.

“You couldn’t see the creek for the weeds a couple of months ago, so we brought in machinery to remove them,’’ she said. “Then we got a call from the council and what they were proposing fitted right in with what we were trying to achieve.”

More than 2000 trees and mat rushes have been planted along the creek bank as part of larger project that Terrain NRM and the Tablelands Regional Council are working on which began with weed removal and revegetation work in nearby council reserves bordering South Cedar Creek.

Terrain NRM’s Chelsy Maloney said the ‘Native Vegetation: Many Hands Make Light Work’ project, funded through the Queensland Government’s Natural Resources Investment Program, was improving the resilience of native vegetation in partnership with local councils.

She said weed removal was the focus for 10 hectares at Marshall Park Reserve, and revegetation work would benefit another two hectares along South Cedar Creek.

“At Marshall Park the canopy trees were there, but everything underneath the canopy was invaded by weeds. If we don’t stay on top of managing this area, it’ll lead to an irreversible change of the ecosystem.”

Tablelands Regional Council’s Cr Annette Haydon said the council was removing weeds and trialling the use of a different combination of species, to be planted in patches of the wet schlerophyll forest.

The goal was also to reduce the amount of seeds flowing downstream and causing weed infestations in other areas.