Ringtail possum drey built in hawthorn and blackberry
Channel: Artist as Family
Date: 2016-06-09

Newcomer species such as hawthorn and blackberry have no ecological status in Australia (at least within conservative epistemologies), but they provide food and habitat for indigenous species such as ringtail possums. While using David Holmgren's method of turning fire-risk blackberry canes into soil building ground covers we uncover a ringtail's home. If we don't do this work, reducing the dominance of the blackberry, the CFA and other land managers will burn the lot, killing the possums and making more pioneer weed species prominent. Our method of land management is not dualistic, it works with what species have naturalised (old and new), and sensitively creates the possibility, understanding and propensity for biodiversity.