Coastal rainforest making a comeback, but some prefer their ocean view

BANKSIAS are starting to give way to rainforest plants that will rebuild the almost forgotten canopy against the sea.

Bill Peel

FIFTY years after sand mining stripped the dunes along much of Australia's east coast, the banksia trees are starting to give way to a new diversity of rainforest plants that will rebuild the almost forgotten canopy against the sea.

Australia's critically endangered littoral rainforest is making a big comeback following the discovery of a "silver bullet" to manage the invasive South African bitou bush, which was first planted to stabilise the sand dunes after mining.

But the success of creeping beachfront rainforest is not to everyone's liking.

Port Macquarie real estate agent Terry Hudson said he had sold his Lighthouse Beach property seven years ago as the ocean view receded with the rising trees.

"When I bought I could see the lighthouse from the driveway but, by the time I left, you had trouble seeing it from the first level," Mr Hudson said. "It is fine for the general public who don't own coastal property and care about a sea view. But the value of a property -- once you lose that blue, you are gone."

He has moved to a canal estate and said he would not consider another ocean-view property.

Port Macquarie-Hastings Council ecologist Bill Peel said there had been some issues with property owners cutting trees to preserve their view. Screens had been erected in one case to deny the improved vista.

Mr Peel said listing littoral rainforest as critically endangered had opened up state and commonwealth funding for rehabilitation.

"The listing also created the realisation that if we don't do something in the next couple of decades it will disappear," Mr Peel said.

Littoral rainforest is generally a closed forest that has been shaped by its proximity to the ocean. The canopy forms as a windbreak to protect the dunes from erosion.

The transition from weeds to banksia trees to diverse rainforest is being mirrored in the birdlife as the available food source changes from nectars to fruits.

Littoral rainforest used to be widespread but is now very rare, occurring mainly in small stands that make up less than 1 per cent of rainforest in NSW.

Mr Peel said a full cycle to re-establish littoral rainforest would take up to 100 years.

"This is long-timeline stuff," he said. "We are now 30 years into our first sites. Over time we have become more efficient and learnt how to work with the natural processes. In the past we could get rid of weeds but it would get rid of everything else as well."

Mr Peel said the discovery of new spraying techniques to combat bitou bush had been critical to littoral rainforest regeneration.

A weak spray is used in winter when native vegetation is dormant.

Mr Peel said it was not necessary to remove banksias to make way for more mature rainforest species such as tuckeroo, brush box and lilly pilly because banksias were shorter-lived and fixed carbon in the sand to make way for new plants. "We try to tweak the system so we put in a minimum amount of effort for a maximum amount of gain," he said.