SIGNS used to identify plants and weeds along the coastal path between Burns Beach and Iluka will no longer be installed because they keep being stolen.
Friends of North Ocean Reef – Iluka Foreshore coordinator Don Poynton said the new weatherproof labels, which were paid for by a community grant from the City of Joondalup, were installed in the foreshore reserve in early October.
But by mid-November, all the labels and green plastic stakes had been stolen.
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READ NOW“In the past, when access was easier, some of our old labels were occasionally thrown into the bushes,” Mr Poynton said.
“Fences have since been added but the thief has scaled the fence and in some cases, walked a considerable distance to remove the stakes.
“A thorough search of the adjacent bush failed to find any labels or stakes.”
Mr Poynton said it was a “regrettable decision” to discontinue the installation of the labels.
“Many people had commented favourably on the new labels, particularly as the inclusion of a happy or sad face motif made it easy to recognise which were native plants and which were the unwanted, introduced species,” he said.
“Each label also provided the plant’s common and botanical names, flower colour and flowering season.
“In the case of the weed species, the country of origin was also included.”
Friends of North Ocean Reef – Iluka Foreshore is a volunteer group formed in 2004 to assist the City of Joondalup with the restoration of the coastal foreshore reserve between Burns Beach and Ocean Reef Boat Harbour, with is part of the Bush Forever 325 site.