Polly Pollock created the native forest in Mary Barrett Glade to honour her late daughter. Photo / Dean Purcell

Polly Pollock created the native forest in Mary Barrett Glade to honour her late daughter. Photo / Dean Purcell

An 82-year-old woman who spent 16 years working for free to create a popular glade of native trees has been told to quit by the Navy.

Devonport grandmother Polly Pollock has turned an illegal rubbish tip on the fringes of a former housing estate into a popular estuary-side jogging and walking track.

There is no running water to the site, so for more than a decade she has been carrying buckets up and down the 2.8ha site to water seedlings and fill birdbaths.

The Navy, which administers the land for the Crown, said it revoked her licence to use the Lake Rd property after she told them it was time to stop planting.

Mrs Pollock said she had planted about 3000 native trees of 52 different species in the Mary Barrett Glade, many of those paid for or grown from seedlings herself.

She created the small native forest to honour her daughter, who died in 1989.

The Navy said it admired her work and that she had created a "Devonport treasure" on what was once a dump site for rubbish.

But it has revoked her licence to use the land as of October.

A spokeswoman said the Navy decided to take over management of the glade and instigate community planting days after Ms Barrett told them she could not continue for medical reasons.

The Navy said Mrs Pollock agreed, but had said enough planting had been done and only maintenance was required.

"As a consequence of this decision, and with Mrs Pollock's agreement, she was given three months' notice in accordance with the revocation clause in her licence."

Mrs Pollock - who is fit for her age - said she wanted to keep caring for the land herself.

She was worried that her project would be undone by managers who did not understand the glade's history.

She had suffered health problems after an operation on her leg this year but was almost back to full health, she said.

The glade bears evidence of Mrs Pollock's personal approach to conservation.

She has built tracks and kept them clear with improvised weed mats made from old lengths of carpet.

Park benches for visitors consist of old tyres and planks of wood, and there are hand-rails made from garden hose and lengths of old clothesline.