K2C Groundcover NewsletterK2C Groundcover, Issue No. 12, September 2012, Page 3 K2 Projects in Snapshot Monaro Landscape onnectivity Project Lauren Van Dyke Monaro Landscape onnectivity

K2C Groundcover, Issue No. 12, September 2012, Page 1

K2C Groundcover Newsletter Issue No. 12. September 2012 Dear K2C Partners and Associate Members,

Geoff Robertson, K2C President

K2C is enjoying considerable on-ground action. We are working one-on-one with land managers as part of each of three projects with another focusing on Glossy black -cockatoos being considered. Read our project updates. We are pleased to announce that the K2C Executive Committee have now agreed on an expanded K2C project area that includes a considerable portion of the SE NSW region of the broader Great Eastern Ranges Initiative. See our colourful maps. As usual K2C Partners are always busy and there are many events coming up. We are promoting some events in this newsletter but you will need to go to www.k2c.org.au to see our calendar and our K2C Partners websites (see last page of this newsletter for contact details) to discover the full suite of activities. Enjoy the heartfelt story on koalas and our other snippets.

K2C is a partnership of 11 organisations including government agencies and non government groups. If you are a land manager and are looking for incentives or advice on native vegetation in the K2C region then contact us or our K2C Partners. Please also visit www.k2c.org.au

Contents Page

K2C projects in snapshot 2—5

K2C Partners reports 6-10

New maps of K2C and GER Initiative 11

Events and other info 12—13

Why we need a million koalas ? 14

More K2C information 15-16

NEW Project in the Wings—Glossy Black–cockatoos & Drooping She–oaks Have you seen this species of bird—the Glossy black -cockatoo? Perhaps you have their favoured food tree growing on your property—the Drooping she-oak? If so, we would like to hear from you and involve you in a new project we are considering which involves many of the K2C Partners. Read all about it on page 5. Photos: John Lemmon


K2C Projects in Snapshot

Traditional Land Management Practices on the Monaro Project

Lauren Van Dyke

Much interest has been aroused in relation to this project and the subject matter in general.

Our two TLMP newsletters received excellent feedback and we would like to thank Pat Murray for

volunteering her expertise and skills to put together these newsletters. Pat has considerable

experience and an interest in indigenous knowledge.

Recently, we held our first TLMP workshop at

the Bush Heritage Australia Scottsdale

Reserve in Bredbo and Ngarrigo Indigenous

elder, Rod Mason, had us all involved in

burning a patch of open grassy woodland.

The day was a great success with everyone

absorbing Rod’s perspectives on how our land

can be revitalised through the use of this

natural tool. After the burn, native grass

seeds were broadcast over the site.

Our second TLMP workshop was held on the

same site on Scottsdale but this time the K2C

Partners were involved in a hands-on way to

burn tea tree and wattle litter over the

existing burnt patch. In this way the weed

tussocks (African Love Grass) were challenged

by a second burn. The site was also planted

out with some native understory plants that

will help to re-establish a healthier woodland.

The TLMP project requires us to engage up to 12 property

managers to undertake on their land one or more traditional land

management practices as set out in the Reintroducing Traditional

Land Management Practices booklet (methodology). The booklet

will be reviewed and up –dated based on experience gained from

the cool burns. If you would like to receive an electronic version

of the booklet please contact Lauren (see below).

If you would like to read our past TLMP newsletters please go to the website www.k2c.org.au and click the Projects button to find the link.

If you are a landholder in the Murrumbidgee Catchment and are

interested please contact Lauren on Ph: 0411 402 978 or email:

[email protected]

Rod Mason, far left, and his willing workers at a

mosaic patch burn on Bush Heritage Australia,

‘Scottsdale’ Reserve, 10 July 2012

Rod Mason on the ‘Scottsdale’

Reserve managing a small burn.



Monaro Landscape Connectivity Project

Lauren Van Dyke

Monaro Landscape Connectivity Project is really on fire. There are a number of reasons I say this. Firstly, we are

finding that many of the land managers at our workshops are inspired by the extensive knowledge imparted by Rod

Mason on his Traditional Land Management Practices, which advocate, in some cases, the use of cool fire as a tool to

restore landscape function. Secondly, the local Rural Fire Service authorities have responded well to our project,

having met with some of our team recently. They have agreed to support and assist in low impact cool burns, which

aligns with their hazard reduction burning practices and their interest in protecting the environment. To cap it off the

MLC project is receiving great praise from workshop participants, with workshops having now having been held in

Bungendore, Cooma and Michelago regions.

Our first series of site visits in the Bungendore-Captains Flat region is now winding down, as we have assessed all the

properties and identified those who are interested and can fit the criteria for Murrumbidgee Catchment

Management Authority funding for plants, fencing or weed control. Those who have expressed an interest in

Traditional Land Management Practices, a key component in this project, have received their feedback reports, with

one land manager writing the following email (see below) having embraced the concept of using fire as a tool to

enhance Red-anthered Wallaby-grass (Rytidosperma pallidum) and Spiny-headed Mat-rush (Lomandra longifolia) and

to create more herb diversity across their open grassy patches. The burning pattern is done very slowly, one plant at

a time, as can be seen in this photo. Here is the email:

Hi Felicity, Lauren and Rod,

“This has all widened our thinking and encouraged us to try a few different

things. Mitch and I have continued burning out from the area that we started burning

on your visit. We will keep doing this when weather permits and see what happens."

Wendy.

The MLC’s independent assessment panel is due to select the Bungendore-

Captains Flat properties best suited for MLC project funding and we have

one PlaceStory (digital video) from this region under our belt that has

recently been published; see http://ps3beta.com/story/23454

Our second workshop in the Numeralla-Cooma area also went well and we are now conducting property visits for

this region. Our most recent workshop in Michelago was very popular, with nine properties in the mix for a site visit.

Coming up, we have three more workshops. Our next one will be held in the Googong region on Friday, 26 October

2012, and then one in Adaminaby in early November. Our last workshop in late November will be in Nimmitabel with

dates for both to be determined. If you are interested in this project please go to www.k2c.org.au and look under the

“Projects” button for the MLC information sheet and Expression of Interest (EOI) form. Or contact, Lauren Van Dyke,

K2C Facilitator, Ph: 0411 402 978, or email: [email protected]

The MLC Project partners, Murrumbidgee Catchment Management Authority (MCMA), Kosciuszko to Coast (K2C) and

Murrumbidgee Landcare Inc (MLI), have a stated goal to engage 18 land managers to protect and/or enhance 240 ha

of native vegetation by June 2013 with high priority on box gum woodlands and native grasslands.

Congratulations to Rainer Rehwinkel for delivering a well presented overview of the MLC project

at a lunch seminar of the Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand.

MONARO LANDSCAPE CONNECTIVITY

Wendy and Rod performing slow burn

http://ps3beta.com/story/23454http://www.k2c.org.auhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/61627737@N03/6028420971/



Myer Foundation Grasslands Project 2012—2015

Kathryn Wells Work has begun on the three year Myer Foundation Grasslands Project to improve the management of grasslands in the K2C region. Today, grasslands represent about 3% of the original grasslands prior to colonisation and, are the most threatened of ecological systems in Australia. Early discussions with K2C partners about suitable sites have been held. A proposed twenty (20) demonstration sites will include public lands as core sites, in the ACT and NSW, including nature reserves, and other crown land tenures such as travelling stock reserves and commons, recognised as natural temperate grasslands, as well as privately held land with natural and secondary grasslands. Sites visited in the last month with grasslands managers include the Gungahlin, Harrison and Yarramundi Reach Grasslands in the ACT, Queanbeyan Nature Reserve and the Bush Heritage property Scottsdale near Bredbo as well as McLeod’s Creek and the Gundaroo Common in NSW. Visits to significant sites in NSW near Braidwood and Bungendore, on the Monaro, at Cooma and towards Bombala are planned in the next month. Initial planning for the project involves addressing the issue of developing site specific management plans in conjunction with managers and other experts. The idea is to draw upon as much expertise, research and experience in the region as can be harnessed, along with current national research, to develop management tools and methods. On 20 August, grassland expert Paul Gibson-Roy from Greening Australia was invited by K2C to spend a day visiting grasslands and to meet with people involved in grasslands to scope management issues and on-ground rehabilitation. It was an extremely productive day and will be used as the basis of further workshops and site visits to progress management plans. It is proposed that this grasslands reference, advisory and specialist support (GRASS) group continue to provide ongoing input to the project. This will build on the former Monaro Grasslands Conservation Management Network (CMN), the existing Friends of Grasslands, and other groups involved in grasslands conservation, to support a Grasslands CMN across the K2C region as part of the project. Activities planned for the near future include participation in the Queanbeyan Nature Reserve Open Day in October and the Biodiversity and Farming Fair 2012 in Braidwood, scheduled for 30 November, to be hosted jointly with the Upper Shoalhaven Land Care Committee. The Fair will include hosted visits to nearby public grasslands, speakers, spatial mapping displays and stalls from relevant organisations as well as children’s and related cultural activities. An online searchable data base of 200 grassland sites in the K2C region will be developed by the project through arrangement with the Atlas of Living Australia. A mock-up of its functionality is now completed. A final assessment of iconic species for plants, birds, reptiles and mammals in the K2C region will lead to the promotion of these and other species on the K2C Atlas. It is hoped to encourage the public and private landholders to engage in observation, recording and monitoring of species across the grasslands of this region.

John Briggs and Paul Gibson-Roy on Queanbeyan Nature Reserve


Another K2C Project in the Wings

Glossy Black-cockatoos and Drooping She-oaks

Tony Robinson There is a growing commitment by governments and landholders to restore habitat and increase connectivity for a range of species across our landscape. One species that is currently receiving attention is the Glossy Black-cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus lathami). The Glossy Black-cockatoo is listed as vulnerable in NSW. A number of factors have contributed to its vulnerability, including historical land clearing, ongoing loss of hollow-bearing trees, urbanisation and over-grazing. Its vulnerability is also related to its specialist feeding habits: it feeds exclusively on Allocasuarina (she-oak) species, which are particularly susceptible to browsing and lack of recruitment from inappropriate grazing. The Glossy Black-cockatoos’ main source of food in our region is Allocasuarina verticillata or Drooping She-oak. The ACT Government has recently provided funds to local groups and Greening Australia to increase the numbers of Drooping She-oaks at sites in and around the ACT where Glossy Black-cockatoos have been observed. The Michelago and District Landcare Group has also received funds from the Australian Government through its Caring for our Country program to plant Drooping She-oaks in suitable habitat along the Murrumbidgee corridor. K2C is applying for funding through the Great Eastern Ranges initiative to add to this work and to increase the populations of Drooping She-oaks in our region and in the longer term to increase the food source for Glossy Black-cockatoos. If our application is successful six K2C Partners will co-operate in the project: Greening Australia, NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, Molonglo Catchment Group, Upper Murrumbidgee Landcare Committee, which represents several local Landcare groups, Bush Heritage Australia and Friends of Grasslands. The Canberra Ornithologists Group, an Associate Member, will also be involved. Of interest to the Partnership is the current distribution of Glossy Black-cockatoos and Drooping She-oaks in our region. There is already quite a lot of information on this but we are hoping our K2C members can help fill in the gaps. If you have these trees on your property and/or have seen Glossy Black-cockatoos locally then we would be very grateful to receive this information. To log your sightings contact the K2C Facilitator, Lauren Van Dyke on Ph: 0411 402 978 or email: [email protected]

Glossy Black-cockatoos in Dropping She-oak tree Photo: J Lemmon


K2C Partners Reports

At the recent K2C Partners Forum many of the partners provided updates of their activities since our last forum back in April 2012. As always there is so much information to pack into the Groundcover newsletter and so we are including a selection of K2C partners reports and in some cases partners are keen to use the opportunity to publicise future events.

+++

Murrumbidgee Catchment Management Authority Report

Current Projects

Climate Change Corridors 2011-2012 wrapped up at the end of June 2012. Targets to build linkages in the

landscape and increase the resilience of our biodiversity to the effects of climate change were exceeded.

Achievements are:

2,187 Ha Wetland Stewardship and Protection

5,944 Ha Native Veg Stewardship (5,468 Ha HCV & EEC)

420 Ha Revegetation and Protection

24,450 Native Tubestock Planted

13 Ha Direct Seeded

Strategic Connectivity Corridors 2012-2013 will kick off in September 2012.

This project will follow similar principles to Climate Change Corridors however will have a greater

revegetation focus (ie. no stewardship).

The Murrumbidgee CMA will apply existing prioritisation modelling to identify areas where

revegetation of mixed native species will reduce landscape fragmentation.

This approach will build on connectivity reinstated during the 2010-2012 project rounds and will improve the condition, extent and linkage between the riverine to ridgeline areas at a sub-catchment scale within the Murrumbidgee CMA.

Greater Goorooyaroo 2011-2017 is a joint project between the ACT Government, Murrumbidgee CMA and

Greening Australia.

Building Restored Resilient Landscapes in the ACT & Greater Goorooyarroo Project (full title) is supported

through the Australian Government’s Clean Energy Future Biodiversity Fund.

The Murrumbidgee CMA and Greening Australia Capital Region are key implementation partners for the

project. We will be working with land managers in NSW to identify opportunities to strategically plant

mixed native species, manage existing native vegetation remnants on public land, and follow similar

principles to the Climate Change Corridors project on private land where landholders are interested.

See article on the Greater Goorooyarroo project on following page including a map of the project area.



Building Restored Resilient Landscapes in the ACT & Greater Goorooyarroo

Tim Wong, ACT Government The ACT Government has recently secured $2.155 million to implement an ecological restoration program (2011-2017) across 60,000 ha of nationally significant woodlands. The Building Restored Resilient Landscapes in the ACT & Greater Goorooyarroo Project (‘Restore ACT Goorooyarroo’) is supported through funding from the Australian Government’s Clean Energy Future Biodiversity Fund. The project area will focus on a number of large woodland blocks in the ACT (see map) but also includes Mulligan’s Flat Nature Reserve (ACT) and woodland areas across the border in NSW, commonly referred to as the ‘Greater Goorooyarroo Landscape’. This area is now part of the K2C Partnership region. Lowland woodlands in the ACT and adjacent NSW are of national significance. Amongst the biggest, most botanically diverse examples of their type, they include the critically endangered White Box Yellow Box Blakely’s Red Gum Grassy Woodland and Derived Native Grassland community, of which less than 5% of the original extent remains in Australia. Murrumbidgee CMA and Greening Australia Capital Region are key implementation partners for the project. They will be working with land managers in NSW to identify opportunities to plant mixed native species, manage existing native vegetation remnants on public land, and utilise both approaches on private land where landholders are interested. For more information on the project, contact Tim Wong, ACT Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate, [email protected] Map: Project area in the ACT and Greater Goorooyarroo area in NSW

mailto:[email protected]



NSW Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH)

Rainer Rehwinkel (Senior Threatened Species Officer OEH Biodiversity Conservation Section and Secretary K2C Executive Committee)

A number of exciting new initiatives have recently emerged or are emerging from NSW OEH. One in particular is directly related to connectivity planning in the Kosciuszko to Coast region. The role and identification of ‘wildlife corridors’ (or ‘bio-corridors’, or ‘bio-links’) has received renewed interest recently and the importance of ‘connectivity conservation’ has been highlighted as a critical new direction in biodiversity planning and conservation. This renewed interest in ‘connectivity conservation’ is reflected in the Commonwealth’s National Wildlife Corridors Plan, and the NSW Government’s commitment to identify and protect ‘Green Corridors’. Within the Kosciuszko to Coast Partnership area, corridors can be, and have been, identified by a range of methods, at a range of scales, and for a variety of purposes. Taken together, the projects that have identified ‘wildlife corridors’ have delivered inconsistent, or even contradictory results, depending on their method, scale and purpose. Staff from the Queanbeyan OEH Conservation and Regulation Division office have been working with a range of stakeholders, including Local Government, Southern Rivers CMA, National Parks and Wildlife Service and Great Eastern Ranges (GER), to refine and validate corridors that have been mapped at a number of different scales on the Far South Coast. This validation involves translating modelled or broad-scale information to something that can be implemented on the ground, and engages with, and uses local knowledge of practitioners who will have responsibility for implementation of projects. The validation process will help to ensure that the corridors that are identified by this project represent the areas of land within the South Coast study area that are the most critical for facilitating fauna movement, and the most likely to be able to be cost-effectively protected, enhanced or restored. The corridors will be designed to minimise inclusion of areas of land that are currently being managed for agriculture. OEH aims to release the final version of this validated corridors mapping for the Far South Coast by the end of the year, with the aim of having it included in the Southern Rivers CMA CAP2, in order to help prioritise conservation and restoration works. Tobi Edmonds is the lead officer. In a related, but larger landscape-scale biodiversity planning initiative, three Biodiversity Conservation Officers from OEH’s Queanbeyan Office, Damon Oliver, Lorraine Oliver and Virginia Thomas, have been collaborating with the Murray CMA, other colleagues from different parts of OEH and the Murray catchment community to develop the draft New South Wales Murray Biodiversity Management Plan (A guide to terrestrial biodiversity investment priorities in the NSW Murray Catchment). This plan covers the entire NSW Murray catchment area, including the Mt Kosciuszko area of the upper catchment and so has direct relevance to the K2C region. The project provides a great example of the sort of regional cooperation that can be achieved to complete a major planning exercise for biodiversity management. It is model that could potentially be rolled out in other regions. The draft Murray BMP is now available for public comment at: http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/biodiversity/murraybmp.htm

Continued next page

http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/biodiversity/murraybmp.htm


NSW Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) continued

Another project that has been run over the last year or so by a team from the OEH Queanbeyan office is a vegetation classification of the Upper Murrumbidgee Catchment. This was done by building on existing classifications, including those completed by Rainer Rehwinkel (grasslands), Keith McDougall and Neville Walsh (treeless alpine areas) and Nic Gellie (Southern Regional Forest Assessment revision). The classification used statistical analysis, coupled with expert botanical knowledge, to describe 74 plant communities across the South Eastern Highlands and Australian Alps bioregions within the Murrumbidgee catchment. This area is now almost all within the K2C Region. Six qualitative plant communities were also described that were unable to be quantified due to a lack of field samples available for analysis. Plant communities classified within alpine complexes, rainforests, wet sclerophyll forests, dry sclerophyll forests, forested wetlands, freshwater wetlands, grassy woodlands and grasslands have been described. For each plant community, vegetation descriptions are accompanied by information on environmental variables, diagnostic species information, threats, frequently occurring weeds, reservation status, equivalent plant communities and estimated clearing rates. Each description of woody and wetland plant communities is accompanied with a distribution map, with many also accompanied by a photo. The report can be accessed from the Friends of Grassland website at: http://www.fog.org.au/Plant Community Classification_Version1.1_05092011. In recent months, the team, led by Rob Armstrong, and also including Keith McDougall, Rainer Rehwinkel, Ken Turner (OEH Wollongong) and James Crooks (formerly of OEH and now with DPI) have submitted a further refined draft for publication in a botanical journal. Also making news are some exciting developments in our NSW BioNet website; see http://bionet.nsw.gov.au/. This is a new, updated version of the old NSW Wildlife Atlas. Here you can see and enter records of all flora and fauna species to be found in NSW. Also able to be displayed are records of ecological communities. I would encourage K2C members to have a look, have a play, and if you can, add records to this site. In a future development, there will a further refinement of the NSW Vegetation Information System, where more sophisticated plot and transect data can be stored and retrieved. This will be a valuable resource for storing vegetation monitoring data collected as part of K2C Partners’ projects. Workshops are planned to train new users. Finally, in a collaboration between Gary Howling (GER Team), Rainer Rehwinkel (OEH) and the K2C Executive Committee, we have now produced a revised version of the K2C Region boundary. See the map on page 11. There is still an opportunity for K2C Associate Members and Partners to have a say on this boundary for minor tweeks and realignments in the region’s north-east; please contact Lauren Van Dyke on email: [email protected]. To finish off, I will take this opportunity to remind everyone that the Australian Network for Plant Conservation’s 9th National Conference “Plant Conservation in Australia: Achievements and Future Directions” is on later this year. For more information, please see: www.anpc.asn.au


http://www.fog.org.au/Plant%20Community%20Classification_Version1.1_05092011http://www.fog.org.au/Plant%20Community%20Classification_Version1.1_05092011http://bionet.nsw.gov.au/http://www.anpc.asn.au/



Friends of Grasslands - Events calendar

SUN 23 SEPT, 9.00am – 12.00pm Yarramundi Reach weed spraying. Register with [email protected]

SAT 29 SEPT, 9.30am – 12.30pm Stirling Park work party. Register with [email protected]

FRI 12 OCT, 4.00-5.00pm Canberra Airport Grassland trial visit. Register with [email protected]

SAT 13 OCT 10:00am - 1:00pm Hall Cemetery Woodlands weeding. Register with [email protected]

WED 17 OCT, 9.30am - 3.30pm, Grassland Monitoring at Scottsdale. Register with [email protected]

SUN 21 OCT, 9.00am – 4.00pm Scrivener's Hut and West Block woodland work party. Register with

[email protected]

SAT 27 OCT, 9.30am – 12.30pm Stirling Park weeding work. Register with [email protected]

SAT 27 OCT, 12:30am - 2:00pm Bbq Lunch for participants in Stirling Park work and walk.

SAT 27 OCT, 2.00pm – 4.00pm Stirling Park public nature walk. Register with [email protected]

SAT/SUN 27 & 28 OCT , Native plants visit to McAuliffe property at Nerriga. Register with [email protected]

SAT 3 NOV, 9:30am - 3:30pm Old Cooma Common Grassland Reserve weeding. Register with [email protected]

SUN 11 NOV, 9.00am-12.30pm Visit to Rowes Lagoon, Collector for wetlands visit followed by vegetation monitoring.

Register with [email protected]

Bush Heritage Australia 'Scottsdale Reserve'

Volunteering opportunities from now until mid 2013.

Please contact Peter Saunders Scottsdale Reserve Manager

on [email protected]

or Ph: 0407 700 431 03 – 06 Sept Rabbit control work 17 Oct Friends of Grasslands Monitoring 12 – 16 Nov Follow up serrated tussock, early briar and St Johns Wort weed control 03 – 06 Dec Rabbit control work 10 – 13 Dec Briar spraying 04 – 09 Feb Briar spraying 04 – 07 Mar Rabbit control work April / May Small engine / plant maintenance 03 – 06 Jun Rabbit control work 01 – 30 Jun Serrated tussock spraying

RIVER AND RIPARIAN FUNDING Southern Rivers Catchment Management Authority has funding available for fencing to protect waterways in the Upper Shoalhaven and Upper Deua catchments. Landholders interested in improving farm sustainability and with headwater streams in good condition will benefit from this project. Up to 50% of the cost of supplying and erecting a fence that protects waterways from grazing stock will be provided for sites that meet the assessment criteria. Assistance with weed control may be offered on a site by site basis Applications close 1 October 2012. To register and for further information please contact Matthew Dickinson, Southern Rivers CMA, Braidwood on (02) 4842 2594 or email [email protected]. Funded through Catchment Action NSW.

www.southern.cma.nsw.gov.au

mailto:[email protected]://www.southern.cma.nsw.gov.au/


The new K2C Region boundary as discussed by the K2C Executive at recent meetings (above). The Great Eastern Ranges Initiative map of existing partnership regions including K2C (below)


Weed Swap at Bredbo Markets —Sunday, 30th September 2012

Sue Connelly

“As a keen advocate of growing plants to replace weeds and as a promotion for my Native Plant stall I am

running a Weed Swap Day at the Bredbo Markets, Monaro Hwy, Bredbo. So come join in the fun and get

your free plant and information” , Sue Connelly, Thistlebrook Native Plants for Regeneration or Gardens,

Bredbo, NSW Ph: 02 64 54 4400 Mobile: 0401 823 497.


Why we need a million koalas?

James Fitzgerald

The federal government’s decision to list the koala as threatened in NSW and Queensland, is a small step in the right direction but unfortunately does not prevent logging in the koala forests of NSW or Queensland.

The Australian koala population before British settlement is estimated at having exceeded ten million. A population of this size would reduce bushfire risk by providing over two million tonnes per year of hazard reduction eating of gum leaves. Gum leaves are the most explosively flammable part of the Australian bush. Too often little recognition is given to the positive services Australian wildlife would provide if normal population levels were re-established.

A significant factor in the fragmentation of the Australian koala population was the large-scale killing of koalas for their skins in the late 1800s and early 1900s. In Queensland in just one month August 1927, some 584,000 koala skins were sold. Australia’s fragmented koala population could now be as low as 40,000 and declining.

It is a long-established scientific fact that fragmented populations of animals become genetically weaker over time. The genetic weakness then causes the fragmented populations to start to die out as they are no longer able to fight diseases or adapt to changes in their environment. The correct approach to save the koala is to restore habitat within a system of wildlife corridors to enable the koala gene pool to flow via the normal disbursal of young males.

There is a growing concern that the current system of protection is failing Australian wildlife. It is often too little too late. Some koala conservationists would go so far to claim that legislation aimed to protect actually enables the destruction of koala habitat. In any case, current protections allow animal numbers to get down to low numbers, creating genetic bottlenecks that significantly reduce their long term survival prospects.

The NSW Wildlife Council believes that a benchmark based on pre-British settlement population estimates should be used to restore wildlife populations to at least 10 per cent of the estimate by re-establishing gene pools, habitat and wildlife corridors. Using pre-British estimates as a benchmark recognises the inter-relational connectivity of species. The current wildlife protection system does not provide for the many mutually beneficial relationships that exist in the natural world. It is important to consider that even the largest national park is just a gene puddle if it is not connected to other habitat.

Wildlife rehabilitation groups know that male animals are over represented in road kill because of their need to disburse and find other populations. Prior to the large-scale killing of koalas for their skins the koala gene pool flowed up and down and across most of eastern Australia. For koalas to survive in the long term, the fragmented populations need habitat restored and most likely a supplementary breeding program guided by geneticists to reconnect the populations.

As the koala population is rebuilt it would be necessary to re-establish animals like the powerful owl, as this predator would play its role in ensuring survival of the fittest by taking the occasional young koala from an unfit or inattentive koala mother. Other animals like the glider possum that help pollinate trees and is also a prey species for the powerful owl would need to be rebuilt so that the powerful owl didn’t focus all of its attention on the koala. It is these types inter-relational connections across species and the roles they play in the natural world that are not recognised in the current system of wildlife protection in Australia.

James Fitzgerald is the NSW Wildlife Council media officer and an Associate Member of K2C. He can be contacted on 0448 066 304.


More K2C Information and other events

You may recall our successful fair in 2010 at Bredbo? We are about to do it all again so please mark this

day in your diary. Stay posted for more advertisements.

Biodiversity and Farming Fair Friday, 30 November 2012,

Braidwood Rain or shine event

Hosted jointly by Upper Shoalhaven Landcare Council (USLC) and Kosciuszko to Coast (K2C)

House of Representatives Standing Committee visit K2C

Report now out.

Groundcover

You may remember we reported on the House of Representative Standing Committee visit to the K2C

region in our last newsletter. The report by the Committee has since been published entitled, Case

Studies in Biodiversity Management—First interim report of the Inquiry into Australia’s Biodiversity in a

Changing Climate, Volume 1, May 2012. The report can be accessed on-line through the inquiry’s

webpage at www.aph.gov.au/ccbio.

Managing grassy woodlands

Geoff Robertson

A good summary of what practitioners need to know about managing grassy woodlands may be found in A Guide to Managing Box Gum Grassy Woodlands, by Kimberlie Rawlings, David Freudenberger and David Carr which was published in 2010. This is a Greening Australia project funding under the Caring for Country program.

The book is divided into three sections: our current understanding of box gum woodlands, getting organised, and management. The first section is a good description of woodlands, their structure, ecology, ecological function, and their current state of conservation. The second section is devoted to planning and monitoring. The final section is about how to manage grassy woodlands and talks about grazing approaches, use of fire, weeding, changing soil characteristics, revegetation and restoration. It also has some good material on providing habitat and reintroductions of plants. What I like about the book is that the descriptions are generally pretty good and not too lengthy and it has many good diagrams and illustrations and many good tips. It is certainly a good summary of the current state of knowledge and approaches.

Apparantly is not for sale but may be downloaded from the web: http://www.nrm.gov.au/resources/publications/stewardship/bggw-handbook.html. Thanks to Toni McLeish for drawing this to my attention.

http://www.nrm.gov.au/resources/publications/stewardship/bggw-handbook.htmlhttp://www.nrm.gov.au/resources/publications/stewardship/bggw-handbook.html


Kosciuszko to Coast Partners are: ACT Govt- Parks,Conservation and Lands – www.tams.act.gov.au Bush Heritage Australia – www.bushheritage.org.au Office of Environment and Heritage – www.environment.nsw.gov.au Friends of Grasslands – www.fog.org.au Greening Australia Capital Region – www.greeningaustralia.org.au/community/capital-region Molonglo Catchment Group – www.molonglocatchment.com.au Murrumbidgee Catchment Management Authority—www.murrumbidgee.cma.nsw.gov.au Nature Conservation Trust of NSW – www.naturetrust.org.au Southern Rivers Catchment Management Authority—www.southern.cma.nsw.gov.au Upper Murrumbidgee Landcare Committee – www.umlc.org.au Upper Murrumbidgee Catchment Coordinating Committee – www.umccc.org.au K2C Partnership is proud to be part of the Great Eastern Ranges Initiative—www.greateasternranges.org.au

Lauren Van Dyke K2C Facilitator and Newsletter Editor

To enquire about K2C, its projects, this newsletter or how to become involved, contact Lauren on : Ph: 0411 402 978 Email: [email protected]

Feel you can help K2C ? K2C would gratefully welcome your volunteer support. Here are some practical examples of areas in which we could well do with some volunteer help. Newsletter preparation

Website / database updates

Organising field days, Partners Forums Next 2012 Open day

Massaging shoulders Please contact Lauren if you can commit some time.

K2C Groundcover Newsletter of the Kosciuszko to Coast Partnership The newsletter aims to: Bring you news on what is happening in the K2C region on:

grasslands, woodlands, riparian areas, wetlands and bogs, small bush birds, arboreal mammals, & significant forest species. Inform you on K2C support and involvement in Indigenous engagement and report on what K2C Partners and Associate Members are up to.

This is your newsletter. Please let us know what you are doing? SUGGESTIONS BOX If you have any suggestions or comments in regard to this news letter please send them through to Lauren. We welcome your input.
http://www.tams.act.gov.au/http://www.bushheritage.org.au/http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/http://www.fog.org.au/http://www.greeningaustralia.org.au/community/capital-regionhttp://www.molonglocatchment.com.au/http://www.murrumbidgee.cma.nsw.gov.auhttp://www.naturetrust.org.au/http://www.southern.cma.nsw.gov.auhttp://www.umlc.org.auhttp://www.umccc.org.auhttp://www.greateasternranges.org.au

Documents

K2C Groundcover NewsletterK2C Groundcover, Issue No. 12, September 2012, Page 3 K2 Projects in Snapshot Monaro Landscape onnectivity Project Lauren Van Dyke Monaro Landscape onnectivity