Managing Vegetation Offsetsand Landscape Plantings

Planning for Long-term Vegetation Management

Alan NoyIndigenous Design

Presented on behalf of:Friends of Yarra Valley Parklands

2 Key Points

Offset and Revegetation Management

Planning for LONG-TERM Maintenance

Some of our constructed roadside landscapes will exist well into the future – they don’t need to be created in a year or two – they may take decades and last who knows how long.

Eastern and Eastlink Freeways

Eastern Freeway – Outbound Kew (1982)

Canopy trees have reached a mature height and provide a typical Australianroadside landscape. Maintenance is straight forward and sustainable.Opportunity is offered for the establishment of understorey species. Possiblyrare and threatened plant species. Note in the very long-term withoutrecruitment or supplementary planting this landscape is not sustainable.

Eastern Freeway – Outbound Boxhill North (1997)

Similar to the previous slide – a simple understorey has reduced the need for slashing and has provided soil protection. This is a south facing aspect.

Eastern Freeway – Outbound Boxhill NorthThe previous slide from above. Note the narrow width of the freeway plantings. They complement the adjacent parklands that can provide safe access for programmed maintenance. They also provide valuable corridor links for birds, insects, bats – but are able to exclude faunal species that are a danger to traffic – kangaroo, wallaby.

Eastern Freeway – Inbound Boxhill NorthOpposite the previous location, with a similar planting theme, the understorey has failed andthe canopy trees are struggling. The combination of aspect (north facing) and a steepergradient may have contributed to an unsustainable landscape. Bare, open spaces aresusceptible to ongoing weed establishment.

Eastlink – Dandenong North Outbound (2008)

Again, a similar theme that provides a potential sustainable landscape. The dense understoreyprovides good weed suppression and there is relatively easy access for maintenance.

Eastlink – Dandenong NorthBoth the foreground strip and the midground batter plantings have failed.Poor monitoring and management have allowed a range of noxious andthreatening weeds to establish and proliferate.

Eastlink – Dandenong North

The original shrubby plantings have been displaced by Genista linifolia (Flax-leafBroom) listed as a Weed of National Significance and also as a Catchment and LandProtection listed weed. In other areas, Ulex europaeus (Gorse) also a listed weedhas taken hold. The need to flail-mow these edges is an unintended consequenceof these invasive weed species. The landscape is unsustainable and unappealing.Early detection of these shrubby weed species could have prevented theirestablishment for a relatively small cost.

Eastlink – Dandenong North

A few hundred meters along from the previous slide, the landscape hascollapsed and prone to further weed invasion. Efforts to reduce Broomhave not been followed up with heavy mulching or appropriateplanting. The extent of weeds such as Broom continues to increaseand would now costs tens of thousands of dollars to control.

Vegetation Offsets

Offset Management

Excerpt from the Guidelines:

An application to remove native vegetation must include an offset strategy that includes evidence that an offset that meets the offset requirements for the proposed native vegetation removal is available and explains how the offset will be secured if a permit is granted.

From my reading of the EES, an “Ecological Offsetting Strategy” is proposed and that the responsibility for development of the Offset Strategy is being handed to the successful tenderer and will not commence until the contracts have been signed, allowing little opportunity for public comment.

Refer to Submission 518 – Michael Goddard for a more precise assessment of the deficiencies he identified in the ecological technical report.

Yallourn Mine Conservation Management Plan.

• Reviewed in 2002 and commenced implementation in 2004 to 2014.

• An outcome of an EES process that achieved Ministerial Approval and EPBC Sign Off.

• Approximately 300 hectares of offsets managed.

• Ongoing maintenance of offsets to retain habitat gains that were achieved – long-term maintenance.

• Comprehensive Monitoring, Assessment and Reporting programs that lead to a sophisticated level of Adaptive Management outcomes.

Relevant Components of the YMCMP

• 37 individual Offset blocks.

• 277,329 plants – all strata planted including 57,861 trees.

• 25,008 trees – Eucalyptus strzeleckii – EPBC listing: Vulnerable.

• Extensive Monitoring and Reporting, including quarterly reports to the Environmental Review Committee with an Independent Chairperson.

Morwell River Corridor –

A Conservation Opportunity

• YMCMP, Block 29b – part of the Morwell River Wetlands.

• Planting included the dominant canopy tree and EPBC Vulnerable listed species Eucalyptus strzeleckii.

• In 2007 the Latrobe Valley Field Naturalists commenced quarterly bird counts at the wetlands and have now recorded over 150 bird species.

• Linear corridor – not dissimilar to roadside corridors.

YMCMP Block 29b

2006

2019

The offset period ended in 2014 but maintenance and enhanced continues to protect the offset gains that were achieved.

Revegetation – Landscape Plantings

Hazelwood Mine

• Commenced plantings in 1998 and continue to maintain as the mine transitions to closure.

• Morwell River Wetlands and River Corridor that links the Yallourn and Hazelwood restoration programs.

• Morwell River Diversion and expansion of the Habitat Corridor.

Revegetation Management

Morwell River Wetlands

• Offset wetlands replacing previously constructed wetlands that were removed as part of the mine expansion.

• Extensive riparian planting of Strzelecki Gum and a full complement of shrubs and ground cover species in staged follow up plantings.

• Nest box programs resulted in the movement of Sugar Gliders from small remnant parcels to all planted zones.

Framework Planting 2003

• Eucalyptus strzeleckii – nationally significant species – vulnerable.

• Preparation involved slashing and planting “circles” sprayed with herbicide twice prior to planting.

• Planting was programed to commence when soil moisture was enough to maintain tubestock. Usually late autumn.

• Tree guarding was determined to be unnecessary as Rabbits were not present on the flood plain and there was insufficient habitat for Wallabies – this resulted in halving the cost of planting.

2006 Maintenance

• Late spring slashing to reduce exotic grass seed production but maintain topsoil integrity.

• Regular herbicide spraying around the base of saplings to reduce competition.

• These “framework” trees will even out soil hydrological fluctuations and provide cover for subsequent plantings of shrubs and ground cover species.

2008 Enhancement Planting

• Significant weed control has been undertaken prior to planting Tussock Grass grown from local seed sources.

• By this stage, the Eucalypts are producing significant leave litter.

• Tussock grasses were chosen to still allow selective herbicide treatment of herbaceous weeds such as thistles and docks.

• They also have relatively fast growth rates and quickly establish.

January 2009

• Regular weed control, including some hand-weeding has continued with care taken to avoid non-target damage.

• Leaf litter continues to build up.

• Tussock grasses are now beginning to produce seed and regeneration is anticipated.

• There is observed regeneration of shrub species such as Tree Violet and Prickly Current Bush.

August 2009

• Weed control has continued and care taken to avoid non-target damage.

• Tussock grasses are now beginning to regenerate as observed at the bottom of the picture.

• There is further regeneration of shrub species such as Tree Violet and Prickly Current Bush. A Silver Wattle can be observed in the foreground.

Environmental Management Framework

Environmental Management Framework (Chapter 27)

This chapter presents the Environmental Management Framework (EMF). The purpose of the EMF is to provide a transparent framework to manage the environmental effects identified in Environmental Effects Statement (EES). This EMF forms one component of the overall governance framework for delivery of North East Link.

Note: limited to the life of the Project – 2027 and for a short (not well defined) period after.

National Standards for the Practice of Ecological Restoration in Australia

Six ‘key principles’ are used to provide a framework forconceptualizing, defining and measuring ecologicalrestoration, particularly at a time of rapid environmentalchange.

1 Planning and Design

2 Implementation

3 Monitoring, Documentation, Evaluation and Reporting

=> Adaptive Management

4 Post-Implementation Maintenance.

The Standards are adaptable to rehabilitation and construction projects where a sustainable conservation objective is the desired outcome.

Monitoring & Reporting

MonitoringLandscape

Functional AnalysisPhoto Point Monitoring

2015

2016

Fauna Monitoring Volunteer

New Technology

Faunal Camera

Faunal Trapping

Victorian Desalination Plant

• A permit condition placed on the construction of the facility was the requirement to establish a 250-hectare Eco Reserve on previously grazed paddocks.

• Commenced in 2010, over 3.5Mplants have been planted.

• Indigenous Design took over the management of the reserve in 2013.

Monitoring and Reporting

• Indigenous Design has maintained a quarterly monitoring program that assess:

• Weed cover/density

• Plant cover/density

• The results of the monitoring program are reported against long term targets and are also used to facilitate an adaptive management process.

Summary of results, October 2018

Component Attribute Unit CBW DSHRW HW SS SW

Observed Target Observed Target Observed Target Observed Target Observed Target

Density

Canopy C 40 50 160 50 36 50 32860 500 110 50

Understorey Tree T 800 540 50 945 1510 1920 50

Medium Shrub MS 1390 1600 1000 1000 1600 1200 10 400 410 800

Small Shrub SS 10 100 30 500 0 2000 190 100 70

Graminoid G 11700 14330 500 24473 0 1000 19630 3000

Herb H 3380 4460 7345 17660 8300

Scrambler Sc 160 110 0 13490 0

Ground Fern GF 10 760 0 0 0

Total woody - 2240 1750 1730 1600 2582 3250 34570 1000 2510 850

Total - 17490 1750 21390 2100 34400 3250 65720 2000 30440 3850

Diversity and cover

Species richness S 56 - 78 - 37 - 45 - 54 -

Species per survey effort S/quadrat 1.4 - 1.95 - 1.18 - 1.13 - 1.35 -

Native plant cover % 45.0% 123% 58.7% 131% 28.5% 96% 34.7% 132% 56.0% 111%

Weed cover % 33.55% 10% 18.26% 5% 28.45% 5% 44.98% 5% 16.44% 5%

Compliance

Quadrats sampled n 40 40 11 40 40

Degrees of Freedom k 2 4 2 3 3

Chi square test χ2 9.81E-25 2.57E-94 0.00E+00 2.21E-46 5.19E-42

Case Study – Eastern Road Alliance

• 2016 – Investigate methods and processes for the management of roadsides within its jurisdiction.

A Weed Strategy that addressed:

• Monitoring Weeds

• Responsibilities for weed management

• Thresholds that weeds must be managed

• Processes for managing weeds

• Process for inspecting the quality of weed control

Roadside Weed Monitoring

Ragwort Neerim Blackberry Neerim

Blackberry Neerim Hawthorn & Spear Thistle Neerim

Monitoring and Reporting

The introduction of the georeferenced GoPro car mounted camera has reduced the survey time by over 50% (due to a single man operation).

By using the latest ArcGIS ‘Photos to Point’ app allows for spatial display of data and effective scheduling of weed control programming.

Having a baseline (1st

monitoring run) allows for progress to be measured and the assessment of long term objects.

Summing Up

NELP Fact Sheet April 2019

Final Comments:

• Designing sustainable freeway landscapes entails a very long-term vision and must incorporate the ongoing maintenance necessary, well into the future, to sustain this vision.

• There are many conservation opportunities – two stand-out examples are: • the incorporation of rare and threatened flora species, and • the establishment of linear habitat corridors linking adjacent parks and reserves.

• The need to adopt conservation standards that can be assessed through Monitoring, Documentation, Evaluation and Reporting to measure progress and assist in an Adaptive Management process.

• While the Design and Implementation phases are relatively short – the Maintenancephase is for LIFE.