This month, NACC NRM’s Biodiversity team headed out into the region to discuss revegetation with local landholders.
The workshop was an important part of the Gunduwa Regional Conservation Association (GRCA) project ‘Identifying Potential Landscape Links to Enhance Malleefowl Conservation in the Midwest’.
This project has identified Malleefowl as the indicator species, benefitting from vegetation and ground cover. The modelling software Marxan has been utilised to identify key areas in the landscape to restore and was generated through a partnership with Greening Australia. This information supports the investment of regional stakeholders for strategic conservation outcomes.
The half-day workshops to explore the identified opportunities with land managers featured renowned speakers in this field who shared their insights on delivering a well-planned and successful revegetation program.
Recognising that revegetation has different outcomes in different farming systems, Dean Revell from Select Carbon engaged the audience in discussion about species selection, stock health and on-farm carbon opportunities. One of Dean’s key messages was to establish clearly, at the outset, what you would like your revegetation to do for you. Answering this question will guide your location choice, species selection and planting design.
Jenny Borger from JB Consultancy further discussed species selection, corridor planning and the on-farm benefits of revegetation. Sharing some fantastic free, publicly available resources.
In the three centralised Malleefowl neighbourhoods identified through the modelling, recommended management actions include protecting the remaining habitat and managing predatory animals. These areas have a moderate to high degree of remnants in some areas, so trying to connect these remaining habitats together would be a priority. Jenny Borger discussed the importance of remanent vegetation and mechanisms to support its restoration in farming systems.
Dustin McCreery from Chatfields nursery presented a valuable insight into the running’s of a nursery. He offered some essential ‘do’s and don’ts’ when collecting seed, deciding on species mix, and handling seedlings once they leave the nursery. He also shared examples of successful and unsuccessful projects. Combined, the presenters covered landscape context, carbon opportunities, revegetation and stock management, remnant vegetation management, revegetation position, salinity mitigation, species selection and nursery operation.
NACC NRM’s Senior Biodiversity Officer, Jarna Kendle said the workshop was a great mix of practical and technical advice for on-farm revegetation planning.
“I’m looking forward to working with landholders in the future to improve on-farm revegetation outcomes,” said Ms Kendle.
“Thanks to the Gunduwa project we have a better understanding of the priority areas for our on-ground works and we are looking to support other regional providers with this base knowledge.”
NACC NRM NARvis Project Officer, Amanda Bourne took the opportunity to engage with the workshop participants – mostly landholders – and gather important feedback for the region’s Natural Resource Management Strategy, NARVis. This supports the future application of project outcomes and the regional NRM strategy by ensuring ongoing alignment.
If you would like to know more about the GRCA support tool, on-farm revegetation or the incentives available NACC NRM’s has available through our Malleefowl project ‘Gnow or Never’, please contact Senior Biodiversity Officer, Jarna Kendle.
(P) (08) 9938 0108
(M) 0448 984 899
This project was made possible through funding from the Gunduwa Regional Conservation Association, with support from Greening Australia, and the Australian Governments National Landcare Program.
