Buttongrass Moorland Management WORKSHOP
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PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2007 Buttongrass Moorland Management WORKSHOP Nature Conservation Report 10/4 • Edited by Jayne Balmer Proceedings of the 2007 Buttongrass Moorland Management Workshop BL10500 Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment Biodiversity Conservation Branch GPO Box 44 Hobart TAS 7001 Department of www.dpipwe.tas.gov.au Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2007 BUTTONGRASS MOORLAND MANAGEMENT WORKSHOP A workshop held 4 – 6 July 2007 At the School of Geography & Environmental Studies University of Tasmania, Sandy Bay, Tasmania. Edited by Jayne Balmer With assistance from Jenny Styger and Jennie Whinam Nature Conservation Report 10/4 ISSN: 1441-0680 (print) ISSN: 1838-7403 (electronic) Copyright is assigned to the Crown. Apart from fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any means without permission from the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment. Published by the Biodiversity Conservation Branch, Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment, GPO Box 44, Hobart, 7001. Cover design by Brett Littleton, ILS Design Unit, DPIPWE Front Cover Photograph: Mosaic of vegetation communities, including buttongrass moorland, Mount Anne, Tasmania, taken by Grant Dixon. Back Cover Photographs: buttongrass moorland with Mt King William in the background taken by Michael Driessen; discussion between scientists during the buttongrass moorland management workshop field day by Peter Grant; close up of buttongrass flower by Tim Rudman; the Sorrell River and terraces by Kathryn Storey; march fly on buttongrass seed head by Michael Driessen; green mountain lily, an ancient endemic plant species of buttongrass moorland by Tim Rudman. Cite as: Balmer, J. (ed) 2010, Proceedings of the 2007 buttongrass moorland management workshop. Nature Conservation Report 2010/4. Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment, Hobart, Tasmania. Preface An edited extract from the opening speech delivered by Peter Mooney General Manager of the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service. The purpose of this workshop is to present that the flooding of Lake Pedder began. A and discuss buttongrass moorland values and decade of intense political debate about the their management in Tasmania. use and management of the western Tasmanian wilderness followed. This Buttongrass moorland may have expanded as culminated in 1982 with the inscription of the a result of the migration to Tasmania by area on the United Nations Educational Aboriginal people at least 35,000 years ago. Scientific and Cultural Organisation The coastal hinterlands of buttongrass (UNESCO) World Heritage list. Following this moorlands in western and southwest the Australian government joined the Tasmania were occupied by Aborigines at the Tasmanian government in providing financial time of European arrival. Buttongrass assistance to Tasmania for the management of moorlands were used for hunting game and the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage provided open travelling routes for trade and Area (TWWHA) — a partnership that social exchange. Aborigines actively managed continues to this day. the landscape by regularly burning buttongrass to encourage game and keep the country low Although about one quarter of the TWWHA and open for ease of travel. Traditional is occupied by buttongrass moorland, this burning practices in buttongrass moorland all ecosystem was not recognised as a significant but ceased when British Colonial Government value in the 1981 nomination of the western policy resulted in the relocation of the native Tasmanian wilderness National Parks for inhabitants of Tasmania to Flinders Island in World Heritage Area listing. While the world the 1830s. heritage value of this ecosystem has now been recognised, the moorlands are probably still Moorlands were not greatly valued by the the least appreciated and understood early colonial settlers. They proved ecosystem in Tasmania. unpalatable for stock grazing and unsuitable for farming. They were wastelands and It is fitting that in the 25 th year of the identified as such on many maps well into the TWWHA our collective information about 1970s. As a consequence, relatively little of buttongrass moorlands was presented and the buttongrass moorland estate has been discussed at the buttongrass moorland alienated to private land tenures. management workshop. This volume, together with the special theme edition of Australasian Reservation of land for recreational and Plant Conservation (vol 16, no 3, Dec 2007) conservation purposes began as early as the ‘Buttongrass moorland – conservation and 1860s in Tasmania. However it was not until management’, provide a summary of the talks the late 1960s that conservation became a and discussions held at the workshop. They publicly divisive debate upon which are intended as a resource to guide future governments were overturned. A campaign to research and management of buttongrass stop the flooding of Lake Pedder failed. moorland. However the National Parks and Wildlife Service was created in 1971, the same year i Contents Preface i Contents ii Index to Poetry iii Acknowledgments iv Introduction 1 A review of fire history in south-west Tasmania 3 J. Balmer, M. Driessen and S. Whight A review of the potential interactions between fire, soil, hydrology and geomorphology of buttongrass moorland 10 K. Storey A review of vegetation responses to fire in buttongrass moorland 22 J. Balmer and D. Storey A review of fauna responses to fire in buttongrass moorland 30 M. Driessen Fire histories from charcoal and palaeoecology in sedge and shrub bogs 36 G. Hope Freshwater red algae in Tasmanian streams 42 T.J. Entwisle Tasmania’s buttongrass moorlands 44 G. Kantvilas From one quaking tussock to the next: Walkers and buttongrass 48 P. Grant The dynamics of the boundary between lowland buttongrass moorland and wet-eucalypt forest in southwest Tasmania 52 J.B. Marsden-Smedley, M.J. Brown and J. B. Reid Buttongrass moorland vegetation recovery following fire 65 D. Storey and J. Balmer Avifaunal habitat use and potential availability of arthropod prey resources in relation to post-fire succession of buttongrass moorlands in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area 70 T.A. Chaudhry, M.M. Driessen, A.M.M. Richardson Fire suppression in buttongrass moorlands in western Tasmania 73 A. Pyrke Workshops: 1: Lessons from history 76 2: How much do we know? 77 3: What is impacting on moorlands? 79 4: General fire management 81 5: Microcosm or landscape? 82 6: Balancing values and protection needs 83 7: Prescribed fire regimes 86 Final summing up 87 M. Wells Post-workshop feedback from participants 90 ii Index to Poetry Haiku by Meika Loofs Samorzewski 9 Bumbling through buttongrass by Todd Chaudhry 35 Buttongrass by Adrienne Eberhard 41 Buttongrass Valley by Oberon Carter 43 Buttongrass by Chris Cooper 64 The Animal Within by James Charlton 69 Buttongrass — and what lies beneath by Alex Dudley 72 Mourning Joy on the Moorlands Naomi Lawrence 75 Buttongrass illustration by Richard Hale iii Acknowledgments This report was prepared under the direction of the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment (World Heritage program). The workshop was supported by funds and in kind support from the Department of Environment & Water Resources’ World Heritage Area program (now Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities), the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service, the Ecological Society of Australia (Tasmanian branch), the University of Tasmania and the Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries and Water (now DPIPWE). The publication of these proceedings was funded from the Australian Government’s World Heritage program, administered by the Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries Parks, Water and Environment. The workshop organising committee comprised members from the then Department of Primary Industries and Water (DPIW) — Jayne Balmer, Melina Boerma, Michael Driessen, Ian Houshold; the Parks and Wildlife Service (PWS) — Adrian Pyrke; the University of Tasmania (UTAS) — Maj-Britt di Folco, Emma Pharo, Alastair Richardson; and an independent consultant — Mick Brown. Additional help was provided by: Lee Buchanan Web Publishing Brett Littleton Graphic Design Simon de Salis Media Liaison Janet Smith Note taking Richard Hale Artwork Jennie Whinam Advice Premek Hamr Artwork Adele Wright Catering Workshop Leaders: Student Volunteers: Kerry Bridle Simon Branigan Mick Brown Matt Cracknell Peter Clarke Paul Donaldson Grant Dixon Maldwyn Evan Michael Driessen Kyen Knight Malcolm Gill Damian Meoli Geoff Hope Jenny Styger Ian Houshold Adrian Pyrke Transcribing & or editing: Keynote Speakers: Jayne Balmer David Bowman Michael Driessen Peter Clarke Mona Loofs Geoff Hope Jenny Styger Jon Marsden-Smedley Jennie Whinam iv Introduction The plant commonly known as ‘buttongrass’ is Some additional papers and reviews (not a tussock forming sedge with the scientific presented at the workshop) have been name Gymnoschoenus sphaerocephalus . The included in these proceedings because of their vegetation in which this species is usually (but relevance to buttongrass moorland not always) common is also known as management. Poetry is dispersed through this ‘buttongrass’ or ‘buttongrass moorland’. volume in recognition of the importance of Jarman et al. (1988) provide a definition of the arts to education, protection