C Uses of Public Land 152 River Red Gum Forests Investigation > 2006 The river red gum forests have been a major source of durable timbers in south-eastern Australia since the earliest days of settlement. While production levels have diminished over time, and the area from which timber can be Part C of the Discussion harvested has reduced, the forests remain an Paper provides details on important source of these timbers. the various uses of land within the study area and The extent, functioning, composition,the implications structure of these and management of the riveruses redon gumthe values forests and vary somewhat across theattributes study area, of asthe do River the extent and quality of dataRed about Gum them. Forests As aas a consequence, must of thewhole. information It covers about chapters the forests has been generalised.10 to 17. River Red Gum Forests investigationDiscussion > Paper2006 153 how much human habitation and use there is in an area. 10 Nature Biodiversity conservation can take many forms, ranging from conservation reserves, to the sympathetic Conservation management of natural areas used for resource extraction (such as state forests) or utilities (such as road Nature conservation is a significant use of public reserves), to improved management of remnant land in Victoria and includes the protection of flora vegetation on private land through incentives and and fauna species, their habitat and significant support. environmental characteristics. Features of Nature conservation encompasses the protection of both geological, geomorphological and scenic the living and the non-living parts of the environment, significance are part of nature conservation as well including geological and geomorphological features and as the preservation of processes necessary to scenic natural landscapes. conserve species, such as fire and flood regimes. This chapter provides an explanation of the CONSERVATION RESERVE SYSTEMS contribution of public land—and in particular the reserve system—to nature conservation. FOR BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION As discussed in chapter 5 a great deal of Victoria’s Protecting natural areas in conservation reserves is a biodiversity has been lost, largely due to land clearing cornerstone of biodiversity preservation (Gaston et al. and the introduction of exotic species. This decline 2006). The need for conservation reserves is recognised continues in many areas. As a result, the maintenance, worldwide and both the Australian and Victorian protection and enhancement of biodiversity have governments are committed, through the Convention on become important priorities for many communities as Biological Diversity, to establishing a representative well as local, state and Commonwealth governments. conservation reserve system. Many people appreciate biodiversity for its own sake and Habitat protection within conservation reserves is for the chance to experience it—and many believe it is considered to be one of the most efficient means of important to preserve species for future generations. conserving biodiversity and reducing extinction rates Some also believe that all life forms have an inherent (Lawler et al. 2003). Protecting biodiversity in natural right to exist. In addition to its intrinsic value, areas (in situ conservation) is more likely to maintain biodiversity is essential to maintain the health of natural natural evolution and broader ecological processes than systems more broadly, such as healthy soil and focusing on a single species outside of its natural waterways—the term “ecosystem services” has been environment. Deforestation and habitat fragmentation coined recently to recognise the importance of this role. are generally much higher outside conservation reserves The conservation of biodiversity is achieved using many than inside (Sanchez-Azofeifa et al. 1999). Other different methods on both public and private land. human-induced threatening processes such as hunting These methods depend upon how many species are and grazing are also reduced in conservation reserves present, how intact the ecological processes are and (Bruner et al. 2001) and this can improve conservation of 154 River Red Gum Forests Investigation > 2006 threatened species in these areas (McKinney 2002). governments). In Victoria, five RFAs were signed but only the North East RFA (Commonwealth of Australia & In situ conservation is usually the cheapest and most State of Victoria 1999) overlaps with the River Red Gum effective long-term option. In situ conservation of Forests study area—the area of overlap being the current threatened species in reserves is cheaper than ex situ North East Forest Management Area (Map 14.1 in conservation (Balmford et al. 1995; Lindsey et al. 2005). chapter 14 shows the boundaries of Forest Management Numerous studies have compared (on a global scale) the Areas overlapping with the study area). costs of conserving biodiversity in conservation reserves with the costs of conserving biodiversity in the general The Commonwealth funding program for the National landscape. James et al. (1999) estimated that a global Reserve System mainly focuses on terrestrial ecosystems network of conservation reserves would cost $27.5 other than forests, with particular emphasis on adding billion per year while the conservation and remediation poorly reserved environments to the national of biodiversity in the agricultural, forestry, coastal and conservation reserve system, using a bioregional aquatic landscapes would be nearly ten times as great approach. (approximately $290 billion per year). Retaining an Comprehensive, Adequate and Representative intact area of biodiversity may also have greater (CAR) reserve systems economic benefits than converting the land for production. Balmford et al. (2002) reviewed studies that Both the National Reserve System and the Regional included the benefits of recreation and ecosystem Forest Agreement processes incorporate the need for a services (see chapter 5) such as carbon sequestration, comprehensive, adequate and representative (CAR) water supply and regulation, and storm protection, and conservation reserve system. In the context of the study consistently found that retaining the area as intact area, these terms are defined as: habitat was more cost effective than clearing it for Comprehensive: includes examples of the full range production. The cost of managing the conservation of ecosystems within each Victorian bioregion within reserve system is estimated at 0.1–1% of the value of the study area; ecosystem services provide (James et al. 2001; Pimm et al. 2001). Adequate: of sufficient size and number, and of appropriate shape to ensure the maintenance of DESIGN CRITERIA AND SETTING GOALS ecological viability and integrity of biological FOR RESERVE SYSTEMS populations, species and communities; Representative: areas selected for inclusion in The conservation reserve system began early in Victoria’s reserves should reflect the diversity of the flora and European history with the first national park declared in fauna within each of the protected habitats and 1898 although early reserve declarations tended to be biological communities. ad hoc and favoured sites that were scenically spectacular or of little use for agriculture, timber or In summary, the conservation reserve system should mining. This pattern is common across the world contain examples of all types of ecosystems to be (Margules & Pressey 2000). From 1971 to the mid comprehensive. For each ecosystem, the reserved areas 1990s, the Land Conservation Council conducted should be of sufficient size and configuration to systematic regional studies of public land across Victoria. maintain the integrity of its biodiversity (adequacy). These studies recommended parks and reserves that Also, each ecosystem should be represented within each included parts of each major land system found in the bioregion to cover the range of biological variation state. Most of Victoria’s existing conservation reserve (representativeness). Bioregions are the broadscale system result from these recommendations (see chapter mapping units for biodiversity planning in Victoria and 9). However, many of the recommendations were made capture the patterns and ecological characteristics in the with the limited ecological information available at the landscape (for a full description of bioregions, see time. More recent research has changed scientific chapter 5). thinking on bioregional approaches (see chapter 5) or Biodiversity may be defined in terms of species, genetic the appropriate size and configuration for reserve variation, habitats and/or ecosystems (see Ricotta 2005). systems. In the 1990s, more sophisticated and The CAR criteria describe biodiversity at the level of systematic considerations of reserve systems were “ecosystem” and assume that other levels of biodiversity developed in recognition of their central role in are protected if coverage of ecosystems is biodiversity conservation. comprehensive, adequate and representative. Recent developments in terrestrial reserve systems in However, ecosystems may also be difficult to map and Australia have largely come under the auspices of the thus, Ecological Vegetation Classes (EVCs) have been National Reserve System (NRS) and the Regional Forest used as ecosystem surrogates to measure Agreement (RFA) processes, both of which have been comprehensiveness, adequacy and representativeness for consistently supported by all state and Commonwealth a number of years (Woodgate et