Grassy Groundcover Gazette 7 NEWS, UPDATES AND ON-GROUND ACTION December 2018 December 2017 December promoting the use of restoration to achieve grassland Dr Paul Gibson-Roy increases as part of development offset obligations - Lead Scientist, Greening Australia (NSW) which is another remarkably important outcome. I’m unsure if other states have followed these positive Paul’s Piece trends. Greetings all, to our 2018 Gazette. How quickly another Another potentially important market driver looks to be year passes but happily another opportunity presents to rising in Sydney’s west, where the development of its highlight some of the activities we in the field of second airport at Badgerys Creek and the associated road grassland and grassy woodland restoration have been and rail infrastructure build (and offset requirements) involved in over the past 12 months. At this time, I always could see a call for scales of grassy restoration that have take heart that there are remarkable and committed to-date not been witnessed. Whether or not the local people doing what they can, with whatever resources restoration sector can meet such a challenge remains to and support are available, to achieve positive outcomes. be seen. I have not heard of similar opportunities in Some of these will be highlighted in this edition. other states leading to firm outcomes. For example, friends in Victoria continue to voice disappointment that During the year I’ve travelled to several states visiting large public infrastructure projects such as highway restoration sites, attending conferences and forums and duplications to Melbourne’s west, or the development of catching up with others in our field. On most occasions I Melbourne grassland reserves, both of which offer the find people still enthused and eager to progress the potential for grassland restoration at large scale and for concept of ecological restoration. Equally there are still achieving biodiversity, functional and amenity outcomes, many opinions on what approaches and techniques are have not to-date done so. thought to be most effective (and what are not), but this is fine if on-ground action is still occurring (and of course Finally, I also should also mention the mining sector as there is unlikely to ever be one best approach or method another potential candidate market for grassy for all situations). Another thing that continues to strike restoration. I was asked to present at the NSW Minerals me, is the ever-growing focus and interest on the use of Council Mine Conference in the Hunter this year on the seed production. I am convinced that unless we embrace topic of grassy woodland restoration. Many mines (of seed production approaches right across Australia, then different types) in eastern Australia are called upon to we have no chance of ever restoring our grassy rehabilitate land that once supported grassy ecosystems at the scales that we must. But as I have communities. There was great interest shown in the topic commented in earlier editions, unless there are markets by delegates and in the successes of grassy restoration I for restoration and seed, then neither will develop spoke to. I believe that the resource sector could become beyond cottage industries. a large market for grassy restoration if we can clearly demonstrate to regulators and miners (and public) that So, what of our current markets – what stands out? high quality restoration is not only feasible but should be Federal programs remain the main drivers for part of conditions of mine project consents. restoration, but these continue to focus on trees and shrubs (i.e. the 20 million trees program), and so sadly That’s it for me. I hope you enjoy this edition of the we can expect little advance of grassy restoration in that Gazette. I/we have certainly enjoyed bringing them to sphere. Interestingly, offset schemes may become you these many years. Merry Christmas and best wishes important incentive mechanisms for high diversity for the coming year. Let’s hope these restoration restoration and seed production if ‘active restoration’ is markets I clearly dream of finally materialize! accepted by regulators as a means of creating biodiversity gains – which is soon to be the case under the NSW Biodiversity Assessment Mechanism. I also learnt while attending a recent Friends of Grasslands (FOG) forum that the ACT government is now keenly Grassy Groundcover Gazette 1 Carpet of Kidney-weed (Dichondra repens) Rod White Manager Environmental Services (VIC), In the last edition of the Grassy Gazette I talked about the appearance of Austral Trefoil - Lotus australis var. Greening Australia australis, in our restoration site at Mount Cottrell, west of Melbourne. At last count there had been close to 12 Pleasant Surprises individuals identified at the site. This species was not in the original seeding mix and further to this, the site had One of the many rewarding experiences associated with been cropped for close to 50 years prior to the grassland restoration are the often-unexpected little restoration taking place (where site preparation involved gems that re-appear post-scraping and seeding. Those the removal of approximately 100mm of topsoil). This surprise species that emerge on site but which weren’t in species is considered rare in the Melbourne region and the restoration seeding mix. It is a reminder of the only occurs in Plains Grassland EVC’s. capacity for persistence in the soil seed or bud bank that some species exhibit, just biding their time and waiting for the opportunity to again express themselves when the time is right. A great example of this is Kidney-weed - Dichondra repens, which has reappeared without fail at all the restoration sites that I have been involved in. Dichondra means two-lumped and refers to the two-lobed ovary, and repens means creeping or stoloniferous. This reliable little herb occurs in a wide variety of vegetation communities including riparian woodland, plains grasslands, Red Gum woodlands, Coastal banksia woodlands, dry and valley sclerophyll forests and grassy lowland open forests. Blushing and Slender Bindweed - Convolvulus angustissimus ssp. angustissimus/omnigracilis, are another relatively common component of our grasslands. With their pink funnel-shaped flowers they Austral Trefoil - Lotus australis at the Mount Cottrell are a welcome sight in a lot of clapped-out grasslands restoration site now managed by Parks Victoria. across the VVP. Due to its extensive woody taproot and I’m sure that loads of you out there who are involved in long lasting hard coated seeds it’s another of those grassland restoration have your own stories of these species that will ‘reappear’ in restored grasslands, even ’pleasant surprises’ appearing unexpectedly, and no if it was absent from the sowing mix. doubt share in my joy of their discovery. It is just so wonderful to be able to allow these dormant species to re-express themselves after what are sometimes long periods of time and again be allowed to play a role in our unique and beautiful grassy communities. Left: Slender Bindweed - Convolvulus angustissimus ssp. omnigracilis Grassy Groundcover Gazette 2 Geoff Robertson North Mitchell Grassland, a future conservation and recreation reserve. Friends of Grasslands, ACT An update from the Friends Added to this, we have a once a year afternoon session of Grasslands (FOG) where invited speakers update us on their research. Our members have given presentations on grassland issues at several forums and/or group meetings. We have had As president of FOG (which is based in the ACT and some very good press and media coverage, although this focusses on preserving grasslands of the region), I do try requires some organising to make it happen and to keep abreast of its many activities. And while I do my effective. best and spent most days couch-sitting devoted to grasslands reading, writing and arithmetic, and attending In October we partnered with other groups and agencies as many activities as I can, I find the task near impossible. to hold a grassland forum and field day. Paul Gibson-Roy Fortunately, FOG has developed a management model was one of our many inspirational presenters. One where small groups or individuals, including me, take hundred people attended the forum and sixty people the responsibility for individual areas of FOG’s activities. field day. Our inquiry line gets many and various queries and we do our best to be helpful. Our administrative and Our News of Friends of Grasslands continues to amaze financial responsibilities, which often take much effort, with its quality and diversity of material published within are ably spread across many highly competent people. its pages. Check it out on our much-visited website [email protected], which carries much material of interest, Some new initiatives are being undertaken. Earlier this including our huge activities program. year we circulated our annual report to many politicians - this has opened several doors and assisted us with some Our grassland advocacy work covers a large number and of our other advocacy work. We obtained a grant to diversity of issues. These are published in our newsletter undertake our first soil-scraping exercise, removing and listed on our website. On some issues we are Chilean Needle Grass and replacing it with a natural attempting to draw a line in the sand saying enough is temperate grassland at a National Capital Authority site. enough when it comes to grassland destruction. Our on- We are taking a proactive role into researching the ground projects are producing amazing results in populations of Monaro Golden Daisy. We are also restoring a number of sites in Canberra, where we work preparing a submission for converting a weedy high- with the National Capital Authority and Hall Cemetery, quality urban grassland site into a conservation and monitoring work at Scottsdale, a NSW Bush Heritage recreation reserve.