Hi all,
In this week’s Weekly Times, Wed 14th, the front page reads “Plains Blunderer- Lock-it-and-leave policy debunked as sheep graze a national park to save the Plains Wanderer ”
The article opens the lid on the fact that since the acquisition of more than 11,000 ha of farmland in Northern Victoria by federal and state governments as well as by private environmental groups over the last 20 years, to protect native grasslands and the associated threatened species, the reduction in grazing, and lack of response to the recent wetter years, have led to a situation where the Plains Wanderer has virtually been completely eliminated from the now protected areas. In my opinion the dense grass growth has also crowded out many wildflowers.
The population in Victoria has crashed, and remaining birds seem largely confined to regularly grazed private grasslands, some of those being landholders who did not want to sell their native grasslands.
The grassland reserves are certainly now protected from being ploughed/cropped, but when it comes to managing grasslands there are different ideas on how to do it !
It appears that there is now a realization amongst the powers that be, that these birds, and other threatened species have been badly affected due to poor management on the reserves.
There are many good people working to improve the situation which gives me great hope that in the future the dire situation for the Plains Wanderer will be reversed. However it will require suitable funding to make it work, and in the current climate it is a worry that adequate funds will not be allocated to managing what is now a very large area of the northern plains.
The Weekly Times article will certainly reinforce some attitudes in rural areas, that “greenies” do not know how to manage the land. Having lived and worked on the land, I think that both sides of the argument have something to learn from the other.
Grassland conservation in the Riverina is still a relatively new exercise, so these experiences will no doubt help the process into the future.
Regards,
Simon Starr,
PS the article does not seem to be available online, but the paper should still be available tomorrow/Tuesday.
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Thanks for posting the link, I’ll quote the final paragraph for those who don’t want to read the whole thing.
“Livestock grazing has the potential to provide a useful management tool to achieve conservation objectives in some ecosystems at some times. However, the political rationale for grazing must be driven by sound ecological objectives, to ensure that “conservation grazing” is not used as an argument to extract production gains at the environment’s expense.”
Regards, Alan
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Actually, there is a much better article by Ian Lunt, which I don’t think anyone has mentioned on The Conversation – http://theconversation.edu.au/can-livestock-grazing-benefit-biodiversity-10789 need for nuanced management – a concept that rarely appears in the popular press …
Regards, Laurie.
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Laurie, To quote Simon, a local, “However it is true that management decisions made in the last 5 years or so have led to excessive grass growth with a subsequent reduction in biodiversity. “High quality native grasslands are now extremely rare here, i.e. less than half of one percent. Most of the areas purchased are modified grasslands, which have been ploughed historically, have largely lost their chenopods and sub shrubs, and support varying amounts of weedy grasses particularly in wetter years.”
We stuff up the environment and our conservation efforts are not the best they could be so it is all the fault of the conservation effort rather than the practises that led to the need for a recovery plan!
Such simplistic nonsense might grab the attention and admiration of Barnaby Joyce supporters but that does not make it true. Regards, Alan
G’day Simon,
This is a bit of a ‘straw man argument’ in that ‘lock it and leave it’ is very unlikely to have ever been a policy. In man altered environments it is not possible to walk away from the changes we have wrought and expect things to go back to the way they were. The forces acting on the ecosystem have been changed.
What percentage of the grasses in the area are native? What percentage of the land to these cover?
By the way I am still cursing you for having given me that dragonfly book. Horrible little buggers, I think I hate entomology.
Regards, Alan
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From what little experience I have had with Plains Wanderers at Ivanhoe, NSW many years ago, is that they respond (like most inland birds) to changes in climatic conditions. In poor seasons or below normal then Plains Wanders ( same for Gibber Birds) would appear, when a good seasons happens then they disappeared from the area. I put this down to the fact they couldn’t handle wet weather, and the heavy or thick under growth, mostly from introduced grasses or weeds (Riverina Bluebell as an example), that result from the good season. Their feathers didn’t seem to me as being water proofed so they were a pretty sorry sight when wet.
I guess the point is they always returned, so I’m suggesting we shouldn’t be over reacting, because a species appears to disappear for a period.
The big problem, I think with a lot of our conservation areas on the plains country is introduced grasses and weeds taking over from the saltbush and the fact there is no active management (at least in NSW) of these areas (and I don’t mean sheep). I think an active fire regime especially of those areas heavily infested with introduced weeds or grasses should be a priority to encourage saltbush regeneration.
There is currently a big push by the NSW Farmers Association, Western Council Association and the current NSW government (besides shooting in conservation areas) to reintroduce stock (sheep and cattle) into conservation areas. I don’t see how this will benefit the Plains Wander or a number of other species in the long term and until funds are made available to the NPWS (or whatever they are called now days) for active management of these grasslands, then I see no solution to the problems of weed invasion, but I don’t believe stocking of conservation areas as the long term answer.
I’ve probably simplified the issue, but if stocking were the answer then we should have plenty of Plains Wanders in the western areas of NSW.
Neville
Well it does beg the question as to how the Plains Wanderers coped before the arrival of first Aborigines and then Europeans …
What is the macropod grazing pressure like in the protected areas?
Laurie.
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Very interesting. I’d bet money that the problem is poor fire regimes, which grazing is a poor alternative.
Jeremy
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