My Submission to the Parliamentary Inquiry into Australia’s Faunal Extinction Crisis can be viewed here : Dr Myfanwy Webb Submission 247.
Resurrecting ecosystems manually should encourage all of the intricate connections within ecosystems and bolster their resilience to threats. I see regrowing bush is like providing necessary new ‘housing developments’ for our populations of animals and plants.
An inquiry into Australia’s Faunal extinction crisis including the wider ecological impact of faunal extinction, the adequacy of Commonwealth environment laws, the adequacy of existing monitoring practices, assessment process and compliance mechanisms for enforcing Commonwealth environmental law, and a range of other matters.
The Terms of Reference are:
Australia’s faunal extinction crisis, including:
a) the ongoing decline in the population and conservation status of Australia’s nearly 500 threatened fauna species;
b) the wider ecological impact of faunal extinction;
c) the international and domestic obligations of the Commonwealth Government in conserving threatened fauna;
d) the adequacy of Commonwealth environment laws, including but not limited to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, in providing sufficient protections for threatened fauna and against key threatening processes;
e) the adequacy and effectiveness of protections for critical habitat for threatened fauna under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999;
f) the adequacy of the management and extent of the National Reserve System, stewardship arrangements, covenants and connectivity through wildlife corridors in conserving threatened fauna;
g) the use of traditional knowledge and management for threatened species recovery and other outcomes as well as opportunities to expand the use of traditional knowledge and management for conservation;
h) the adequacy of existing funding streams for implementing threatened species recovery plans and preventing threatened fauna loss in general;
i) the adequacy of existing monitoring practices in relation to the threatened fauna assessment and adaptive management responses;
j) the adequacy of existing assessment processes for identifying threatened fauna conservation status;
k) the adequacy of existing compliance mechanisms for enforcing Commonwealth environment law; and
l) any related matters.”
Australian Red Cedar Tree Toona CiliataTallowwood fibrous bark, Eucalptus Microcorys
These are two tall straight trees that can be distinguished from each other primarily by their different bark. The Red Cedar has a squarish, flaky grey bark. Tallowwood has a fibrous reddish bark. They are not typically sympatric with varying habitats and some non-overlapping range.
Australian Red Cedar
Australian Red Cedar trees are found in sub-tropical rainforest ecosystems of New South Wales and Queensland. Milton in the far North is northern limit, Papua New Guinea and Norfolk Island and Wheeny Creek to the west and Wyong. They are found in protected gullies of Narrabeen soil enriched by silts, shale and nutrient rich plant matter. They share the ecosystem with climbers and ferns, Cordyline stricta, a palm like lily and Cabbage Tree Palms, Livistona australis and also the Small-leaved Bleeding Heart, Omalanthus stillingifolius. Tall straight Cedar stands can be found at the base of the Blue mountains to the coast. They were prized for furniture production and heavily logged in the 19th century.
Spreading crown of an Australian Red Cedar tree, Toona CiliataAustralian Red Cedar tree trunk, Toona CiliataTall Australian Red Cedar Tree, Toona CiliataAustralian Red Cedar Tree, Toona CiliataFlaky bark of Australian Red Cedar, Toona Ciliata
Australian Tallowwood
Australian Tallowwood trees, Eucalyptus microcorys, are a coastal tree of New South Wales (Lake Macquarie near Newcastle is southern range) to Queensland. Grows up to 36 m tall and has brown, soft fibrous bark. Timber has a greasy feel like tallow. These trees grow in tall open forest on the edge of rainforest with soils that are deep, moist and nutrient rich. Tallowwood is a favoured koala food tree and is a useful choice of tree to grow when feeding captive koalas.
Tallowwood stand, Eucalyptus microcorysAustralian Tallowwood Tree Trunk, Eucalyptus Microcorys.Fibrous bark of Tallowwood, Eucalyptus Microcorys
Provenance Species
As Red Cedars and Tallowwood trees are both large structural components of their tall forest vegetation communities. Because of this they are both important provenance species to choose to plant and grow when artificially growing back those ecosystems they have evolved in.
So you’ve decided to increase the overall value of your land by increasing the area of natural forest but you run cattle or sheep or something . You’d like to increase the biodiversity of insects, native plants, mammals, birds and maybe enhance the micro climate plus give yourself and your neighbors a stunning vista to admire. You have this notion that you’d like to leave the land in much better condition than when you first took over the reins.
Natural ecosystem and farm land
Habitat fragmentation
Your paddocks may be completely clear of native vegetation or they may have patches of forest within or on the edges. Natural ecosystems may be highly fragmented and separated or form large blocks of forest. Fragmentation is the division of continuous habitat into small disconnected patches that can be differently shaped and isolated from one another by areas of different habitat (Collinge, 1996). The way to improve the persistence of native species is to improve the natural ecological connectivity within the landscapes. This means connecting the dots and expanding the islands. You don’t have to sacrifice your prime grazing areas. You can choose the less fertile areas of ridge lines and unproductive road sides for linear corridors. Rivers are an effective place to rejuvenate a long connected expanse of natural ecosystem as creeks are a hot spot for many native species and often more biologically diverse than other areas.
Fencing priority areas
Fencing your stock out off priority zones is an effective tool to start the process of resurrecting ecosystems to increase biodiversity. Consider fragile areas vulnerable to grazing and hoof impact. It might be simply a boggy area that doesn’t dry out after rain that the hooves turn to mud that exhibits vulnerability. If you have multiple ecosystems such as swamps, open woodland and say some rain forest, then expansion of each and every of one of these will add the most ecological value to your land. This is because each houses different species so improving and expanding these different habitats increases the total overall range of biodiversity and then gradually, hopefully add more.
Economical fencing
For expanding into paddocks from the sidelines rather than linear connectivity and if you have natural forest or forest that grows at the corners of your open paddocks, these corners are a cheap place to start. Economical fencing can be done by changing paddock corners into diagonals. The same as if you need to quickly make a square stock yard into a round yard by placing wood across the corners. This then looks like a diamond. The fence length is relatively short and it forms more of a block. The original two right angle parts of the fence and the new part can be reinforced with mesh to deter feral animals and large native herbivores (such as kangaroos in Australia) until seedlings are too big for them.
Fencing off corners to expand ecosystems
Ecosystem size and complexity
There are a minimum number of resources within an area that native fauna require for a population to thrive and reproduce. These resources include housing such (tree branch hollows, logs, rocks, grassy thickets) food, water and protective cover from predators. Home ranges and natural history information for various species are sometimes known but usually the size varies depending on different site variables.
If you look at the big picture and see how your land flows into your neighbors’ land, then coordinating with them with fence plans, fencing and planting may make your efforts more strategic and a lot easier.
Provenance plants are the key
Fences start the work by firstly removing stock from the ground. With no large herbivores and depending on your site, native plants may soon germinate naturally from the seed bank in the soil within your fenced zones. To speed up and supplement natural seed bank germination, you can artificially grow and plant indigenous vegetation.
The one single important factor for success of this whole process is to ONLY choose site-specific native species of plants to artificially plant and grow. These plant species have evolved over thousands of years to the very specific conditions of these sites (soil type and pH, micro climate, nutrient loads, rainfall) and are therefore likely to survive and not shrivel. They are known as provenance plants. If you think of the whole ecosystem that once existed there, everything within had co-evolved together. For instance, some flowers have their own special co-evolved insects that pollinate them. Your goal is to retain as close to original plants as possible to provide and grow the ecosystem’s backbone vegetative structure. This structure will then allow all the intricate ecological components to flourish and flow on from that supportive structure.
It is best to take the native seed stock from your own land if possible, to reproduce in good numbers ready to plant out. Either, use seed to seedling techniques yourself or collect the seeds and hand them to nurseries to grow for you or community groups, non-government agencies and government agencies such as forestry may help you do this. Government grants, philanthropists and carbon offset companies within your own country or outside your country may be available to assist here. Even your schools may gain from involvement with these ecological activities.
Record the change and celebrate
One last thing, for most satisfaction and also to pinpoint what works and what doesn’t in this process, it’s worth the effort to obtain baseline data. Take lots of ‘before’ photographs and try and survey to establish what you already have on the land, like what bird species are there and where. Even some random vegetation plot surveys are good in the natural part you already have. As the native plants spread, the diversity of plant species may increase in that area too. Perhaps new (but original) bird or bat species may fly in and start providing seeds allowing for a complex and robust ecosystem to flourish and add priceless value to your land.
References:
Collinge, S.K. (1996) Ecological consequences of habitat fragmentation: implications for landscape architecture and planning. Landscape and Urban Planning36:59-77.
Replacing the light green with the dark green and exchanging unnatural paddocks to bio-diverse ecosystems
Vegetation maps made across all of Australia of both present existing vegetation and past vegetation communities (pre-colonisation).
Data banks created that provide evidence of past vegetation communities in areas that have been altered since colonisation. This data can be in the form of photographs, oral histories, etc.
Nurseries, forestry nurseries, farmers, landscape gardeners, surburban home owners within all regions growing plant species from original vegetation communities within their areas.
Seedlings of understory and dominant tree species of the specific local vegetation communities raised and then distributed and planted across the country.
Trail maps made in conjunction with the land reserves that are created to provide access through these already existing and newly created ecosystems.
Mandate for a high proportion of land (25-75%) to be re-vegetated.
Large scale protective actions on land such as creeks fenced from livestock, sites with young growth, saplings fenced from livestock.
Existing structurally strong ecosystems increase in size and spread outwards via plantings.
Resurrecting ecosystems and connecting trails is a way to increase biodiversity and connect people to the land as guardians. Resurrecting is recreating an ecosystem that previously existed naturally. It is raising it from the dead so to speak. Connecting trails through existing natural ecosystems and those systems that are undergoing resurrection enables people to enjoy and experience the natural facets of earth. By enabling individuals to go into the woodlands, forests and deserts with a mindset of care and stewardship to the land, we strengthen the ancient culture of responsibility that protects and supports the land for now and into the future.
Soaking in the priceless benefits
It is not just the physical action of walking or riding in natural land that is a good thing, it is the immersion with everything in it that feels rejuvenating. It is listening to the chittering natter of a family of small birds high up in the tree tops or the wind rustling the leaves. It is, smelling the earthy dampness of the soil while walking through the dark shady parts of a trail. It’s looking across a steep gully and seeing no man-made features, no jarring straight lines, just the easy-on-the-eye, jangled order of a natural ecosystem.
Scale
Resurrection can be done at all scales. It might not be possible to resurrect a whole intact ecosystem but fragmented components of our original ecosystems persist even in the Central Business Districts in cities. It is about matching the plant types to as close to site specific indigenous species as possible. So for the Sydney CBD, the first step is to determine the dominant eucalypt trees and understory shrubs that grew there before colonization. Then, grow new seedlings from existing trees as close to the area as possible and gradually replace those plants that are not native to the area with the new resurrection ones.
At the minute scale, you can grow a single plant of a species that once naturally existed in that location in a pot or on a 30 X 30 cm square patch of land. We can extend this idea to growing indigenous native plant species in residential areas, council lands, industrial areas, hobby farms, outback stations, mine rehabilitation sites and vacant roadside strips. In Australia, livestock grazing on native vegetation occurs and affects a whopping 55% of the continent and is of huge concern as it is a primary factor contributing to the loss of biodiversity of flora and fauna. Every type of land use can be transformed and resurrected.
REACT.CARE (Resurrecting Ecosystems and Connecting Trails) aims to create a strategic and efficient formula for protecting and increasing our biodiversity. The method involves growing structurally strong ecosystems that support an increase in numbers of native flora and fauna from the site-specific tiny orchid and soil microorganisms to the iconic birds and mammals. The outcomes must be measurable with clear performance indicators and involves all citizen types of land users, land owners and other people who control what happens to portions of land. The earth’s flora and fauna’s greatest threat is habitat loss. This additive approach of growing more habitats actively combats the current rapid rate of habitat loss across the globe.
Australia
Australia covers 7688503 square km. Livestock grazing on native vegetation occurs on 55% of the continent, conservation reserves make up only 7%. Land protected by indigenous uses totaling 13% leaving 25% for the rest. See Figure 1.
Proportions as percentages.
Figure 1 Broad land use types on the continent of Australia.
So the ‘other’ land use makes up 19221257 square kilometers. If you add the livestock grazing land (42286766 square km) to the rest of the unprotected land, this makes 61508023 square km. If 25% of this is resurrected with intact ecosystems, Australia would enjoy 15377005 square km of replenished land supporting an increase in native plants and animals. To give you a visual idea of this vastness, Sydney city is 12368 square kilometers and would fit 1243 times into that 25%. Imagine the Sydney area as completely intact native bushland spreading out 1242 times in area out. See Figure 2.
Map of Sydney Area
Figure 2. Map of Sydney area within the purple coloured borders.
Australia has one of the highest land clearing rates in the world. Most of the clearing of native vegetation has happened in recent decades, more than at any other time of the island’s history (Bradshaw 2012). A goal of increasing the proportion of intact ecosystems on all land use types by 25% is today both modest and ambitious.
Our Ownership and Connections to the Land
As humans, we all are linked to the earth. It does not matter what our ancestral path is, nor does it matter who formally owns the land, we all have ownership and connections to the land. If you live in a particular place and you travel to another place and spend time there, they are both your places. You may have knowledge about a place but have never physically been there. That too can be your place. I have never visited Tasmania, but I have knowledge of the ancient forests there and I feel a degree of ownership and connection to that land. Certain lands have stronger connections within us. Maybe it is where we live right now, or where we were raised, where we like to go to make us feel good. It could be the ocean, a creek or a mountain top you like to visit or the city. You are connected and it is yours forever. No one and nothing can completely take your places from you although other people can change them. Sometimes, your connections may weaken over time. Some places make us feel better within than other places. The more you visit, think about in your head or grow in knowledge of your lands, the stronger your connection to them and the richer you are.
When you are connected to your land and places, you then can have a degree of guardianship of your places. People who visit lands can protect them at varying scales. Trails threading through ecosystems located on public land, government land, private lands and reserves allow people to become more strongly connected to these lands. These visiting individuals become protectors of our precious ecosystems. Continuous trails enable people to strengthen their connections to the natural world and in turn, strengthen the ancient human culture of caring for the land.
Reference
Bradshaw, CJA (2012) Little left to lose: deforestation and forest degradation in Australia since European colonization. Journal of Plant Ecology, 5: 109-120.
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