Trust for Nature (Victoria)

East Gippsland

by

Important Gippsland Lakes wetland on the road to recovery

A wetland property owned by East Gippsland Water is being restored with the help of conservation organisation Trust for Nature.

The property, in the upper reaches of the MacLeod Morass on Gunaikurnai Country near Bairnsdale, is part of the Gippsland Lakes, which are internationally recognised for their importance to migratory birds.

Trust for Nature and East Gippsland Water recently held a working bee to remove tree guards from trees planted on the property in 2015. Further tree planting and weed removal is planned.

Tessa Skilton, Trust for Nature Project Lead, said the restoration efforts will help safeguard this important wetland system.

“It is wonderful to see how successful previous plantings have been and their contribution to the conservation values of the site. The wetland and surrounding vegetation within the property helps to filter water entering the Gippsland Lakes from Cobblers, MacLeod and Smith Creek before it enters the Gippsland Lakes system,” Tessa said.

The property is protected through Trust for Nature with a conservation covenant, a voluntary, permanent, legally-binding agreement placed on a property’s title that ensures native vegetation is protected forever. The covenant limits activities that might damage the environment and requires the landholders to maintain and improve its health.

Through Trust for Nature’s Stewardship Program, landholders now and into the future, will be supported to undertake management activities that ensure the special site is managed forever.

“East Gippsland Water’s strong partnerships with groups such as Trust for Nature form part of our ongoing commitment to work with key partners to achieve better environmental and community outcomes,” said Steve McKenzie, East Gippsland Water Managing Director.

This project is funded as part of the $248 million Victorian Government investment over four years (2020-2024) to improve the health of waterways and catchments across regional Victoria, including $8.3 million to improve the health of the Gippsland Lakes.

Media contact: Tessa Skilton, Senior Conservation Officer, Trust for Nature – 0457 416 459

More news

Back to all news

by

Assistance for fire-impacted covenantors

Trust for Nature is pleased to announce that the organisation has been successful in obtaining funding through the Supporting Communities and Habitats in Fire Impacted Landscapes project.

This two-year project is funded through the Victorian Government’s Bushfire Recovery Victoria program, jointly funded by the Victorian Government and Commonwealth Government under the Commonwealth-State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements.

During the 2019-20 summer bushfires, vast areas of native vegetation and millions of native animals were impacted. Communities within these areas have been greatly affected and the impact of these bushfires on wellbeing has been immense.

Thanks to this project, Trust for Nature will be able to work with landholders with a Trust for Nature conservation covenant within the shires of Alpine, East Gippsland, Indigo, Mansfield, Towong, Wangaratta and Wodonga.

Webinars and field days will be held on habitat recovery and will provide landholders with opportunities to meet others and talk about their experiences of bushfire recovery.

Monitoring will continue on fire-impacted covenants and will be established on covenants that are providing important refuge areas for flora and fauna. Landholders have the opportunity to be trained in Trust for Nature’s monitoring techniques, enabling citizen science to support recovery efforts.

Funding will also be available for eligible landholders for a range of activities including weed control, revegetation and installing nest boxes.

Over the next few months, an expression of interest process will identify landholders with conservation covenants who would like to be involved in the project.

“Trust for Nature works closely with landholders to permanently protect nature on private land. This project will support landholders with conservation covenants in bushfire impacted areas to recover from the 2019-20 summer fires,” said North East Area Manager, Amelia Houghton.

“There is a direct link between environmental health and community health, which were both severely impacted by the bushfires. This project is exciting as we can work directly with landholders, enhancing their wellbeing through the habitat recovery process,” said Gippsland Area Manager Robyn Edwards.

Back to all news

by

Safeguarding Gippsland Lakes’ plants and animals

On a property near Bairnsdale stands a paddock containing Snow Gums that are unique to the immediate area and locally rare for the Gippsland Plains.

Despite being only minutes from Bairnsdale, the property is secluded with hidden, steep gullies and escarpments overlooking two creeks, Smiths and Ballantine. It’s these features that prompted the Irish family to buy it in 2012.

Owner Danny Irish said, “I was so surprised when I first saw them as the landscape changes so dramatically and it is not obvious from the property entrance.

“It was clear the property had been over-grazed and that the remnant Snow Gums (at the time I thought they were Red Gums!) were struggling. Even so I was so struck with the property that we made an offer that day and after a short settlement we became the new owners.”

The Snow Gums on the Gippsland Plains are related to those of the high country in Victoria; however ecologists suspect the ones on the Gippsland Plains could be a new sub-species since the populations have been separated for millennia and opportunities for gene flow have been very limited.

The trees were unable to thrive and spread due to heavy cattle grazing previously. Water holes were also muddy bogs, soils were compacted, creek lines were trampled, and native plants were facing stiff competition from introduced species.

Trust for Nature is working with the Irish family to protect and enhance the Gums, creeks and wetlands on this special property as part of a project to protect fringing wetlands around Jones Bay and Lake King.

The support helps landholders to fence off the property’s most southerly escarpment and revegetate it with hundreds of indigenous trees, shrubs and grasses.

The Trust’s Senior Conservation Officer, Paul Harvey said the ultimate aim of the project, which also involves other properties in the area, is to protect the health and biodiversity of the Gippsland Lakes. He said, “Despite the drought, the area has responded very well.

“In the absence of stock, native plants are springing back and the majority of the planted tube stock are surviving and thriving.

“At least three species of ferns have naturally regenerated as well as a colony of Blue Star Sun-orchids, which appeared in spring and displayed their beautiful flowers.”

The improvements on the Irish property benefit nearby valuable wetlands.

The creeks in the area merge just a short distance away and flow into a wetland site (which is protected with a conservation covenant), and MacLeod’s Morass, a 520 ha freshwater marsh managed by Parks Victoria.

These fringing wetlands and creeks draining into the Gippsland Lakes provide critical habitat for hundreds of plant and animal species. East Gippsland Water is also restoring swamp scrub as part of the project.

Danny said he’s looking forward to seeing the regrowth on his property. “I am noticing a lot more fauna activity so it will be great to see how that responds in the next five years. Longer term I would like to provide permanent water for the fauna that has returned to the area.

“The seasonal creek has a couple of water holes that have filled up with silt from previous flooding events and erosion. I would like to clean these out so we have a permanent water source for the local fauna,” Danny said.

“I also want to establish better access roads through the site. These would allow access for weed control, firefighting and general enjoyment of the site.”

He said the help from organisations like Trust for Nature has helped make his dream to transform the property a reality much sooner.

“My initial intentions with the property were to fence off the larger gullies and allow the vegetation to regenerate naturally.”

He also acknowledges that managing the land for conservation outcomes is a lot quicker and easier with the mix of support he has got from lots of organisations working in the area.

He said, “This was a long term plan and not likely to occur immediately due to other demands on both my time and finances. We are at least 10 years ahead thanks to the support of Trust for Nature, Gippsland Plains Conservation Management Network, Greening Australia, and the East Gippsland Landcare Network.”

The Protecting Fringing Wetlands – Jones Bay project is funded by the Victorian Government for the Gippsland Lakes.

Main photo: Snow Gum on the Irish property
Inset photo: Thelymitra Sun Orchid

Back to all news

by

Rare orchid faces fight to survive

There is great concern for the survival of an unusual orchid at a site in East Gippsland.

The Tangle Orchid, Plectorrhiza tridentata, was recorded on the west bank of the Snowy River for the first time late last year however it could now be one of hundreds of threatened plants feared at risk of extinction in the area.

The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning estimates that almost all known warm temperate rainforest plant communities in Far East Gippsland have been impacted by the bushfires.

The Tangle Orchid is one of their species of concern, with almost 90 per cent of its known habitat burned.

The orchid was found in a rainforest gully on a private property with a conservation covenant at Bete Bolong North in November 2019 during a weed control program as part of the Arklink initiative.

It is one of just three epiphytic orchids in Victoria, meaning they grow on the surface of a plant and get moisture and nutrients from the air.

Trust for Nature’s Conservation Officer, Paul Harvey, said epiphytic orchids are very fire sensitive.

He said, “Their host plants—Lilly Pilly and Kanooka—are also very fire sensitive, so the bushfires are really bad news for the Tangle Orchid as well as for all other rainforest plants and animals.”

Local landholder Kevin Heyhoe, whose property the orchid was found on, is devastated by the loss of habitat. He said, “I lost my fences and the old farm house, but I was more gutted to lose the rainforest gully.

“I’ve put so much into it, weeding and planting trees that are now probably gone. Do you know that proverb? About planting trees under whose shade you’ll never sit? That’s the way I feel about my rainforest gully and the rare orchids. It’s heartbreaking.”

His property also provided habitat for a number of other threatened species including the Snowy River Wattle and White-bellied Sea Eagle.

As soon as it is safe to do so, Trust for Nature will work with Kevin to assess the impact the fires have had on his conservation covenant and look at ways to try to recover rainforest plants, including the Tangle Orchid.

Arklink has been funded by the Victorian Government’s Biodiversity Response Planning program and is helping to ensure that Victoria’s natural environment is healthy, valued and actively cared for.

Trust for Nature is one of Australia’s oldest conservation organisations, established by an Act of the Victorian Parliament in 1972 to protect habitat on private land. It is a not-for-profit organisation that relies on the generosity of supporters to help protect Victoria’s biodiversity.

Trust for Nature has set up a Bushfire Habitat Recovery Fund to help landholders who have conservation covenants impacted by fires.

Back to all news

by

Bushfire message from Trust for Nature CEO

Our thoughts are with all Victorians who have been affected by the devastating fires in Gippsland and the north east of the state.

Our thoughts are also with covenantors who have been affected.

It is likely that at least 40 landholders with conservation covenants have been impacted so far, in addition to Trust for Nature’s own reserve at Maramingo. Using available information including maps and the knowledge of the regional staff, Trust for Nature is working as quickly as it can to understand who and what has been affected by the fires.  As soon as we can the Trust will do what it can to support these landholders with recovering habitat on their properties.

It is timely to consider the significant contribution which covenantors make to the care of Victoria’s environment.  Covenantors work continuously to look after their land—often over many, many years— for the benefit of our plants and animals and for us.  Trust for Nature’s connection with covenantors is ongoing and we want to do all we can to assist those who have been impacted by the fires at this time. In due course and when covenantors are ready.

For those outside affected areas who want to support recovery action on covenants, Trust for Nature has set up a Bushfire Habitat Recovery Fund for donations towards the extra costs incurred for Trust for Nature and landholders to work together to restore habitat. You will find more information and/or can donate through our website.

This is not for emergency support; it is for habitat restoration in the medium to long term for covenanted properties directly impacted by the fires. Anyone wanting to support emergency efforts in general can donate to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal.

As our supporters will know, our work is regional and across Victoria.  This means that we have staff who live in affected areas and who have been impacted by the fires personally.  We are focused on providing them with support through this very hard time.

If you have any questions or comments please do not hesitate to call us on 8631 5888.

Sincerely

Victoria Marles
CEO, Trust for Nature

Photos courtesy of DELWP.

Back to all news