Trust for Nature (Victoria)

North-East

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Weed control help for North East landholders

Landholders with conservation covenants in North East Victoria can now get help with weed control from Trust for Nature.

All landholders with conservation covenants in the North East are eligible to apply for assistance. Covenants most at risk from high threat weeds will be prioritised.

Trust for Nature will be supporting landholders to control high threat weeds such as Blackberry, St John’s Wort, Patterson’s Curse and Privet.

Controlling weeds such as these is especially important following the impact of the 2019-20 bushfires. On properties directly impacted by the fires, weed control will help the bush recover. On other properties, weed control will help maintain habitat as a refuge for fire-impacted wildlife.

Trust for Nature will work with landholders to complete 500 hectares of weed control by April 2022. We will also be running a webinar this September with the goal of providing information to landholders with conservation covenants about importance of controlling high threat weeds.

The project will also involve upskilling landholders who feel they would like to be better equipped to manage weeds on their conservation covenants by supporting them to undertake a formal ACUP (Australian chemical user permit) certification.

This project is funded by the Landcare Led Bushfire Recovery Program  through the Australian Government’s Bushfire Recovery Program for Wildlife and their Habitat. The goal of the Recovery Program is to support the recovery of wildlife and their habitat in regions of Australia affected by the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires.

If you are a landholder with a conservation covenant in the North East catchment, and you would like to an express an interest in being assessed for weed control support under this project, please contact Gabi Bridge, Conservation Officer, 0400 863 307, gabib@tfn.org.au.

Controlling weeds like Blackberry (left) will give fire-affected habitat the best chance to recover.

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Pimelea conservation trust

Our Pimelea Conservation Trust Fund supports landowners and property managers who have Spiny Rice-flower (Pimelea spinescens) present on their land and wish to conserve this highly threatened plant species. Funding is available annually by application for activities that are directly related to the objectives of the Pimelea spinescens Recovery Plan.

The Fund was established in 2005 as part of a Conservation Agreement with Multiplex Developments in relation to the protection and conservation of Spiny Rice-flower (Pimelea spinescens subsp. spinescens), under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. A Trust Committee has been established, with representatives from Federal, State and Local governments to administer the funds in accordance with the Conservation Agreement, with Trust for Nature acting as trustee for the fund. The Conservation Agreement outlines an annual program of funds to be allocated by the Trust Committee for Pimelea Recovery Activities. Generally, the total amount available each year is $12,000. However, this amount may vary should the Trust Committee assign more funds to an annual allocation or allocate future funding to multi-year projects.

Download the Pimelea Recovery Plan

Apply for funding

Grant applications open 7th June

Applications for funds to support activities to conserve Pimelea are open from 7th June and close 27th August.

All applicants will be reviewed and recommended by the Pimelea spinescens Recovery Team.

Successful applicants will be selected from the Recovery Team’s recommendations PCTF Committee in November.

A project’s time frame will be dependent on the project, and all applicants will be informed of the outcome in December via email. Successful applicant(s) will receive a formal letter in the post.

Download the application form

Impact of the Fund since 2005

Each year, the Fund supports the management of two reserves which contain Spiny Rice-flower: Altona Nature Conservation Reserve and Pimelea Nature Conservation Reserve.

Since 2005 the Fund has supported both regional and Melbourne metropolitan environmental groups, the Country Fire Authority, consultants, Melbourne’s Royal Botanical Gardens, and private landowners in:

  • An examination of the species genetic diversity and population structure by the Royal Botanical Gardens, helping to set conservation activities for the species and ensure Spiny Rice-flower’s long-term survival;
  • Development of a new Spiny Rice-flower Recovery Plan;
  • The employment of a Pimelea Conservation Officer to support both the Pimelea Conservation Trust Fund and Pimelea spinescens Recovery team;
  • An assessment of all the Spiny Rice-flower translocations that have been carried out to date, providing analysis of ways to improve future translocation activities (see Resources below);
  • The development of a Spiny Rice-flower monitoring protocol endorsed by the Pimelea spinescens Recovery Team;
  • Research, asking if supplementary planting will improve the recruitment capacity of populations;
  • Four local community education days about the species, its environment and optimal management;
  • Optimal management in the form of an ecological burn and monitoring at nine different Pimelea spinescens sites;
  • Stock/rabbit proof fencing installed at four sites;
  • Weed control at five sites over a period of five years;
  • Vermin eradication at two sites;
  • The production of the Pimelea and Her Grassland Friends children’s book (see Resources below).
  • Seed collection has occurred from eight sites that are not currently represented in the Pimelea spinescens seed bank.
  • Supplementation has occurred at  four Brimbank Council sites that have small and isolated P. spinescens populations.
  • A direct seeding project has just been implemented to learn what is the best method to germinate P. spinescens from seed in the field.
  • A research project that is tracking the gender presentation of individuals during a flowering season and then accessing the female’s and hermaphrodite’s seed quality.

Pimelea spinescens Recovery Team

In 2007, a Pimelea spinescens working group was formalised as the Pimelea spinescens Recovery Team. The Pimelea spinescens Recovery Team is a group working towards better conservation and management strategies for Pimelea spinescens subsp. spinescens and Pimelea spinescens subsp. pubiflora.

The Recovery Team coordinates the implementation of the Recovery Plan via:

  • Openly sharing information regarding our experiences with this species;
  • Regularly reviewing and updating protocols/guidelines for the species conservation;
  • Review funding applications and recommend to the PCTF Committee;
  • Review past and present conservation management methods, to be critiqued and recommendations made;
  • Encourage research and regularly provide technical advice around processes that would impact Pimelea spinescens;
  • Review and advise all publications, translocation plans and reports regarding Pimelea spinescens, which will inform future practice.

The current Recovery Team comprises of representatives from Trust for Nature, state government (Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Parks Victoria and VicRoads), 22 local governments, six Catchment Management Authorities, Country Fire Authority, environmental consultants, Landcare groups, and universities.

Meetings

Meetings occur three times a year, at various locations in Western Melbourne or regional centres. The formal meeting is held in the morning and after lunch attendees visit several local Pimelea spinescens sites. Meetings are open for any Pimelea spinescens manager or community member to attend and/or raise an issue concerning this species. The meetings usually occur in March, July and November. If you’re interested in attending the next meeting, contact Trust for Nature’s Pimelea Conservation Officer.

Guidelines and protocols

The Recovery team have several endorsed documents available which have been developed to guide the management of this species to achieve best practice, available in the Guidelines and Resources below. These documents are constantly evolving to incorporate the most up to date research and on ground observations.

Contact the Pimelea Conservation Officer

Resources

Guidelines

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Bush for birds

Over 480 ha of significant habitat important to the critically endangered Regent Honeyeater have been protected with Trust for Nature conservation covenants or 10 year conservation agreements in North East Victoria and a further 15 ha of cleared land revegetated.

Over the next four years a further 500 ha of habitat for the Honeyeater will be protected, including 200 ha under conservation covenants as part of a new project funded by the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program.

The Regent Honeyeater was once widespread across south eastern Australia; however its core habitat—fertile plains with large, nectar-bearing trees like Yellow Box, White Box, and Mugga Ironbark—has been heavily cleared. An  estimated 400 adult birds remain across four key breeding areas. Only one of these areas is found in Victoria, centred on Chiltern-Mt Pilot National Park, a stronghold for the Honeyeater’s southern distribution.

Now, a partnership between Trust for Nature and the North East Catchment Management Authority is protecting and expanding this key habitat. The Bush for Birds project will work with local landowners in an effort to protect and enhance Honeyeater habitat on private land. The project also aims to protect two endangered ecological  communities (Box-Gum Grassy Woodland and Grey Box Grassy Woodland) and key habitat for the endangered Swift Parrot.

Landholders within the north east project area may be eligible for grants to support them with the protection and management of habitat. Activities could include fencing of remnant vegetation, weed control, planting native trees and shrubs, ecological thinning and establishing paddock trees.

For information about projects in the north east contact Will Ford (03) 8631 5888 or willf@tfn.org.au

Regent Honeyeaters.

Photo courtesy credit Dean Ingwersen enviroimagery.com

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Council rebates for covenants

Do you know that around one third of the 48 regional and rural councils in Victoria offer some form of rate rebate or concession to covenantors? Councils take differing approaches to this issue so it is worthwhile knowing the approach of your local council.

These rebates can make a difference to landowners’ ability to take care of their land as they recognise the cost it takes to steward land.

The City of Greater Bendigo and the Macedon Ranges Shire Council offer a full rate rebate to ‘acknowledge and  reward conservation efforts of private landholders’. The Pyrenees Shire Council offers a 50 per cent rebate, while others such as the Cardinia Shire Council, Mansfield Shire Council and the Greater Shepparton City Council offer a per hectare rebate (between $20-$50 up to a specified capped amount). The City of Greater Geelong calculates  covenanted land at the lowest ‘farm rate’ (37% deduction).

Native habitat on private land in Victoria continues to be lost but the extinction trend can be reversed by protecting key remnants, building ecosystem resilience and increasing connectivity of habitat. The protection offered by  conservation covenants make a vital contribution to this process and rates concessions or exemptions are recognition of this contribution by generous landowners.

If you would like to know more about rates rebates or concessions in your shire, check your council website or  contact our Policy Advisor Cecilia Riebl (Monday to Wednesday) on (03) 8631 5819 or ceciliar@tfn.org.au.

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Feeding Regent Honeyeaters

These forests are critical for Regent Honeyeaters which feed from the trees’ nectar and whose population could be as low as 400 nationally (most remaining populations are found in Victoria and New South Wales), making it critically endangered.

Trust for Nature has been working with BirdLife Australia to increase the birds’ habitat in the north east, revegetating 15ha of land north of Chiltern with more than 7,000 trees and 25 different species of shrubs. Local Mugga Ironbark flowering is spasmodic and unreliable, so in consultation with Regent Honeyeater experts, we trialled planting several non-indigenous native species to increase food year round. These include Hairpin Banksia, Crimson Bottlebrush, Spotted Gum, Yellow Gum and Silky Oak. The Chiltern community has been right behind the project, including students from Chiltern Primary School who helped plant on National Tree Day.

At a community event on Threatened Species Day, BirdLife Australia’s Dean Ingwersen explained the challenges facing Regent Honeyeater conservation.
Dean said nesting success has dropped from 45 per cent in the 1990s to just 30 per cent, with predation a key factor. He said while 85 per cent of fledged young survive, there is a bottleneck at the nest and egg stage because eggs and young are being predated by goannas, Squirrel Gliders, Sugar Gliders and other birds like magpies and currawongs.

Mistletoe is also a key resource for the birds in their northern range and die-off events of mistletoes have seen Regent Honeyeaters travel to coastal areas to forage. Dean emphasised the importance of community monitoring to learn more about the speciesremarkably one radio-tracked bird did a 540km round trip to Gippsland and back.

Threatened Species Day commemorates the death of the last know Tasmanian Tiger and we were reminded that not so long ago Thylacines roamed the Chiltern area, as evidenced by the nearby Yeddonba Aboriginal rock art site. We’re doing our best to make sure the same fate doesn’t befall birds like the Regent Honeyeater.

Trust for Nature has also completed the final year of plantings to re-establish the Mountain Swainson-pea, which was previously extinct in Victoria. The project has established populations of Swainsona recta on four properties that have conservation covenants in the region.

What to plant for Regent Honeyeaters

Regents have been recorded foraging in gardens and you can encourage nectar-feeding birds by establishing plants like Banksias and Bottlebrushes. Away from the house, consider planting species like Mugga Ironbark, Yellow Gum, Spotted Gum or Silky Oak if they’re suitable to your area.

Species like the Hairpin Banksia can help to fill the autumn flowering gap, when there are fewer native plants flowering.

Photo courtesy Chris Tzaros