Woodland Watch
The vast majority of wheatbelt areas in the Southwest Australia Ecoregion are clearly showing signs of environmental stress, from activities such as the expansion of agricultural clearing. Impacts include salinity, rising watertables, uncontrolled grazing by domestic livestock, and feral species invasion causing woodlands to degrade through altered nutrient balances, competition and lack of natural regeneration.
WWF-Australia's Woodland Watch Project Officer, Mick Davis with Wheatbelt farmer David Graham
© Darren JEW
Through a series of strong community partnerships Woodland Watch is helping communities protect and manage eucalypt woodlands under private ownership.
The work concentrates on eucalypts under-represented in the state conservation estate and the wealth of biodiversity that resides within these fragmented woodland habitats. This includes a number of threatened ecological communities (where a number of species are at risk) and a whole range of rare flora. The various animals that use woodland habitats as homes and transit-ways also benefit from our work.
The Woodland Watch Project is:
- Facilitating the uptake of voluntary land management agreements with landowners, farmers and shires to help manage their bushland for conservation.
- Undertaking flora surveys on private land, including recording undocumented biodiversity, and encouraging farmers to understand the role of biodiversity on farms and beyond. The flora survey data and the annual DEC WA Herbarium Flora Survey Reports can be accessed on DEC's FloraBase.
- Reporting potential threatened ecological communities, rare and endangered plants, or new species discovered.
- Providing on-ground technical advice on topics such as bush health assessment and weed control.
Our partners include:
- farmers across the vast Wheatbelt
- the Avon Catchment Council
- the Northern Agricultural Catchment Council
- various local Shire Councils
- the Department of Environment and Conservation (WA)
- the Natural Heritage: a program of the National Trust of Australia (WA)
- Greening Australia (WA).
In the vastly-cleared Avon bioregion Woodland Watch will be expanding its parameters in 2006 to target other priority, threatened ecosystems, such as granite outcrops, heathlands and wetlands. The project's evolution - known as "Healthy Ecosystems" - is expected to result in significant new conservation gains in the region.
How you can help - BioBlitz
Join volunteers, amateur and professional experts and farmers in the annual Wheatbelt BioBlitz.
Teaming with a local farmer and/or shire, Woodland Watch Project Officers select remnant woodland in which to carry out a 24-hour biodiversity survey. Using rapid appraisal techniques the data is treated as a snapshot and used by the shire for their conservation planning purposes.
Participants share skills and knowledge, bringing the city and the bush closer together in their understanding of the importance of these remnants in both the agricultural and ecological contexts.
You can download the results of these inspirational events:
Unfortunately we were not able to conduct a BioBlitz in the Wheatbelt in 2005 - largely due to the huge commitments of our small and dedicated Woodland Watch team. However, we hope to bring the BioBlitz back to life in 2006 - in another great patch of Wheatbelt bush.
If you'd like to volunteer to assist with the organisation of the event, please contact the WWF office in Perth.
More information
If you would like more information about BioBlitz, please contact Chris Curnow.
The following documents provide additional information about the Woodland Watch project:
- Woodland Watch Conservation Outcomes: 2000-2005
- Woodland Watch Annual Flora Surveys: 2000-2004 - Floristic Results from Surveys of Private and Non-State Managed Woodlands in the Western Australian Wheatbelt
- Woodland Watch Social Impacts Evaluation - Summary
- Private Bush Management in the Western Australian Wheatbelt - Scientific, Conservation and Social Outcomes
- Australian Government DEH Case Study: Integration of Biodiversity Into Regional NRM Planning Case Study: Woodland Watch (WA)
- Australian Government NRM Case Studies: WWF-Australia's Woodland Watch
- Wheatbelt landholders hold key to woodland conservation in the Natural Heritage Journal
- Woodland Watch (PDF 192.1 KB) in Australian Farm Journal 'Bush'
