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[Created on 10/11/2005]
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 which cause woodlands to degrade through altered nutrient balances, competition and lack of natural regeneration.
Through a series of community partnerships with regional Natural Resource Management bodies, Woodland Watch (in the Northern Agricultural Region) and Healthy Ecosystems (in the Avon River Basin) is helping landholders, communities and local government authorities to protect priority ecosystems (including eucalypt woodlands) on private and non-state managed lands.
The work concentrates on ecosystems that are under-represented in the state conservation estate (including a number of woodland communities) and the wealth of biodiversity that resides within these 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 these habitats as homes and transit-ways also benefit from our work.
The Woodland Watch and Healthy Ecosystems projects:
Our partners include:
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.
[Created on 10/11/2005]
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 which cause woodlands to degrade through altered nutrient balances, competition and lack of natural regeneration.
Through a series of community partnerships with regional Natural Resource Management bodies, Woodland Watch (in the Northern Agricultural Region) and Healthy Ecosystems (in the Avon River Basin) is helping landholders, communities and local government authorities to protect priority ecosystems (including eucalypt woodlands) on private and non-state managed lands.
The work concentrates on ecosystems that are under-represented in the state conservation estate (including a number of woodland communities) and the wealth of biodiversity that resides within these 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 these habitats as homes and transit-ways also benefit from our work.
The Woodland Watch and Healthy Ecosystems projects:
- 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 encourage farmers to understand the role of biodiversity on farms and beyond. The flora survey data can be accessed on the Department of Environment and Conservation'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.
