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6. Strategy for Recovery

This recovery plan will run for a term of five years from the time of implementation. The strategy for conservation of threatened Caladenia taxa will include three approaches: specific management actions for key populations; broader identification, protection and habitat management actions for all taxa across their range; and ex-situ cultivation and conservation of endangered taxa with critically low wild populations. A need to better understand the biology and ecology of all taxa is also an inherent part of the recovery process. Key populations for each taxon are identified in Table 8. Their selection is based on population size, habitat condition, representation of environmental range within the taxon, understanding of the threats posed to the population and practicality of management. These key populations are selected irrespective of their land tenure or reservation status. It may be necessary to revise the list of key populations as new data become available, as the status of threatening processes changes or is better understood and as negotiations with land managers progress.

Table 8: Key populations for the conservation of twelve threatened Caladenia taxa in Victoria and South Australia.

* Known from various private land allotments within the Cape Paterson township. It is presumed that this population will become extinct as allotments are sold and properties are developed for housing.

Management of key populations will aim to mitigate threatening processes relevant to each site and thereby secure the populations from extinction. The major threats requiring attention include accidental destruction, weed invasion, inappropriate fire regimes and grazing by introduced and possibly native herbivores. A range of in situ conservation measures will be necessary to mitigate these threats including weed control, fire management, fencing, rabbit control and research on key aspects of fire ecology, native herbivore numbers, pollination ecology and plant biology. Monitoring of selected sites will be necessary to gather life history information and to evaluate the success of particular management actions. In addition to the above, ex situ conservation measures will be required for key populations under threat of extinction either at present or in the future. Such measures may include hand pollination, seed collection and storage, mychorrizal fungi collection, identification and research, seed germination, plant cultivation and transplantation into suitable areas.

Broader protection measures applicable to all populations include legal protection of sites and habitat retention, management of fire regimes and liaison with land managers including private landholders. In addition, searches of known and potential habitat should continue to better define taxa distribution and abundance. Additional protective measures should be implemented for non-key populations whenever opportunities arise, except where this precludes similar actions being implemented for key populations listed for priority action in Table 8 or future updated key population lists.