Monitoring of grazing exclusions and other reference sites established within Allocasuarina luehmannii, Buloke, grassy woodland remnants of the Wimmera Plains, Victoria
Martin Westbrooke, Lisa Morcom and Miranda Kerr
Environment Australia
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About the report
The Buloke grassy woodlands of western Victoria have been severely depleted through clearing and grazing. The species is listed under the Fauna and Flora Guarantee. Studies undertaken by the University of Ballarat in conjunction with Natural Resources and Environment over the past five years have shown that naturally this community has a species rich understorey. Two hundred and seventy eight native species have been recorded from 127 study sites across the Wimmera, including 27 VROTS recorded from 47 locations (Morcom & Westbrooke unpubl). The community is however severely depleted and the understorey of most remnants retains few native species. A greater understanding of this community is needed; to increase our understanding of this significant community; to enable provision of better information to private and public land managers who wish to rehabilitate remnant Buloke patches; and to assist in the recovery of rare and threatened species within Buloke remnants. The pre-settlement distribution of the community in the Wimmera has been discussed (Morcom & Westbrooke 1998). The community has also been demonstrated to have a rich reptile and bat fauna in sites with an intact understorey (Hadden & Westbrooke 1996; Adler & Westbrooke in prep.). It is important that restoration of this understorey is carried out in association with other protection measures that tend to concentrate on the overstorey species only.
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