birding-aus

Weekly Times front page- "Plains Blunderer"

To: Birding Aus <>
Subject: Weekly Times front page- "Plains Blunderer"
From: Laurie Knight <>
Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2012 18:40:56 +1000
Actually, there is a much better article by Ian Lunt, which I don't think anyone has mentioned on The Conversation - http://theconversation.edu.au/can-livestock-grazing-benefit-biodiversity-10789 - "Can livestock grazing benefit biodiversity". It points to the need for nuanced management - a concept that rarely appears in the popular press ...

Regards, Laurie.



On 23/11/2012, at 7:22 PM, Alan Gillanders wrote:

Laurie,
To quote Simon, a local, "However it is true that management decisions made in the last 5 years or so
have led to excessive grass growth with a subsequent reduction in
biodiversity.
"High quality native grasslands are now extremely rare here, i.e. less than half of one percent. Most of the areas purchased are modified grasslands, which have been ploughed historically, have largely lost their chenopods and sub shrubs, and support varying amounts of weedy grasses particularly in
wetter years."

We stuff up the environment and our conservation efforts are not the best they could be so it is all the fault of the conservation effort rather than the practises that led to the need for a recovery plan!

Such simplistic nonsense might grab the attention and admiration of Barnaby Joyce supporters but that does not make it true.
Regards,
Alan



--------------------------------------------------
From: "Laurie Knight" <>
Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2012 5:25 AM
To: "Birding Aus" <>
Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Weekly Times front page- "Plains Blunderer"

Well it does beg the question as to how the Plains Wanderers coped before the arrival of first Aborigines and then Europeans ...

What is the macropod grazing pressure like in the protected areas?

Laurie.

On 19/11/2012, at 9:21 PM, Jeremy O'Wheel wrote:

Very interesting. I'd bet money that the problem is poor fire regimes,
which grazing is a poor alternative.

Jeremy
On Nov 19, 2012 7:17 PM, "Simon Starr" <> wrote:

Hi all,



In this week's Weekly Times, Wed 14th, the front page reads "Plains
Blunderer- Lock-it-and-leave policy debunked as sheep graze a national park
to save the Plains Wanderer "



The article opens the lid on the fact that since the acquisition of more than 11,000 ha of farmland in Northern Victoria by federal and state governments as well as by private environmental groups over the last 20 years, to protect native grasslands and the associated threatened species, the reduction in grazing, and lack of response to the recent wetter years, have led to a situation where the Plains Wanderer has virtually been completely eliminated from the now protected areas. In my opinion the dense
grass growth has also crowded out many wildflowers.



The population in Victoria has crashed, and remaining birds seem largely confined to regularly grazed private grasslands, some of those being
landholders who did not want to sell their native grasslands.



The grassland reserves are certainly now protected from being
ploughed/cropped, but when it comes to managing grasslands there are
different ideas on how to do it !



It appears that there is now a realization amongst the powers that be, that these birds, and other threatened species have been badly affected due to
poor management on the reserves.

There are many good people working to improve the situation which gives me great hope that in the future the dire situation for the Plains Wanderer will be reversed. However it will require suitable funding to make it work, and in the current climate it is a worry that adequate funds will not be allocated to managing what is now a very large area of the northern plains.



The Weekly Times article will certainly reinforce some attitudes in rural areas, that "greenies" do not know how to manage the land. Having lived and worked on the land, I think that both sides of the argument have something
to learn from the other.



Grassland conservation in the Riverina is still a relatively new exercise, so these experiences will no doubt help the process into the future.



Regards,



Simon Starr,

PS the article does not seem to be available online, but the paper should
still be available tomorrow/Tuesday.

















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