Almanda Report 2015

By John Wamsley and Tom Hands

One of the most important aspects of the Almanda Project is that this book, together with annual updates, will provide a record of every aspect of riparian zone habitat restoration. We will be closely monitoring this restoration over a ten year plus time-frame. We hope to provide, for the first time, a guide for all those undertaking this type of work and at the same time build an audit system which will track our progress, successes and failures. As nature is never predictable, close observation of all stages of the work we hope, will provide new insights into the processes of habitat restoration.
Constant monitoring and auditing of our work will assist us in achieving the best outcomes for all native species.
We believe that for the long term recovery of degraded ecosystems, comprehensive and pro-active monitoring is the only way of measuring success. It is not good enough to view the eradication of weed species and the return of a few native species as an end in itself. Native plants are only a part of the mix.
Every year, for the life of the Project, there will be fully updated ecological reports using the BushRAT (Bush Rapid Assessment Technique) method, on areas begun and new reports on those systems prior to their restoration. We also hope to enlist the services of other disciplines of ecosystem studies such as entomologists, (given invertebrates underpin the success or otherwise of most ecosystems), herpetologists, bird and mammal specialists.
We hope this book and subsequent updates will be a valuable manual and guide for any individual or group wishing to undertake similar projects.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Sep 10, 2015
• ISBN: 9781503509467

John Wamsley

John Wamsley has a doctorate in mathematics and is recognised for his work in wildlife conservation, with specific regard to the use of feral-proof fencing. He was only the second person in the world to successfully breed Platypus in captivity and in 2003 he received recognition for his pioneering work, receiving the Prime Minister’s Award for environmentalist of the year. Stephen Davey is a retired horticulturalist and writer who has worked alongside John Wamsley for many years and has compiled this memoir using taped conversations and archival material.

Book preview

Copyright © 2015 by Tom Hands and John Wamsley. 717851

ISBN:      Softcover         978-1-5035-0945-0

                EBook             978-1-5035-0946-7

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Rev. date: 09/09/2015

Xlibris

1-800-455-039

www.xlibris.com.au

Contents

Chapter 1   The Almanda Project

Chapter 2   President’s Report

Chapter 3   Botanist’s Covering Letter

Chapter 4   Scott Creek Conservation Park – Almanda Creek

Chapter 5   Scott Creek Conservation Park – Bushrat Creek

Chapter 6   Scott Creek Conservation Park – Viminaria creek

Chapter 7   Financial Statement

Chapter 8   Donor List

CHAPTER 1

THE ALMANDA PROJECT

PROJECT SUMMARY:

Our project commenced in July 2014 to restore native habitat along 8 headwater creeks of the Scott Creek sub-catchment and reduce threats to 4 EPBC listed species and 26 AMLR threatened species. We will strategically remove large infestations of serious environmental weeds such as Blackberry, Tree heath, (Erica spp), and Willow to facilitate natural regeneration. We will undertake targeted tube-stock revegetation to improve and expand native habitat in the regionally important reserve, Scott Creek Conservation Park in the Mount Lofty Ranges, a national biodiversity ‘hot-spot’. We will track the effectiveness of implemented project actions with appropriate monitoring techniques, adapt management to observed ecosystem responses, and engage the local community, landholders, and schools in the project.

INTRODUCTION:

NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE:

Riparian habitats are where land and water ecosystems meet. They are vital places supporting high levels of biodiversity and being critical in controlling flows of energy and nutrients between the land and the water (Naiman & Decamps, 1997). This is true even on creeks and gullies that only occasionally carry flowing water.

Human settlement has always been focused on water and is often a main determinant of riparian structure and function (e.g. Dynesius & Nilsson, 1994)

One of the biggest impacts on riparian areas has been the introduction of domestic stock, with grazing being the major land use over 60% of Australia’s land surface (Wilson, 1990).

Stock concentrate around water sources, which means riparian and wetland habitats suffer greater impacts from domestic and feral grazing than dryland areas (Robertson, 1997; James et al. 1999).

Early settlers farmed riparian areas prior to using other water sources such as dams and bores. These impacts have led to extensive loss of ecological condition in riparian areas of Australia.

REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE:

When Adelaide was first settled by Europeans there was a shortage of water for farm production. This led to the riparian regions of the Mount Lofty Ranges being cleared and drained for farming. However, when it was discovered that water could be found in areas more suitable for farming by developing bores and dams, the riparian areas were abandoned. These areas were then colonised by introduced plants such as blackberry, tree heath and broom.

There are few surviving examples of these wetlands remaining in the region and most of those that remain are rapidly degrading through livestock grazing, chronic weed invasion, active erosion, and altered water regimes.

The result of this can be seen by considering the list of threatened plants of the Mount Lofty Region. While less than 20% of all plant species of the Mount Lofty Region are riparian species over 60% of the rare and endangered plants of the region are riparian.

As the conservation values of Scott Creek Conservation Park are very high and there has been considerable success removing introduced weeds and establishing stable native vegetation in a number of riparian zones already, it makes sense to continue and accelerate this work.

With government funding for supporting