By Jaidyn Kennedy
A prominent ecologist and landscape archaeologist has called on the state government to fund a grasslands seedbank to prevent further losses of rare native grasses in Werribee.
Grassy Plains Network (GPN) facilitator Adrian Marshall said the Western Grasslands Reserve, a protected section of grasslands to the west of Melbourne that was established by the state government in 2009, was at risk of being wiped out by urban development, grazing and weeds.
“Less than 1 per cent of Victoria’s temperate grasslands remain, including remnants close to Werribee,” he said.
Seedbanks are inventories of cloned seeds that are stored and can be used in the case of a species extinction.
According to Mr Marshall some of the flower species Victoria is at risk of losing are aromatic lilies, milkmaids, Derrinallum billy buttons and native daisies, orchids and peas.
“Tourists flock to see Western Australia’s wildflowers. It would be wonderful if the grasslands and wildflowers near Werribee were restored to their pristine condition, instead they are at risk of becoming a Western Wastelands Reserve.”
The rate of property acquisition to incorporate into the reserve was also flagged as a concern.
“Sixteen years later and not even a third of the Western Grassland Reserve land has been acquired while weeds are destroying the 15,000 hectares of the proposed Reserve,” he said.
“With state funding, specialists can grow the plant from the seed, and then harvest more seeds from the plant. Eventually more plants can be cultivated and reintroduced to the land, so the species is saved.”
The Melbourne Strategic Assessment (MSA), an audit conducted by GPN, identified 36 grassland patches to preserve in conjunction with the Western Grassland Reserve.
“Most of that land has still not been purchased from private landowners,” Mr Marshall said.
He said the destruction of native grasslands also adversely impacted the native fauna.
“In the grasslands there was once more than 400 plant species that provided food and shelter to animals like the rare Striped Legless Lizard, the Fat-tailed Dunnart, and the Golden Sun Moth.”
The Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action was contacted for comment.
