An exciting initiative is underway to protect threatened ecological communities addressing the various threats they face.
The South East Coastal Ranges describes an area of critical biodiversity importance found in the South-East corner of Australia, it spans from Batemans Bay in New South Wales into eastern Victoria along the coast and encompasses most of East Gippsland.
This region boasts diverse and complex natural habitats, from temperate rainforests and woodlands to wetlands and coastal vegetation. This diversity in habitat supports more than 140 threatened bird, frog, reptile and plant species.
This project aims to reduce impacts on rare and threatened ecosystems found across this region, particularly following the Black Summer Bushfires. This will be achieved through conducting landscape scale pest, plant and animal control.
This project was designed collaboratively with agency partners, Traditional Owners and First Nations People, and landholders to improve the condition of these ecosystems over a large area. This will involve collaboration with landholders to protect and restore existing areas containing rare and threatened species.
A key component of this initiative is enhancing land managers’ understanding of the importance of increasing the size, quality, and connectivity of small, isolated patches of threatened native vegetation in our region.
A vital part of this project includes locating and producing accurate mapping of the River Flat Eucalypt Forest Threatened Ecological Community in Victoria. This critically endangered ecological community is found across southern New South Wales and eastern Victoria and features tall eucalypt trees found in floodplains and along waterways.
These forests support a diverse range of plant and animal life but face threats from fire, invasive species and changes to water flow.
This project is funded by the Australian Government under Saving Native Species and delivered by East Gippsland CMA as a member of the Commonwealth Regional Delivery Partners panel.
