Factors Affecting Flora Conservation - Victorian Environmental ...

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Almost all the major rivers of the study area
have been dammed: the Goulbum, Yarra,
Rubicon, Tarago, Tyers, Tanj ii, and
Thomson Rivers and Cardinia Creek. The
genfle topography of the Yea, Acheron, and
Murrindindi Rivers and King Parrot Creek
probably precludes them from future
damming, but the Aberfeldy, Big, and upper
Goulburn Rivers have the potential to be
dammed.
Clearing for agriculture and urban
development
public land uses protect floral values to some
extent, but may also allow exploitative uses
and conservation values may be necessarily
compromised. Important and notable exceptions
in the study area are the catchments
under Board of Works control, where the
current policy of controlled uses in these
areas confers high levels of protection of floral
values. The effectiveness of a particular
land-use recommendation to protect fioral
values by management prescription depends
on the effectiveness of management practice.
It is now unusual for large parcels of public
land to be alienated for agriculture or
housing, or cleared. In addition, only a
small percentage of public land is currenfly
cleared, with the clearing mosfly having
taken place many years ago.
However, it is important to reflect on the
extent to which clearing of land for these
purposes in the past has substanfially aff'ected
our ability to conserve native vegetation
communities by establishing reserves. The
communities most affected are those on the
fertile plains, along river valleys, and in the
vicinity of the Melbourne metropolitan area.
Specifically, these communities include plains
grassy woodland, plains grassland, floodplain
riparian woodland, floodplain wetland
complex, box woodland, coastal banksia
woodland, coastal grassy forest, and swamp
scrub.
Conservation Status
The following section broadly describes the
distribution of each vegetation community
and makes a qualitative assessment of its
current conservation status.
Assessment of conservation status is a
complex task that involves consideration of
many factors, one of which is the current
level of protection. Different public land
uses confer different levels of protecfion to
floral values. Areas that have Nature
conservation as the primary purpose for the
recommended use receive the highest level of
protection; they include reference areas,
national and State parks, flora reserves, and
flora and fauna reserves. However, the
conservation reserve system cannot achieve
protection of floral values in isolation; all
public lands with such values have a role in
floral conservation. A large number of other
Creating this agricultural land at Wonthaggi
involved clearing heathland and
coastal vegetation
Conservation status assessment involves the
extent, current level of protection, and
representation of vegetation communities.
The Land Conservation Council considers
that the reserve system should include
adequate representation of all major plant
communities, and this has become an
important considerafion in its recent deliberations
about parks and other reserves. WTiile
it is not possible to protect all variafions of
vegetation associations, it is necessary to
recognise the diversity and variability within
each plant community and identify an optimal
set of regional variants. Assessment of the
relative extent of a representafive sample
should include consideration of the reduction
of some communities since European
setflement (that is, representation of the
current or 'original' extent).