Conservation Reserves Management Strategy 2003 - Parks Victoria

CONSERVATION RESERVES MANAGEMENT STRATEGYJanuary 2003Parks Victoria

CONSERVATION RESERVES MANAGEMENT STRATEGYParks VictoriaJanuary 2003

This strategy for managing Conservation Reserves has been approved for implementation. Thestrategy establishes for the first time a strategic approach that Parks Victoria staff can apply to themanagement of individual Conservation Reserves. By setting overarching management directionsincluding guiding principles, the strategy will enable Parks Victoria to significantly improvemanagement of reserves.Its purpose is to set directions and strategies to guide management of the full range of activitiesundertaken in reserves. The strategy establishes strategic management objectives for Parks Victoria’sfour output areas, which can be applied to all three categories of Conservation Reserves— NatureConservation Reserves, Natural Features Reserves, and Historic and Cultural Features Reserves. Inaddition it provides a strategic priority ranking of Conservation Reserves, based on environmentalvalues to guide the programming of management activities.The Conservation Reserves Management Strategy is also a key document, which details the availableinformation about environmental, historic and indigenous values and visitor facilities in ConservationReserves and clarifies gaps in knowledge about the reserve estate. Development of the strategy wasundertaken jointly with the Department of Sustainability and Environment and involved input fromParks Victoria staff including staff responsible for the management of Conservation Reserves.Published in January 2003 by Parks VictoriaLevel 10, 535 Bourke Street Melbourne, Victoria, 3000Bibliography.ISBN 0 7311 8332 0Disclaimer:Every effort has been made to ensure that the information in this strategy is accurate. Parks Victoriadoes not guarantee that the publication is without flaw of any kind and therefore disclaims all liabilityfor any error, loss or other consequence which may arise from you relying on any information in thepublication.Cover: From left, Korong Vale Bushland Reserve (NFR), aerial and vegetation of Little DalyenongFlora Reserve (NCR). (Photographs Rhonda Bullock)ii

CONTENTS1 INTRODUCTION 11.1 Background 11.2 Purpose 31.3 LCC and ECC recommendations and legislation 41.4 Categories of conservation reserves 72 MANAGEMENT OBJECTIVES 82.1 Nature Conservation Reserves 92.2 Natural Features Reserves 102.3 Historic and Cultural Features Reserves 113 OVERVIEW OF THE RESERVE ESTATE 133.1 Overview of the reserve estate 133.2 Assessment of management activity 333.3 Information gaps and data limitations 364 MANAGEMENT DIRECTIONS 415 STRATEGIES FOR IMPLEMENTATION 465.1 Legislative and management arrangements 465.2 Reserve priorities 475.3 Planning and work programs for individual reserves 485.4 Information collection and management 495.5 Community and stakeholder partnerships 505.6 Education and public awareness 515.7 Reporting and performance measurement frameworks 52REFERENCES 53APPENDICES 541 Reserve Management Statement 542 Criteria for reserves requiring management plans 573 Priority reserves 58iii

FIGURESTABLES1 Areas managed by Parks Victoria 22 The percentage of reserves of each category by district 163 Number of conservation reserves by size class 174 Percentage area of each conservation reserve category by district 185 Number of important, rare and large EVCs in conservation reserves 216 Number of conservation reserves by recorded fauna diversity class 227 Number of conservation reserves by threatened fauna class 238 Number of conservation reserves by flora diversity class 259 Number of conservation reserves by threatened flora class 2610 Number of conservation reserves with wetlands in each category 2811 Limitations of EVC mapping for Little Dalyenong Flora Reserve (NCR) 381 Types of parks comprising the parks and reserves system 32 Reservation status of conservation reserves 63 Categories of conservation reserves 74 Number and area of each conservation reserve category 135 Number of reserves within each LCC/ECC category 146 Number and area of reserves of each category in each region and district 157 Number of conservation reserves by size and connectivity class 198 Number of threatened EVCs in conservation reserves 209 Number and percentage of conservation reserves in each category with fauna records 2210 Number and percentage of conservation reserves in each category with threatened 23fauna records11 Number of highest priority fauna records and number of reserves with highest priority faunaspecies for each district 2412 Number and percentage of conservation reserves in each category with flora records 2513 Number and percentage of conservation reserves in each category with threatened flora records 2614 Number of highest priority flora records and number of reserves with highest priority flora speciesfor each district 2715 Number and percentage of conservation reserves in each category with threatened floraand fauna records 2716 Number of conservation reserves in each category with wetlands 2817 Number and percentage of conservation reserves with historic places and total numberand percentage of places for each category 2918 Number and percentage of conservation reserves with known Indigenous sites foreach category 29iv

19 Conservation reserves with the highest number of each Indigenous site type 3020 Number and percentage of conservation reserves with known Aboriginal historical placesfor each category 3121 Visitor numbers for conservation reserves with at least one visitor site 3122 Conservation reserves with over 50 000 visitors per year 3223 Levels of service for conservation reserves with at least one visitor site 3324 Level of activity (operating budget) by key output areas for 1999–2000 3325 Percentage of conservation reserves (operating budget) for each reserve type 3426 Level of activity (expenditure) by output areas for 2000-2001 3527 Level of activity (operating budget) by output areas for 2001–2002 36MAPS1 Number of Conservation Reserves End of report2 Area of Conservation Reserves End of reportv

1 INTRODUCTIONThis report is presented in five parts:• an introduction explaining the relevant background and context for the management ofConservation Reserves by Parks Victoria including a description of the categories ofConservation Reserves;• an outline of the overarching management objectives, and activities and uses permitted inreserves;• a section reviewing the available information for reserves including an overview of the numberand area of reserves, the environmental, historic and indigenous values, and visitor services inthe reserves, an assessment of the current level of management activity in reserves, andinformation gaps and data limitations;• a section detailing future management directions for Conservation Reserves; and• a section documenting statewide management strategies to address a range of actions that willlead to an overall improvement in the management of reserves.This section details the relevant background information about Conservation Reserves in Victoria,documents the aims of this strategy, and outlines the legislative context for managing reserves andthe categories of reserves managed by Parks Victoria.1.1 BACKGROUNDVictoria’s parks and reserves system has been established over the past 120 years through theefforts and commitment of a wide range of organisations and individuals. As the organisation nowresponsible for the management of this system, Parks Victoria has a critical role both as custodianof the full range of natural and cultural values, and as a builder of a strong tradition of high qualityand innovative management.Parks Victoria is responsible for managing Victoria’s Parks and Reserves network and a range ofrecreation and tourist assets. The land status of these areas can be grouped into one of thefollowing five categories, as summarised in Figure 1:• Parks proclaimed under the National Parks Act area comprises 39 National Parks, 3Wilderness Parks, 30 State Parks, 22 other parks and reserves and 24 Marine National Parksand Marine Sanctuaries managed under the National Parks Act 1975 (Vic.);• Conservation Reserves comprises 2785 1 areas of Crown land recommended by the formerLCC and ECC to be reserved as one of over 20 categories of reserves (Table 3);• Regional Parks comprises 29 areas of Crown land recommended by the former LCC to bereserved as Regional Parks;• Metropolitan Parks comprises over 30 freehold areas recognised as open space parks orreservoir parks owned or managed by the former Melbourne Parks and Waterways; and• Piers and Jetties comprise the majority of those in Port Phillip Bay.These areas cover approximately 3.6 million hectares, or about 16% of Victoria. ConservationReserves comprise 13% of the total area and 94% of the total number of parks and reservesmanaged by Parks Victoria (Table 1) and represent approximately 13% of Victoria’s protected areanetwork.1total as at October 2002 excluding the Box-Ironbark reserves.1

PARKS VICTORIA MANAGED AREASNP Act Crown Land (Reserves) Act * PV ActFIGURE 12Piers and JettiesRegional Park** Metropolitan ParkConservationReserveNational ParksAct areaAREAS MANAGED BY PARKS VICTORIAReservoirParkCoastalReserveHistoric andCultural FeaturesReserveNaturalFeaturesReserveNatureConservationReserveNational ParkSch 2LighthouseReserveHistoricAreaBushlandReserveScenic ReserveFlora andFaunaReserveWildernessParkSch 2AHistoricReserveNatural FeaturesandScenic ReserveWildlifeReserve *** ***(hunting)WildlifeReserve *** ***(no hunting)State ParkSch 2BStreamsideReserveGeologicalReserveFloraReserveOther Park andReserveSch 3 + 4CaveReserveRiver MurrayReserveHighwayParkLakeReserveMarine NationalPark andMarineSanctuarySch 7 + 8EducationArea****GippslandLake ReserveKEY LEGISLATIVE OVERLAYSHeritage River or Natural Catchment Area (Heritage Rivers Act)* and/or VEACActWilderness Zone (NP Act)** Forests Act mayapplyRemote and Natural Area*****(NP Act)*** Wildlife Act alsoapplies**** includes SerendipWetlands EducationFacility***** includesthree outsideNP Act areasEducation Area (VEAC Act)Wildlife Management Co-operative Area (CL Reserves Act)Reference Areas (Reference Areas Act)Ramsar Site (EPBC Act)

TABLE 1TYPES OF PARKS COMPRISING THE PARKS AND RESERVES SYSTEMTOTAL AREA*(HA)% AREA OF ALLPARKS ANDRESERVESNUMBER OF ALLPARKS ANDRESERVES% OF ALL PARKSAND RESERVESParks 3 073 669 85.0 118 3Conservation Reserves* 483 790 13.3 2 695** 95Regional Parks 55 006 1.5 29 1Metropolitan Parks 8 295 0.2 37 1Total 3 620 760 100 2 853 100* Total areas as at October 2002 (excluding Box-Ironbark parks and reserves).** Total excluding Box-Ironbark reserves and 90 Conservation Reserves (3%) with no spatial records, usuallybecause they are very small (< 4 ha) (see Section 2.3), and Conservation Reserves for which Parks Victoria isthe Committee of Management.The IUCN definition for a protected area is:‘an area of land or sea especially dedicated to the protection and maintenance of biologicaldiversity and of natural and cultural resources and managed through legal or other effectivemeans’ (IUCN 1994).Reserves include those areas of public land that are:• temporarily or permanently reserved under the Crown Land (Reserves) Act for the purposes of theconservation of their natural, cultural or historic values or for the study of the natural environment;or• approved by Government for reservation for the purposes listed above, based onrecommendations of the former Land Conservation Council (LCC), or the EnvironmentConservation Council (ECC), or recommendations from other land assessment reviews but not yetreserved under the Crown Land (Reserves) Act.Conservation Reserves are grouped into four main categories as recommended by the former LCC(LCC 1994): Nature Conservation Reserves, Natural Features Reserves, Historic and CulturalFeatures Reserves, and Coastal Reserves (Section 1.4).This Conservation Reserve Management Strategy is applicable to all Conservation Reserves(managed by Parks Victoria directly or as a Committee of Management) except Coastal Reserves.The future management of the 24 Coastal Reserves will be guided by the Victorian Coastal Strategy(VCC 2002), which establishes a framework for long-term ecologically sustainable management of thecoast. The strategy is not applicable to Reference Areas, the majority of which are in parks. Inaccordance with the Reference Areas Act 1978 (Vic.), management of Reference Areas is governedby Ministerial directive and individual management plans.1.2 PURPOSEMany Conservation Reserves support threatened flora and fauna species and communities or containfeatures of historical and cultural significance. Some are included on the Register of the NationalEstate and have wetlands in the list of wetlands of international importance under the Convention onWetlands (Ramsar, Iran 1971) also known as the Ramsar Convention or the Directory of ImportantWetlands (EA 2001). Conservation Reserves also provide opportunities for recreation and, in somelimited cases, sustainable use of natural and cultural resources under licence or lease.Parks Victoria needs a clear basis for allocating resources to the core business of the management ofnatural and cultural resources and to visitor services, both for the areas reserved and managed underthe National Parks Act 1975 (Vic.) and for areas reserved under the Crown Land (Reserves) Act 1978(Vic.).3

Strategic Plans in the form of Management Plans provide the overall direction for the management ofindividual parks reserved under the National Parks Act. The need to develop management strategiesto protect and enhance the environmental, cultural and recreational values of each park is highlightedin these plans and is a core responsibility for Parks Victoria.Management plans have been prepared for only a small number of Conservation Reserves particularlythose with high natural values. Due to the large number of Conservation Reserves, Parks Victoria andthe Department of Natural Resources and Environment have agreed that generally individual plans willnot be prepared for the Conservation Reserves managed by Parks Victoria. Instead, it is proposedthat this Conservation Reserves Management Strategy will facilitate the development of strategicmanagement objectives to provide a sound basis for programming management activity in thosereserves.The Conservation Reserves Management Strategy will:• encompass the full range of activities undertaken in reserves under Parks Victoria’s key outputareas—natural values management, heritage values management, indigenous valuesmanagement, and visitor services;• establish a strategic priority ranking of Conservation Reserves, based on environmental values toguide the programming of management activities;• establish a range of strategic management objectives for the four output areas, which will besuitable for all types of Conservation Reserves; and• set directions and strategies for Parks Victoria staff to use in the development of managementobjectives for individual reserves.In addition, development of the strategy will enable:• review of available sources of information;• identification of information gaps and data limitations;• development of an overview of the Conservation Reserve estate;• improved understanding of the three categories of reserves— Nature Conservation Reserves,Natural Features Reserves, and Historic and Cultural Features Reserves; and• understanding of the current level of management activity.1.3 LCC AND ECC RECOMMENDATIONS AND LEGISLATIONLCC/ECC 1 RecommendationsThe majority of Conservation Reserves were established as a result of LCC and ECCrecommendations for the use of public land. The remainder were established as a result of landpurchase or other assessment programs.Upon Government approval of LCC/ECC recommendations the relevant land manager is bound tomanage the reserve in accordance with those recommendations until it is formally reserved as such.This is effected:• under Section 10(3) of the repealed Land Conservation Act 1970 (Vic.), which was saved inSection 26 of the Environment Conservation Council Act 1997 (Vic.). This requires Governmentdepartments ‘to use all diligence … to give effect to such recommendations … and manage theareas accordingly until implemented’. Similarly, Section 26 of the Victorian EnvironmentAssessment Council Act 2001 (Vic.) states that if the Government wholly or partly accepts arecommendation, the Government 'must ensure that appropriate actions are taken to implement1the former Land Conservation Council (LCC) became the Environment Conservation Council (ECC) in 1997, and thensubsequently became the Victorian Environment Assessment Council (VEAC) in 2001.4

TABLE 2RESERVATION STATUS OF CONSERVATION RESERVESCONSERVATION RESERVE CATEGORY NO. RESERVES NO. RESERVESAPPROPRIATELY RESERVED*Nature Conservation Reserves 402 215Natural Features Reserves 2229 833Historical and Cultural Features Reserves 118 25Total 2749 1073* areas reserved consistent with Government-accepted LCC/ECC recommendations 1In addition some reserves are still unreserved Crown land managed under the Land Act 1958 (Vic.),for example Annuello FFR; some reserves are reserved under the Forests Act 1958 (Vic.), for exampleYou Yangs RP; or under the Fisheries Act 1995 (Vic.), for example Harold Holt Fisheries Reserve.One conservation reserve (Deep Lead Flora and Fauna Reserve) is listed under Schedule 4 of theNational Parks Act and managed under the provisions of the Act set out in the schedule. A number ofother reserves are managed by the Secretary of DSE under Section 19B of the National Parks Act.Section 15(1) of the Wildlife Act 1975 (Vic.) defines a subset of Conservation Reserves which comeunder Section 14(b) (i) as State Wildlife Reserves. That is, those reserves which have been reservedfor the propagation or management of wildlife or the preservation of wildlife habitat. The provisions ofthe Wildlife Act apply with respect to licensing, certain management activities, management planningand regulation. The Act allows for State Wildlife Reserves to be further classified, and twoclassification categories were adopted in 1999 following a review begun in 1996 (NRE 1996):• Nature Conservation Reserve, for State Wildlife Reserves where game hunting is not permitted;and• State Game Reserve, for State Wildlife Reserves where game hunting is permitted.Conservation Reserves are managed in accordance with a suite of other legislation as outlined in theManagement Direction for Conservation Reserves (NRE 1999).RegulationAs described above, reserves must be managed in accordance with the LCC/ECC recommendations.Regardless of whether the areas are reserved in line with these, there are adequate legislatedprovisions to ensure appropriate management. Parks Victoria staff authorised under various Actshave the power to enforce a range of provisions relating to reserve management, such as protection offlora and fauna, fishing, off-road driving of vehicles, domestic (feral and nuisance) animals, litter,fencing. The Crown Land (Reserves) Act deals with leases and licences for reserves. The Land Actcontains some licensing and enforcement provisions that may be applied in the absence ofregulations. For example, Section 188A provides for a magistrate's court to order the removal of anystructure, crop, improvement, or any other thing from a reserve at the expense of the owner. Section190 has penalty provisions for trespass on Crown land, and for cutting, digging, or taking live or deadtimber or gravel, etc. without a licence.The Wildlife (State Game Reserve) Regulations 1994 apply to all Natural Features Reserves that arealso State Wildlife Reserves classified as State Game Reserves where hunting is permitted. The ParkRegulations 1992 apply to Deep Lead Flora and Fauna Reserve. New Regulations for NatureConservation Reserves were drafted by NRE in 2001. It is anticipated that they will be applied in2002, in the first instance, to approximately 150 Nature Conservation Reserves that have been validlyreserved (that is reserved as Nature Conservation Reserves). In the past regulations have beendeveloped for many individual reserves, but the majority of these are lapsed.1Source of data: DSE Parks and Reserves Information System6

1.4 CATEGORIES OF CONSERVATION RESERVESThe former LCC (1994) simplified the types of conservation reserves into four main categories: NatureConservation Reserves, Natural Features Reserves, Historic and Cultural Features Reserves andCoastal Reserves (not covered by this strategy).• Nature Conservation Reserves (NCR) are set aside primarily to conserve species of plants oranimals that may be rare or endangered, critical habitat, or other plant associations and animalsthat have particular conservation significance. As such they are listed as Category 1a (StrictNature Reserve) of the IUCN Protected Area Management Categories.• Natural Features Reserves (NFR) include a variety of reserves, such as Streamside Reserves,Geological and Geomorphological Reserves, Bushland Reserves and Wildlife Reserves that areopen for hunting (Table 3), and contain natural features worthy of protection. They often providethe only suitable habitat for many common and uncommon species that either still use or wereonce widespread in land types that have been largely cleared. The reserves also contribute to ourwell-being, when used for recreation, relaxation, scenic landscape appreciation, education andprotection against land degradation.• Historic and Cultural Features Reserves (HCFR) are sites with important relics or historicalassociations that, together with sites of historical and archaeological interest in parks, representVictoria’s main historical themes. They range in size from large areas encompassing severalhistorical themes to small reserves that generally have only one theme represented.TABLE 3CATEGORIES OF CONSERVATION RESERVESRESERVE CATEGORY ECC CATEGORY LCC CATEGORY USED BEFORE 1992Nature ConservationReserve (NCR)Natural FeaturesReserve (NFR)Historic and CulturalFeatures Reserve(HCFR)Nature Conservation ReserveNatural Features Reserve – Cave− Natural and Scenic Features Area− Natural and Scenic Features Area− Geological and GeomorphologicalFeatures Area− Wildlife Area− Gippsland Lakes Reserve− River Murray Reserve− Streamside Area− Bushland Area− Lake− Highway ParkCommunity Use Area – EducationAreaHistoric and Cultural FeaturesReserveFlora reserve (FR)Flora and Fauna Reserve (FFR)Wildlife Reserve (no hunting) (WR)Cave Reserve (CR)Natural and Scenic Features Reserve(NSFR)Scenic Reserve (SR)Geological Reserve or Monument (GR)Wildlife Reserve (hunting permitted) (WR)Gippsland Lakes Reserve (GLR)River Murray ReserveStreamside Reserve (SSR)Bushland Reserve (BR)Lake Reserve (LR)Highway Park (HP)Education Area (EA)Historic Area (HA)Historic Reserve (HR)Note: Wildlife Reserves may be NCRs or NFRs depending on whether hunting is prohibited or permitted. Wildlife ManagementCo-operative Areas (WMCA) overlay some conservation reserves (NRE 1996). Lighthouse Reserves (formerly Commonwealthareas), and Fisheries Reserves under the Fisheries Act that are proposed to be reserved as Marine National Parks orSanctuaries, are considered to be parks.7

2 MANAGEMENT OBJECTIVESThe management of conservation reserves is directed by a range of legislation, including legislativeobligations such as those under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 (Vic.) and the Heritage Act1995 (Vic.), policies, and Government-accepted recommendations of the former Land ConservationCouncil and the Environment Conservation Council in relation to the reserve category and individualreserves. NRE (1999) has adopted a set of overarching management objectives for the three reservecategories to clarify desired management goals. Consistent with the LCC/ECC recommendations, therange of permitted and prohibited activities can also be described at the reserves category level. Thebroad management objectives for the reserves categories, and the permitted activities and uses, areoutlined in this section.Nature Conservation Reserves are to be managed primarily for the conservation of biodiversity. Theyare suitable for passive recreation such as nature study and picnicking subject to careful managementof visitor use. The provision of facilities for visitors and resource use is not usually appropriate.Natural Features Reserves, including Streamside Reserves, Geological and GeomorphologicalReserves, Bushland Reserves and Wildlife Reserves that are open for hunting, are also managed toconserve biodiversity but also for visitor use. They are suitable for passive recreation such aspicnicking, walking and where relevant fishing and hunting, and camping. Access is subject tominimal affect on the area, and depends on the character and quality of the local landscape. Theprovision of visitor facilities is not essential and a range of resource uses is permitted.Historic and Cultural Features Reserves are managed to protect a range of heritage values and alsothe conservation of natural values. The larger reserves may ultimately contain visitor recreationfacilities such as picnic areas and walking tracks, and high quality interpretation. Others are too smallfor facilities other than interpretative signs and shelters.IUCN classification of reservesThe International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources provide internationalstandards to facilitate global and regional accounting for protected areas. While IUCN categorieshave not been assigned to individual reserves (NRE 1996), provisional categories for reserves areproposed depending on the presence or absence of factors such as sustainable use and managementintervention required. Factors such as unsustainable use, small size, altered habitat and high huntingpressure result in classification as not part of the protected area network.Nature Conservation Reserves are provisionally assigned IUCN Category 1a – Protected areamanaged mainly for science (strict nature reserve). Natural Features Reserves are provisionallyassigned IUCN Category IV – Protected area managed mainly for conservation through managementintervention (habitat/species management area), III – Protected area managed mainly for conservationof specific natural features (natural monument), or VI (Wildlife Reserves hunting permitted) –Protected area managed mainly for the sustainable use of natural ecosystems (managed resourceprotection). Historic and Cultural Features Reserves are generally not classified as part of theprotected area network.8

2.1 NATURE CONSERVATION RESERVESMANAGEMENT OBJECTIVESBASIS• Conserve and protect species, communities andhabitats of indigenous plants, animals and otherorganisms. (Primary objective)• Provide for research and study of the naturalenvironment of the reserve where this is consistentwith the primary objective and there is minimalimpact on the reserve.• Provide opportunities for appropriate enjoymentand recreation and education by the public wherethis does not conflict with the primary objective.DSE management objectives (NRE 1999) derivedfrom Government-accepted LCC recommendations(LCC 1994).DSE management objectives (NRE 1999) derivedfrom Government-accepted LCC recommendations(LCC 1994).DSE management objectives (NRE 1999) derivedfrom Government-accepted LCC recommendations(LCC 1994).• Protect Aboriginal cultural sites and places. Victorian and Commonwealth legislation andGovernment-accepted ECC recommendations (2001).• Protect historic features in specific reserves wherenoted.Victorian legislation and Government-accepted ECCrecommendations (2001).ACTIVITIES AND USES*• Permit passive recreation by small numbers ofpeople• In Box–Ironbark NCRs permit other low-impactrecreational activities subject to managementrequirements, primary objective or as specified:• permit orienteering and rogaining• permit camping (in appropriate locations inlarger reserves)• in some reserves zone to permit dog walking,subject to land manager• In Box–Ironbark NCRs permit recreationalprospecting and gemstone collection, except inhigh value areas and where specified by ECC.• Permit research consistent with primary objectiveand minimal impact. Note permit under relevantlegislation required.• Do not permit:• grazing• harvesting of forest products• hunting and use of firearms.• Do not permit apiculture except on traditionallylicences sites subject to research andmanagement requirements. In Box–IronbarkNCRs permit apiculture except where specifiedand subject to research and managementrequirements.• In Box–Ironbark NCRs, permit low-impactexploration for minerals, subject to Ministerialapproval, and permit mining (subject togovernment decision).BASISGovernment-accepted LCC recommendations (LCC1994).Range of permitted activities expanded in thepreliminary discussion of ECC recommendationsaccepted by Government (ECC 2001) for reservesin the Box-Ironbark investigation area.Government-accepted ECC recommendations(ECC 2001).Government-accepted LCC recommendations (LCC1994).Government-accepted LCC recommendations (LCC1999) and ECC recommendations (ECC 2001)unless permitted by other recommendations.Government-accepted LCC recommendations (LCC1994). Varied for reserves in the Box–Ironbarkinvestigation area by Government-accepted ECCrecommendations (ECC 2001).Government-accepted ECC recommendations(ECC 2001).* Permitted and prohibited activities subject to LCC/ECC recommendations for individual reserves.9

2.2 NATURAL FEATURES RESERVESMANAGEMENT OBJECTIVES*• Conserve and protect the natural features andvalues of the reserve, including any indigenousflora and fauna, maintain scenic features andlandscapes, and preserve features of geologicaland geomorphological interest. (Primary objective)• Conserve and protect any cultural and historicfeatures and associations.• Protect historic and Aboriginal cultural values andsites.• Provide opportunities for appropriate enjoyment,recreation and education by the public, andresearch and study where this does not conflictwith the primary objective.• For Box–Ironbark reserves protect areas withremnant vegetation or habitat value and maintaincharacter and quality of the local landscape.BASISDSE management objectives (NRE 1999) derivedfrom Government-accepted LCC and ECCrecommendations (LCC 1994; ECC 2001).DSE management objectives (NRE 1999) derivedfrom Government-accepted LCC recommendations(LCC 1994).Government-accepted ECC recommendations(ECC 2001).DSE management objectives (NRE 1999) derivedfrom Government-accepted LCC recommendations(LCC 1994).Varied for reserves in the Box–Ironbarkinvestigation area by Government-accepted ECCrecommendations (ECC 2001).ACTIVITIES AND USES**• Permit passive recreation such as picnicking,walking and, where relevant, fishing.• Permit more intensive recreation such as campingin individual reserves such as Education Areaswhere specified by LCC/ECC and for LakesReserves subject to manager’s discretion.• Permit research consistent with primary objectiveand minimal impact. Note permit under relevantlegislation required.• Limit recreational use of Cave Reserves to smallnumbers of people.• Permit hunting in Wildlife Reserves classified asState Game Reserves (subject to legislation).• Permit grazing in Streamside Reserves, WildlifeReserves (where it contributes to specifiedmanagement goals) and recently grazed areas ofBushland Reserves subject to managementrequirements and manager’s discretion.• Permit low-intensity post and firewood extraction(not commercial timber harvesting) and gravelextraction in Bushland Reserves subject tomanager’s discretion and conditions.• Permit apiculture on traditionally licensed sites inBushland Reserves and Natural and ScenicFeatures Reserves. In Box–Ironbark reservespermit apiculture away from recreation areas andsubject to appropriate conditions.BASISGovernment-accepted LCC and ECCrecommendations (LCC 1994; ECC 2001).Government-accepted LCC and ECCrecommendations (LCC 1994; ECC 2001).DSE management objectives (NRE 1999) derivedfrom Government-accepted LCC recommendations(LCC 1994).Government-accepted LCC recommendations (LCC1994).Government-accepted LCC recommendations (LCC1994). Recommendation to permit in some Lakereserves varied by Government adoption of reclassifiedState Wildlife Reserves (NRE 1996)Government-accepted LCC recommendations (LCC1994).Government-accepted LCC recommendations (LCC1994).Government-accepted LCC and ECCrecommendations (LCC 1994; ECC 2001).10

• In Education Areas do not permit timberharvesting, hunting or stone extraction.• In Box–Ironbark reserves do not permitcommercial timber harvesting, or grazing unlessrequired for short periods by land manager.• In Box–Ironbark reserves, allow firewood collectionas available from ecological thinning (subject topermission).• In Box–Ironbark reserves permit prospectingsubject to appropriate conditions.• In Box–Ironbark reserves permit exploration forminerals and mining (subject to decision onparticular cases).Government-accepted LCC and ECCrecommendations (LCC 1994; ECC 2001).Government-accepted ECC recommendations(ECC 2001).Government-accepted ECC recommendations(ECC 2001).Government-accepted ECC recommendations(ECC 2001).Government-accepted ECC recommendations(ECC 2001).*Refer to NRE (1996) and the specific LCC/ECC reports for the LCC recommended management objectives, usesand activities for the different types of NFRs such as Geological and Geomorphological Areas, Education Areas,Lakes, Bushland Reserves, Murray River Reserve and Gippsland Lakes Reserve and Appendix 2 of ECC 2001for particular values to be protected in specific reserves.**Permitted and prohibited activities subject to LCC/ECC recommendations for individual reserves.2.3 HISTORIC AND CULTURAL FEATURES RESERVESMANAGEMENT OBJECTIVES• Conserve and protect significant historical values orcultural associations. (Primary objective)• Protect remnant historical features such as buildings,structures, relics or other artefacts. (Primaryobjective)• Permit community use and reuse of buildings subjectto maintenance of their fabric and approval of theland manager. Any modifications subject to landmanager approval.• Provide appropriate opportunities for enjoyment,recreation and education by the public and for otheruses where these do not conflict with the primaryobjective.• Provide for appropriate research and study relating tothe historic, cultural and archaeological or otherfeatures of the reserve where this does not conflictwith the primary objective.• As appropriate, conserve and protect any natural andlandscape features and values. In Box-Ironbarkreserves protect cultural values, including aestheticand social values.• In Box-Ironbark reserves conserve indigenous floraand fauna, except where incompatible with protectingthe above values.BASISDSE management objectives (NRE 1999)derived from Government-accepted LCCrecommendations (LCC 1994).Varied for reserves in the Box–Ironbarkinvestigation area by Government-accepted ECCrecommendations (ECC 2001).Government-accepted LCC and ECCrecommendations (LCC; ECC 2001).DSE management objectives (NRE 1999)derived from Government-accepted LCCrecommendations (LCC 1994).DSE management objectives (NRE 1999)derived from Government-accepted LCCrecommendations (LCC 1994).DSE management objectives (NRE 1999)derived from Government-accepted LCCrecommendations (LCC 1994) and as varied byECC recommendations (ECC 2001).Varied for reserves in the Box–Ironbarkinvestigation area by Government-accepted ECCrecommendations (ECC 2001).11

ACTIVITIES AND USES*• Permit the extraction of earth resources and timberharvesting at the discretion of the land managerwhere such uses do not adversely affect the featuresof historical significance and subject to HistoricMining Sites Assessment Committee (HMSAC)guidelines and conditions. In Box-Ironbark reservesdo not permit timber harvesting.• Permit prospecting and gemstone-seeking generallyexcept in Box-Ironbark reserves where they maydisturb protected relics, Aboriginal values orsignificant features.• Permit low impact exploration for minerals (subject toHMSAC guidelines and conditions or in Box-Ironbarkreserves Ministerial approval) and mining (subject togovernment decision and HMSAC guidelines)• Generally permit apiculture, and grazing at the landmanager’s discretion except where specified.• Permit research consistent with primary objectivesand minimal impact. Note permit under relevantlegislation required.BASISGovernment-accepted LCC and ECCrecommendations (LCC 1994; ECC 2001)Government-accepted LCC and ECCrecommendations (LCC 1994; ECC 2001)Government-accepted LCC and ECCrecommendations (LCC 1994; ECC 2001)Government-accepted LCC recommendationspre 1994.DSE management objectives (NRE 1999)derived from Government-accepted LCCrecommendations (LCC 1994).* Permitted and prohibited activities subject to LCC/ECC recommendations for individual reserves.12

3 OVERVIEW OF THE RESERVE ESTATEThis section presents an overview of the current knowledge about Conservation Reserves in ParksVictoria regions and districts (see Map 1), including:• the number, area and types of reserves;• a comparison of the range of natural and cultural values in the three reserve categories;• a summary of visitor numbers and facilities provided;• an assessment of the management activity; and• information gaps and data limitations.3.1 OVERVIEW OF THE RESERVE ESTATEParks Victoria manages a total of 2785 1 Conservation Reserves, including 24 Coastal Reserves,according to the Parks and Reserves Register. Spatial records exist for 2671 1 ConservationReserves, which cover an area of 467 445 ha (Table 4). Most of these reserves (81%) and over halfthe area (52%) are Natural Features Reserves. Nature Conservation Reserves account for 15% ofthe total number and almost 40% of the total area, while Historical and Cultural Features Reservesconstitute only 4% and 9% of the number and area of Conservation Reserves, respectively.TABLE 4NUMBER AND AREA OF EACH CONSERVATION RESERVE CATEGORYRESERVE CATEGORY NO. OF RESERVES AREA OF RESERVES (HA)NCR 387 182 606NFR 2174 244 436HCFR 110 40 403Total 2671 467 4453.1.1 Number of reservesMost Conservation Reserves are Bushland Reserves, and there are almost twice the number of FloraReserves compared with other categories of Nature Conservation Reserve (Table 5).Nature Conservation Reserves, Natural Features Reserves and Historical and Cultural FeaturesReserves are found in all Parks Victoria regions (Table 6 and Map 1). The highest number ofConservation Reserves is in West region; Conservation Reserves within this region comprise 45% ofthe total number of Conservation Reserves in the state. West region also has the highest number ofNature Conservation Reserves and Natural Features Reserves, while Central region has the highestnumber of Historical and Cultural Features Reserves. In contrast, City and Bays, and MelbourneMetropolitan regions have the least number of reserves (< 5%) of the total in the state.1Source of data: Unless otherwise indicated, the data presented in this report were compiled using spatial records from the PVPark_Bound GIS layer. Differences between this dataset and the Parks and Reserves Register (which duplicates DSE’sPRIMS) are 90 reserves mostly (74) non-spatial Conservation Reserves. These will be resolved with future updates to thedatabases and systems.13

TABLE 5NUMBER OF RESERVES WITHIN EACH LCC/ECC CATEGORYRESERVE CATEGORY LCC/ECC CATEGORY NO. OF RESERVESNCRNature Conservation Reserve 49Flora and Fauna Reserve 92Flora Reserve 170Wildlife Reserve (NCR classification pending reservation) 13Wildlife Reserve (no hunting) 63NFR Natural Features Reserve 38Cave Reserve 7Scenic Reserve 59Natural Features and Scenic Reserve 26Geological Reserve 11Wildlife Reserve (hunting) 169Wildlife Reserve (SGR classification pending reservation) 39Gippsland Lakes Reserve 5River Murray Reserve 1Streamside Reserve 260Bushland Reserve 1 391Lake Reserve 111Highway Park 12Community Use Area – Education Area 45HCFR Historic Area or Reserve 110Conservation Reserves occur in all Parks Victoria districts, except City & Waterways (Table 6; Map 1).All Conservation Reserve categories are found in each of the remaining districts, except Historical andCultural Features Reserves, which do not occur in the Dandenongs and East Metropolitan districts.Three districts in two regions, West and Central, have more than half of all Conservation Reserves inVictoria: Grampians, Murray Central and Mallee. In contrast, the six districts within City and Bays andMelbourne Metropolitan regions each have less than 2% of the total number of ConservationReserves in the state.14

TABLE 6NUMBER AND AREA OF RESERVES OF EACH CATEGORY IN EACH REGION AND DISTRICTPARKS VICTORIAREGION/DISTRICTNCR NFR HCFR REGION/DISTRICTTOTALNO. AREA (HA) NO. AREA (HA) NO. AREA (HA) NO. AREA (HA)Central 110 33 119 729 40 296 46 10 137 885 83 552Basalt Plains 17 2 837 72 1 306 1 0.05 90 4 143Central Highlands 24 6 741 124 5 921 6 838 154 13 500Murray Central 69 23 541 533 33 069 39 9 299 641 65 909City & Bays 18 3 089 32 4 080 3 142 53 7 311City & Waterways 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Mornington/10 1 958 25 225 2 141 37 2 324WesternportPort Phillip 8 1 131 7 3 855 1 0.7 16 4 987East 70 20 913 279 54 857 22 27 143 371 102 913Alpine 8 581 78 18 602 12 23 330 98 42 513East Gippsland 24 10 589 65 22 897 3 120 92 33 606West Gippsland 38 9 743 136 13 358 7 3 693 181 26 794MelbourneMetropolitan14 1 716 75 1 219 1 0.09 90 2 935Dandenongs 2 322 34 731 0 0 36 1 053East Metropolitan 3 131 19 206 0 0 22 337Yarra 9 1 263 22 282 1 0.09 32 1 545West 175 123 769 1 059 143 984 38 2 981 1 272 27 0734Grampians 71 24 031 608 60 344 33 2 326 712 86 701Mallee 60 85 819 307 56 825 2 652 369 143 296West Coast 44 13 919 144 26 815 3 3 191 40 737Total 387 182 606 2 174 244 436 110 40 403 2 671 467 44515

Figure 2 shows within each district, the number of reserves in each category as a percentage of thetotal number of reserves in that category. Murray Central and Grampians districts, have the highestrepresentation of each of the three Conservation Reserve categories. Of districts that containreserves, Dandenongs has the least representation of Nature Conservation Reserves (0.5%), PortPhillip has the least representation of Natural Features Reserves (0.3%), while Yarra, Port Phillip andBasalt Plains have the least representation of Historical and Cultural Features Reserves (0.9%).FIGURE 2THE PERCENTAGE OF RESERVES OF EACH CATEGORY BY DISTRICT% each Conservation Reserve category403530252015105NCRNFRHCFR0Basalt PlainsCentral HighlandsMurray CentralCity & WaterwaysMornington / WesternportPort PhillipAlpineEast GippslandWest GippslandDistrictDandenongsEast MetropolitanYarraGrampiansMalleeWest CoastIn almost all districts that have Conservation Reserves, the highest percentage of reserves are NaturalFeatures Reserves, with the Dandenongs district having the highest percentage within any district(94%). The only exception is Port Phillip district, where only 44% of reserves are Natural FeaturesReserves and 50% of reserves are Nature Conservation Reserves, which is the highest percentage ofthis reserve category. Alpine district has the highest proportion of Historical and Cultural FeaturesReserves (12%).3.1.2 Area of reservesThe majority of Conservation Reserves (93%) are smaller than 400 ha (Figure 3).The majority of Nature Conservation Reserves (39%) are also small (200–400 ha), 16% are very small(10–200 ha) and 5% are extremely small (

Historic and Cultural Features Reserves range in size from 8779 ha to 1 ha. Only 17 HCFRs arelarger than 400 ha. Among the largest are Mount Wills HA (8779 ha), Grant HA (7437 ha) andCassilis HA (4353 ha) all in the Alpine district, Castlemaine–Chewton HA (3609 ha) in the MurrayCentral district, and Walhalla HA (2635 ha) in the West Gippsland district.FIGURE 3NUMBER OF CONSERVATION RESERVES BY SIZE CLASS14001200NCRNFRHCFRNo. of Conservation Reserves10008006004002000extremely small (< 10) very small (10 - 200) small (200 - 400) large (>400)Size (ha)The largest area of Conservation Reserves is in the West region; Conservation Reserves within thisregion comprise 58% (270 734 ha) of the total area of Conservation Reserves in the state (Table 6,Map 2). West region also has the greatest area of Nature Conservation Reserves (26% of the totalarea) and Natural Features Reserves (31% of the total area), while East region has the greatest areaof Historical and Cultural Features Reserves (6% of the total area). In contrast, MelbourneMetropolitan region has the smallest area of Conservation Reserves (< 1% of the total area) and thesmallest area of each reserve category.Parks Victoria districts with the largest area of Conservation Reserves are Mallee (31% of the totalarea), Grampians (18%) and Murray Central (14%). In contrast, the six districts within the City andBays and Melbourne Metropolitan regions have < 3% of the total area of Conservation Reserves in thestate.Figure 4 shows, for each district, the area of each reserve category as a percentage of the total areaof that category in the state. The largest representation by area of reserve categories is Historical andCultural Features Reserves in the Alpine district: 58% of the total area of this category is found in thisdistrict, while 23% of the area of Historical and Cultural Features Reserves occurs in Murray Central.Almost 50% of the total area of Nature Conservation Reserves occurs in the Mallee, while 13% occurswithin both the Grampians and Murray Central districts. The largest areas of Natural FeaturesReserves are in the Grampians and Mallee districts: 28% and 25% of the total area of this categoryoccurs in these two districts, respectively.17

FIGURE 4PERCENTAGE AREA OF EACH CONSERVATION RESERVE CATEGORY BY DISTRICT7060NCRNFRHCFR% area of reserve categories50403020100Basalt PlainsCentral HighlandsMurray CentralCity & WaterwaysMornington / WesternportPort PhillipAlpineEast GippslandWest GippslandDistrictDandenongsEast MetropolitanYarraGrampiansMalleeWest CoastIn over 50% of districts, Natural Features Reserves contribute the greatest percentage of area withineach district, with Port Phillip having the highest percentage area of Natural Features Reserves (77%).Five districts, however, have a greater representation by area of Nature Conservation Reserves thanNatural Feature Reserves. The Mornington/Westernport and Yarra districts contain the greatestpercentage area of Nature Conservation Reserves (84% and 81% of area, respectively). The Alpinedistrict has the largest percentage area of Historical and Cultural Features Reserves, which constitute54% of the total area of reserves within this district.3.1.2 ConnectivityIn the absence of a detailed survey/analysis of the amount of indigenous vegetation surroundingreserves, the size of the surrounding vegetation and the distance to the nearest vegetation, thefollowing analysis of the percentage of the reserve boundary bordered by adjacent vegetation 1 ispresented as a broad indication of the extent of fragmentation of reserves across the landscape.EVCs consist of one or a number of floristic communities that exist under a common regime ofecological processes within a particular environment. They are modelled to represent the mostdetailed level of vegetation typology available. EVC mapping is yet to be completed in the north-westof the state for 24% (645) of the Conservation Reserves. The limitations of using EVC data areoutlined in section 3.3.At the EVC level, some 19% of all Conservation Reserves have no adjacent indigenous vegetation. Afurther 22% (581) of all Conservation Reserves have less than 10% of their boundary with adjacentindigenous vegetation. More than half (54%) of all Conservation Reserves have less than 30% of theirboundary with adjacent indigenous vegetation (Table 7).1Source of data: Ecological Vegetation Classes EVC layer, DSE corporate geospatial dataset18

Only 39% of Nature Conservation Reserves are well buffered by adjacent indigenous vegetation; thatis have more that 60% of their boundary with adjacent indigenous vegetation, and the majority haveless than 30% of their boundary with indigenous vegetation. Only 13% of Natural Features Reservesand 13% Historic and Cultural Features Reserves are well buffered by adjacent indigenous vegetation.TABLE 7RESERVESIZE (HA)NUMBER OF CONSERVATION RESERVES BY SIZE AND CONNECTIVITY CLASS% BOUNDARY BORDERED BY INDIGENOUS VEGETATION (EVC)0-30%-< 60% > 60% - < 100% 100%NCR NFR HCFR NCR NFR HCFR NCR NFR HCFR NCR NFR HCFR0 – 10 26 438 39 3 147 6 9 92 4 5 70 2>10–200 107 525 21 25 120 5 16 68 2 13 33 3>200–400 25 52 3 4 7 1 5 5 2 1 3 0>400 41 69 15 4 4 0 2 4 0 1 4 13.1.3 Intrinsic viabilityIn the absence of a statewide survey of the condition of vegetation communities and flora and faunapopulations, the size of reserves combined with connectivity of reserves to indigenous vegetation isused as a broad indication of intrinsic ecological viability of reserves i.e. the likelihood that a reservewill be able to maintain the long-term survival of ecosystems and species without managementintervention (PV 2000b).Table 7 compares the number of Conservation Reserves grouped by size and the proportion of theboundary with surrounding indigenous vegetation (EVC) categories. The majority of reserves havelower intrinsic viability. More than 43% of Conservation Reserves are both very small (

• a community that is inadequately reserved in the protected area network, that is less than 15% inparks or reserves (rare EVC); and• a large area of a community that is greater than 5% of the total bioregion (large EVC).Threatened EVCsDSE has classified the conservation status of all EVCs at a bioregional level. Threatened EVCs arecategorised as Presumed Extinct (no longer present in the bioregion – the accuracy of thepresumption being limited by the use of remotely sensed 1:100 000 scale vegetation mapping),Endangered (

FIGURE 5NUMBER OF IMPORTANT, RARE AND LARGE EVCS IN CONSERVATION RESERVESNo Conservation Reserves1000900800700600500400300200100NCRNFRHCFR0Important EVC Rare EVC Large EVCLarge EVCs are defined as those with an area greater than 5% of the bioregion. A total of 246Conservation Reserves (just over 9% of reserves) have large EVCs. There are 78 NatureConservation Reserves (20% of NCRs) with large EVCs, 160 Natural Features Reserves (7% ofNFRs) with large EVCs and 8 Historic and Cultural Features Reserves (7% of HCFR) with large EVCsFauna diversityIn the absence of comprehensive fauna surveys for reserves, analysis of the data from DSE'sstatewide Atlas of Victoria Wildlife database is used to give an indication of the faunal diversity inreserves. The limitations of the dataset are outlined in Section 3.3.Most reserves have few or no records of fauna species (Figure 6). This probably indicates that themajority of reserves have yet to be surveyed and existing records are opportunistic sightings.Existing statewide records, as listed in the Atlas of Victorian Wildlife, indicate that 31% of the 2671Conservation Reserves have fauna records. Recorded fauna diversity within individual reservesrange from 280 species to just one species. Most reserves have few recorded fauna species (Figure6), which, in most cases, probably reflects that records are opportunistic sightings and that a reservehas not yet been surveyed, rather than a low fauna diversity.Individual reserves with the highest numbers of fauna species include River Murray Reserve (NFR),which has 280 fauna species, and Coranderrk NCR, which has 208 fauna species. Castlemaine–Chewton HA has the highest number of species records for Historical and Cultural Features Reserves(164 species).21

FIGURE 6NUMBER OF CONSERVATION RESERVES BY RECORDED FAUNA DIVERSITY CLASS800700188NCRNFRHCFRNo. of Conservation Reserves6005004003002005381000381040530 6 1111 - 69 species 70 - 137 species 138 - 205 species 206 - 273 species 274 - 339 speciesNo. of fauna speciesMost of the reserves with fauna records are Natural Features Reserves, while just under one third areNature Conservation Reserves and less than 5% are Historical and Cultural Features Reserves (Table9). Although more Natural Features Reserves have fauna records, both Nature ConservationReserves and Historical and Cultural Features Reserves have a higher percentage of reserves withfauna records; 61% and 34% respectively, while 27% of Natural Features Reserves have faunarecords.TABLE 9NUMBER AND PERCENTAGE OF CONSERVATION RESERVES IN EACH CATEGORY WITH FAUNARECORDSRESERVE CATEGORY NO. RESERVES WITH FAUNA RECORDS) RESERVES WITH RECORDS ASA% OF ALL RESERVESNCR 237 9NFR 584 21HCFR 37 1Total 858 31Threatened faunaOf the 254 threatened fauna species protected within the entire parks and reserves system, at least70% (179 species, comprising 2571 records) are found in Conservation Reserves. Current records forthreatened fauna within individual reserves ranges from 1 to 53 species of threatened fauna (Figure7).22

FIGURE 7NUMBER OF CONSERVATION RESERVES BY THREATENED FAUNA CLASSNo. of Conservation Reserves500450400350300250200150100500NCRNFRHCFR12129130 1354 619219 3 21 11 - 6 species 7 - 12 species 13 - 19 species 20 - 25 species 26 - 68 speciesNo. of threatened fauna speciesThreatened fauna species have been recorded from 562 Conservation Reserves (21% of reserves).Natural Features Reserves have more than twice as many reserves with threatened fauna recordsthan Nature Conservation Reserves and over 15 times as many reserves with threatened faunarecords than Historical and Cultural Reserves (Table 10).However, Nature Conservation Reserves have a higher percentage of reserves with threatened fauna(43% of reserves) than both Historical and Cultural Reserves (22% of reserves) and Natural FeaturesReserves (17% of reserves).TABLE 10NUMBER AND PERCENTAGE OF CONSERVATION RESERVES IN EACH CATEGORY WITHTHREATENED FAUNA RECORDSRESERVE CATEGORYNO. RESERVES WITH THREATENED FAUNARECORDS% OF ALL RESERVESNCR 166 6NFR 372 14HCFR 24 1Total 562 20Highest Priority threatened fauna species have been determined by DSE as those species consideredto be of highest priority for conservation management in Victorian bioregions (NRE 1999). Only 118reserves have records of highest priority fauna species, these reserves are in all districts, except City& Waterways (Table 11). Murray Central district has the highest number of reserves with HighestPriority fauna, and the highest number of records, while Mallee district has the greatest number ofHighest Priority fauna species.23

TABLE 11NUMBER OF HIGHEST PRIORITY FAUNA RECORDS AND NUMBER OF RESERVES WITH HIGHESTPRIORITY FAUNA SPECIES FOR EACH DISTRICTDISTRICTRESERVES WITH HIGHESTPRIORITY FAUNANO. OF HIGHEST PRIORITYFAUNA SPECIESNO. OF RECORDSWITH HIGHESTPRIORITY FAUNABasalt Plains 1 2 2Central Highlands 5 4 9Murray Central 38 8 52City & Waterways 0 0 0Mornington/Westernport 2 4 5Port Phillip 6 3 9Alpine 1 2 2East Gippsland 9 9 13West Gippsland 5 4 10Dandenongs 3 1 3East Metropolitan 1 1 1Yarra 3 1 3Grampians 10 7 11Mallee 17 12 20West Coast 17 6 23Flora diversityIn the absence of comprehensive flora surveys for reserves, analysis of the data from DSE's statewideFlora Information System database is used to give an indication of the flora diversity in reserves. Thelimitations of the dataset are outlined in Section 3.3.Most reserves have low numbers or no records of flora species (Figure 8). This probably indicates thatthe majority of reserves have yet to be surveyed and existing records are opportunistic sightings.Existing statewide records, as listed in the Flora Information System, indicate that 27% of the 2671Conservation Reserves have flora records (Table 12). Flora diversity within individual reserves rangesfrom 1 to 508 species. As for fauna diversity, most reserves have low numbers of flora species(Figure 8), which in most cases, probably reflects low survey effort within a reserve, rather than lowflora diversity.Individual reserves with the highest number of flora species are the Jilpanger FFR (NCR) andCoranderrk NCR, which both have approximately 500 species of flora. With over 400 species of flora,Maldon HA and Ewing Morass WR have the most flora species within Historical and Cultural FeaturesReserves and Natural Features Reserves, respectively.24

FIGURE 8NUMBER OF CONSERVATION RESERVES BY FLORA DIVERSITY CLASS800700NCRNFRHCFRNo. of Conservation Reserves600500400300200224459100022629 321 - 240 species 241 - 480 species 481 - 720 speciesNo. of flora speciesMost of the reserves with flora records are Natural Features Reserves, while one third are NatureConservation Reserves and less than 5% are Historical and Cultural Features Reserves (Table 12).Although more Natural Features Reserves have flora records, both Nature Conservation Reservesand Historical and Cultural Features Reserves have a higher percentage of reserves with florarecords; 64% and 29%, respectively, while 17% of Natural Features Reserves have flora records.TABLE 12NUMBER AND PERCENTAGE OF CONSERVATION RESERVES IN EACH CATEGORY WITH FLORARECORDSRESERVE CATEGORY NO. RESERVES WITH FLORA RECORDS % OF ALL RESERVESNCR 248 9NFR 465 17HCFR 32 1Total 745 2725

Threatened floraOf the 1465 threatened flora species recorded within the entire parks and reserves system 45% (664species, comprising 1668 records) are found in the Conservation Reserves. Current records forthreatened flora within individual reserves range from 1 to 61 species (Figure 9).FIGURE 9NUMBER OF CONSERVATION RESERVES BY THREATENED FLORA CLASS400350NCRNFRHCFRNo. of Conservation Reserves300250200150100139215500332 1 42146243 31-6 species 7-12 species 13-19 species 20-25 species 26-68 speciesNo. of threatened flora speciesThreatened species have been recorded from 447 Conservation Reserves (17% of reserves). NaturalFeatures Reserves have more reserves with threatened flora records than Nature ConservationReserves, while both of these reserve categories have over ten times as many reserves withthreatened flora records than Historical and Cultural Reserves (Table 13).However, Nature Conservation Reserves have a higher percentage of reserves with threatened flora(48% of reserves) than both Historical and Cultural Reserves (15% of reserves) and Natural FeaturesReserves (11% of reserves).TABLE 13NUMBER AND PERCENTAGE OF CONSERVATION RESERVES IN EACH CATEGORY WITHTHREATENED FLORA RECORDSRESERVE CATEGORYNO. RESERVES WITH THREATENED FLORARECORDS% OF ALL RESERVESNCR 184 7NFR 246 9HCFR 17 1Total 447 16Highest Priority flora species have been determined by DSE as those species considered to be ofhighest priority for conservation management in Victorian Bioregions (NRE 1999). Only 70 reserveshave records of Highest Priority flora, these reserves in eight districts (Table 14). Mallee district hasthe highest number of reserves with Highest Priority flora, the highest number of records, and thegreatest number of Highest Priority flora species.26

TABLE 14NUMBER OF HIGHEST PRIORITY FLORA RECORDS AND NUMBER OF RESERVES WITH HIGHESTPRIORITY FLORA SPECIES FOR EACH DISTRICTDISTRICTRESERVES WITH HIGHESTPRIORITY FLORANO. OF HIGHESTPRIORITY FLORASPECIESNO. RECORDS OFHIGHEST PRIORITYFLORABasalt Plains 1 1 1Central Highlands 0 0 0Murray Central 16 12 18City & Waterways 0 0 0Mornington/Westernport 0 0 0Port Phillip 0 0 0Alpine 2 2 2East Gippsland 12 11 15West Gippsland 3 3 3Dandenongs 0 0 0East Metropolitan 0 0 0Yarra 0 0 0Grampians 12 12 16Mallee 22 28 47West Coast 2 2 2Combined threatened fauna and flora speciesThreatened species of flora and/or fauna 1 have been recorded from 766 Conservation Reserves (28%of all reserves). Species records for individual reserves vary considerably. Approximately 70% ofConservation Reserves have no species recorded in the DSE statewide databases (see the Faunaand Flora Diversity sections above). Of reserves with species records, a number have many recordsprobably from comprehensive fauna and vegetation surveys, a number have only fauna or florarecords probably from specific surveys or research projects, many have incomplete records derivedfrom opportunistic sightings or records from scientists, Field Naturalists and other interestedindividuals and groups. For these reasons the number of reserves with either or both flora and faunarecords is greater than the number with just both.Natural Features Reserves have nearly twice as many reserves with threatened flora and/or faunarecords than Nature Conservation Reserves, and over 18 times as many reserves with threatenedflora and/or fauna records than Historical and Cultural Features Reserves (Table15).TABLE 15NUMBER AND PERCENTAGE OF CONSERVATION RESERVES IN EACH CATEGORY WITHTHREATENED FLORA AND FAUNA RECORDSRESERVE CATEGORYNO. RESERVES WITH THREATENED FLORAAND/OR FAUNA RECORDS% OF ALL RESERVESNCR 252 9NFR 487 18HCFR 27 1Total 766 281Source of data: DSE Atlas of Victorian Wildlife and Flora Information System27

However, Nature Conservation Reserves have a higher percentage of reserves of that category withthreatened flora and/or fauna (65% of reserves) than both Historical and Cultural Features Reserves(25% of reserves) and/or Natural Features Reserves (22% of reserves).WetlandsFigure 10 shows that the majority of reserves, 76%, have no wetland, 1% have wetlands that areincluded in Ramsar sites (wetlands of international importance listed under the Ramsar convention),6% have important wetlands and 17% have other wetlands 1 . Nearly a third of Conservation Reserveswith wetlands have important wetlands and 19% of these (36 reserves) have wetlands in Ramsar. InNature Conservation Reserves 27% of wetlands are considered important, of these 8% are Ramsarwetlands. In Natural Features Reserves 23% of wetlands are considered important, of these 5% areRamsar wetlands. In Historic and Cultural Features Reserves 31% of wetlands are consideredimportant, of these 6% are Ramsar wetlands.FIGURE 10NUMBER OF CONSERVATION RESERVES WITH WETLANDS IN EACH CATEGORY25002000NCRNFRHCFRNo. of Reserves150010005000Important and Ramsar Wetlands Other Wetlands No WetlandsType of wetlandApproximately one quarter of all Conservation Reserves (a total of 650 reserves) contain one or morewetland (Table 16). Most reserves with wetlands are Natural Features Reserves (87%), less than10% are Natural Features Reserves and less than 3% are Historic and Cultural Features Reserves. Athird of Nature Conservation Reserve contain one or more wetland, 23% of Natural Features Reservescontain one or more wetland, and 15% of Historic and Cultural Features Reserves contain one ormore wetland.TABLE 16NUMBER OF CONSERVATION RESERVES IN EACH CATEGORY WITH WETLANDSRESERVECATEGORYNO. RESERVESWITH RAMSARWETLANDSNO. RESERVESWITH IMPORTANTWETLANDSNO. RESERVESWITH OTHERWETLANDSTOTAL NO.RESERVES WITHWETLANDSNCR 10 35 83 128NFR 25 115 366 506HCFR 1 5 10 16Total 36 155 459 650Note, in this analysis when a reserve has more than one wetland it is placed in the category of the highest ranking wetland(Ramsar wetlands being highest, then important wetlands and then other wetlands).1Source of data: DSE, Ramsar100, Wetland 1994, and Wetlanddir layers NRE Corporate Geospatial datasets including datafrom the Directory of Important Wetlands (EA 2001).28

3.1.5 Heritage valuesOf the 2486 historic places (non-indigenous sites) within the entire parks and reserves system, 31%occur within Conservation Reserves 1 .The 765 historic places within Conservation Reserves, are in only 168 reserves; that is, 6% of allConservation Reserves (Table 17). Most of these places (69%) are in Historical and Cultural FeaturesReserves.TABLE 17NUMBER AND PERCENTAGE OF CONSERVATION RESERVES WITH HISTORIC PLACES AND TOTALNUMBER AND PERCENTAGE OF PLACES FOR EACH CATEGORYRESERVE TYPENO. RESERVES WITHHISTORIC PLACESNO. HISTORICPLACESRESERVES WITH PLACESAS A % OF ALL RESERVESNCR 33 92 1NFR 76 146 3HCFR 60 527 2Total 168 765 6Historic places occur in reserves in ten districts, the majority in Grampians and Murray Central.Historic places are often concentrated within individual reserves. A total of 394 of the 765 places inreserves are in only 12 reserves. Castlemaine–Chewton HA has the highest number of places (140),Maldon HA has 64 and Walhalla HA 32.3.1.6 Indigenous valuesDetailed archaeological surveys have been undertaken in less than 1% of parks and reserves toidentify Indigenous cultural heritage sites 2 . Approximately 20% or 760 000 of the 3.6 million hectaresof parks and reserves managed by Parks Victoria requires detailed archaeological survey. Althoughthe majority of this area is in parks, there are a number of Conservation Reserves that also requiresurvey.Indigenous sitesA third of known Indigenous sites in Victoria are in parks and reserves. Of these 8902 sites, 2835(32%) sites are in Conservation Reserves. These sites are in only 214 reserves; that is, 8% of allConservation Reserves (Table 18). Most of these reserves (over 70%) are Natural FeaturesReserves, while less than one quarter are Nature Conservation Reserves, and only 5% are Historicand Cultural Features Reserves. Although Historic and Cultural Features Reserves have the lowestnumber of reserves with sites, they account for almost one third of Conservation Reserve sites, whilstjust over 15% of sites are within Nature Conservation Reserves.TABLE 18NUMBER AND PERCENTAGE OF CONSERVATION RESERVES WITH KNOWN INDIGENOUS SITES FOREACH CATEGORY 3RESERVE TYPENO. RESERVES WITHINDIGENOUS SITESNO. OF INDIGENOUS SITESRESERVES WITH SITES ASA % OF ALL RESERVESNCR 48 486 2NFR 155 1585 6HCFR 11 764 < 1Total 214 2835 81Source of data: Parks Victoria Asset Management database Maximo2Source of data: AAV Site Register.3Number of sites does not include coastal reserves or Lake Tyers29

The AAV Site Register broadly categorises Indigenous sites into 17 types ranging from art sites toscarred trees and fish traps to stone structures. Across the entire park and reserve system, 90% of allsites are of five site types: Artefact Scatter (33%), Hearth (5%), Mound (3%), Scarred tree (29%), andShell Deposit (20%). Rock Art, Grinding Grooves, and Stone Arrangements are the least representedsites within parks and reserves. The representation of sites in Conservation Reserves differs from thatacross the parks and reserves system as a whole. More than 50% of Aboriginal Places, Fish Traps,Mounds, Scarred Trees and Stone Structures found in parks and reserves occur in ConservationReserves. However, there are no Grinding Groove sites in Conservation Reserves, and ConservationReserves account for less than 10% of Shell Deposit sites recorded within parks and reserves.The occurrence of sites within reserve categories varies across site types. All Conservation Reserverecords of Stone Structures and Stone Arrangements are in Natural Features Reserves, and over 50%of records for most other site types also occur in Natural Features Reserves. The only exception isScarred Tree sites, of which 48% of Conservation Reserve records occur in Historic and CulturalFeatures Reserves, and only 39% are located in Natural Features Reserves. Aboriginal Places are themost frequent sites within Nature Conservation Reserves (50%).Indigenous sites are concentrated within individual reserves (Table 19). More than 50% of all sites inConservation Reserves are found in only 11 reserves. For two site types, Stone Arrangements andStone Structures, all Conservation Reserve sites occur in single reserves. For eight site types(Aboriginal Places, Extraction Site/Quarry, Rock Wells, Rock Art, Scarred Trees, Stone Arrangements,Stone Structures and Fish Traps), more than 40% of sites are within a single reserve.TABLE 19CONSERVATION RESERVES WITH THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF EACH INDIGENOUS SITE TYPESITE TYPE RESERVE WITH MOST SITES NO. SITES % OF SITE TYPEAboriginal Places Mount Hope FFR (NCR) 3 50Artefact Scatters Lake Timboram FFR (NCR) 52 8Extraction Site/Quarry Buchan Caves Reserve (NFR) 4 44Fish Trap Lake Condah WR (NFR) 57 95Hearth Lake Heywood WR (NFR) 23 18Human Remains River Murray Reserve (NFR) 12 32Literature Reference Soaks BR (NFR) 4 25Mound River Murray Reserve (NFR) 37 16Rock Art Red Rock BR (NFR) 5 42Rock Well Chesney Vale Hills H97 BR (NFR) 4 44Scarred Tree Bumbang Island HA (HCFR) 640 46Shell Deposits Bumbang Island HA (HCFR) 39 24Sub Surface Cultural Deposits River Murray Reserve (NFR) 9 31Stone Arrangement Lake Wongan WR (NFR) 1 100Stone Structure Lake Condah WR (NFR) 60 100Aboriginal historical placesIn addition to Indigenous sites, AAV records Aboriginal historical places. Aboriginal historical placesare places of contemporary significance to Aboriginal communities, that is locations (post-contact) thatare important because of their associations with, and cultural significance to, Aboriginal people. Suchplaces may or may not contain archaeological remains. For example, a historical place could includethe foundations of a mission building, or a massacre site at which no physical remains survive.Of the 92 recorded Aboriginal historical places listed by the AAV that are within parks and reserves,44% occur in Conservation Reserves. The 35 Aboriginal historical places recorded in ConservationReserves are in 23 reserves, which is less than 1% of all Conservation Reserves (Table 20). Most of30

these reserves (over 90%) are Natural Features Reserves, less than 10% are Nature ConservationReserves, and none are Historical and Cultural Features Reserves.TABLE 20NUMBER AND PERCENTAGE OF CONSERVATION RESERVES WITH KNOWN ABORIGINALHISTORICAL PLACES FOR EACH CATEGORYRESERVE TYPENO. RESERVES WITHABORIGINAL HISTORICALPLACESNO. ABORIGINALHISTORICAL PLACESRESERVES WITHPLACES AS A % OFALL RESERVESNCR 2 3 < 1NFR 21 32 1HCFR 0 0 0Total 23 35 13.1.7 Visitors servicesOver 90% of Conservation Reserves have no Visitor Sites 1 . In contrast to Parks, most have fewvisitors and visitor monitoring is not usually undertaken. Only 4% of all Conservation Reserves haveone or more Visitor Sites recorded in the Levels of Service database. Of the 94% of ConservationReserves that are not included in the database, it is assumed that most have few visitors and novisitor facilities. 2The greatest number of Conservation Reserves with Visitor Sites are Natural Features Reserves (82),which have more than four times as many reserves with Visitor Sites than both Nature ConservationReserves (18) and Historic and Cultural Features Reserves (16). However, Historic and CulturalFeatures Reserves have the highest percentage of reserves with Visitor Sites: 15% of Historic andCultural Features Reserves have Visitor Sites, compared with less than 5% of both NatureConservation and Natural Features Reserves.Visitor sitesVisitor numbersAlthough 43% of Conservation Reserves with Visitor Sites have 5000 or fewer visitors per year, eachConservation Reserve category has at least one reserve that is estimated to receive over 50 000visitors per year (Table 21). These high-visitation reserves (Table 22) comprise less than 10% of eachreserve type with Visitor Sites and are located across six Parks Victoria districts.TABLE 21VISITOR NUMBERS FOR CONSERVATION RESERVES WITH AT LEAST ONE VISITOR SITERESERVE CATEGORYVISITOR NUMBERS (' 000/YEAR)< 5 5 – 10 10 – 50 > 50 NOT AVAILABLENCR 11 4 2 1 0NFR 33 26 14 7 2HCFR 6 4 4 1 1Total 50 34 20 9 31 A visitor site is defined as a destination visitors go to that have four or more ‘attributes’ such as car parking and signage orranger presence and risk mitigation. Infrastructure such as roads, bridges and walking tracks is not currently counted as visitorsites. Information on infrastructure such as condition is recorded in the Maximo database but was not included in this overview.2Source of data: PV Levels of Service (LOS) database. Note that many reserves have more than one visitor site. For example,Murray River Reserve has >70 sites and the relevant data is listed for each in the database. For reserves with more than oneVisitor site, the highest categories recorded for visitor numbers and service levels were used.31

TABLE 22CONSERVATION RESERVES WITH OVER 50 000 VISITORS PER YEARRESERVE CATEGORY RESERVE (SITE) PARKS VICTORIA DISTRICTNCR Red Bluff Flora and Fauna Reserve* East GippslandNFRVaughan & Glenluce Mineral Springs Reserve (day Murray Centralvisitor area)Rosebud Foreshore ReserveMornington/WesternportBuchan Caves ReserveEast GippslandTrentham Falls Scenic Reserve (picnic area) GrampiansRed Cliffs River ReserveMalleeStevensons Falls Scenic ReserveWest CoastTower Hill State Game Reserve (picnic area and West Coastvisitor centre)HCFR Maldon Historic Reserve (Mount Tarrengower) Murray Central* visits associated with surf carnival on adjacent beach.Levels of ServiceThere are five classes of service level. Briefly, the classes are:• Very Basic service level — Visitor Sites are remote with no built facilities provided. Typical visitorsto these areas are self-sufficient, highly experienced in their preferred activity, activerecreationists.• Basic service level — Visitor Sites typically have walk-in, boat, or weather dependent vehicleaccess and have few facilities. Visitors to these areas are usually independent and experiencedpark visitors.• Mid-service level — Visitor Sites are described as natural settings with reliable access, andgenerally have toilets, BBQs and picnic tables. Visitors include both active and passiverecreationists seeking some facilities in a predominantly natural or cultural setting.• High service level — Visitor Sites are highly accessible developed sites with many facilities.Visitors to these areas include tourists and park visitors seeking quality facilities in predominantlynatural or cultural settings.• Very High service level — Visitor Sites are highly developed with a full range of facilities. Visitorsare tourists and park visitors seeking comfort and convenience in a popular/icon park.Service levels within Conservation Reserves that have Visitor Sites range from Very Basic to High(Table 23). For each reserve category, most reserves have Basic service levels. Only two reservesare listed as High service level; Buchan Caves Reserve and Point Hicks Lightstation Reserve, bothNatural Features Reserves (East Gippsland district). The highest service level for NatureConservation Reserves and Historic Reserves is Mid level. The Nature Conservation Reserves withmid-level services are Red Bluff Flora and Fauna Reserve (East Gippsland district), Kings BillabongWildlife Reserve (Mallee district) and Floating Islands Reserve (West Coast district).High visitation levels correspond with High service levels in only one case: Buchan Caves Reserve.Most (78%) high visitation Conservation Reserves have Mid level services. Similarly, ConservationReserves with High service levels are not restricted to the larger visitor number classes. For example,Point Hicks Lightstation Reserve is estimated to have only 5000 – 10 000 visitors per year.32

TABLE 23LEVELS OF SERVICE FOR CONSERVATION RESERVES WITH AT LEAST ONE VISITOR SITERESERVE CATEGORYSERVICE LEVELBASIC MID HIGH NOT AVAILABLENCR 15 3 0 0NFR 53 25 2 2HCFR 9 7 0 0Total 77 35 2 23.2 ASSESSMENT OF MANAGEMENT ACTIVITYThere is a perception that in the context of managing the entire parks and reserve system, reservesare likely to be under-resourced compared to parks. In the absence of a comprehensive statewideaudit of staffing levels and on-ground works undertaken in Conservation Reserves, the followinganalysis of budget allocation and expenditure 1 indicates an appropriate level of management activity inreserves.The total operating Parks and Reserves budget for 1999–2000 Programs across the four key outputareas (Environment, Heritage, Indigenous, and Visitor and Assets) was more than $25.5 million (Table24). Of this total, approximately 12% was allocated to Conservation Reserves.TABLE 24 LEVEL OF ACTIVITY (OPERATING BUDGET) BY KEY OUTPUT AREAS FOR 1999–2000OUTPUT AREA PARKS RESERVES REGIONALPARKSMETROPARKSPIERS &JETTIESALL aTOTALEnvironment No. projects 512 325b131 0 0 968% of budget 57 3013 0 0 $5 838 581Heritage No. projects 15 1 25 20 0 11 72% of budget 13 < 1 26 53 0 8 $937 080Indigenous No. projects 19 2 4 4 0 3 c 33% of budget 56 7 13 5 0 19 $360 150Visitor and No. projects 35 1 7 13 14 0 70Asset% of budget 35 < 1 6 13 46 0 $18 460 000abcdStatewide projects or allocations across more than one park typeRegional park allocations included with Conservation ReservesAllocation to a number of parksIncludes budgets for lighthouse reserves as NFRsbThe total operating budget for 1999–2000 allocated to Conservation Reserves, across the four outputareas, was approximately $3.1 million. Environmental management projects comprised the largestbudget allocation made to Conservation Reserves (56%, including any Regional Park projects), with35% allocated to Visitor Management projects, 8% allocated to Heritage Management projects and2% allocated to Indigenous Management projects (Table 25).1Source of data: PV annual program budget allocation and expenditure. Note that budgets for salaries and other activities notallocated at a park or reserve level, and funding from other sources such as external National Heritage Trust and CMA grants,are not included in the analysis.33

TABLE 25RESERVECATEGORYPERCENTAGE OF CONSERVATION RESERVES (OPERATING BUDGET) FOR EACH RESERVE TYPEENVIRONMENT HERITAGE INDIGENOUS VISITOR & ASSETSNO. OFPROJECTS% TOTALBUDGETNO. OFPROJECTS% TOTALBUDGETNO. OFPROJECTS% TOTALBUDGETNO. OFPROJECTS% TOTALBUDGETNCR NA NA 0 0 1 11 0 0NFR NA NA 8 34 3 89 7 100HCFR NA NA 13 35 0 0 0 0Statewide orcombinationNA NA 4 31 0 0 0 0Total 325 100 25 100 4 100 7 100NAData not availableEnvironment Management ActivityThe Environment Management Program is characterised by a large number of low to medium costs (inthe order of $2000–10000) projects, undertaken mostly in parks but also in reserves, across eightprogram areas: Pest Plant Control, Pest Animal Control, Grazing, Catchment Management,Threatened Species Management, Native Animal Management, Marine, and Fire Management. Itexcludes any activities undertaken by reserve staff using recurrent funding.Conservation Reserves were allocated 30% of the total Environment Management Program operatingbudget (which also included any Regional Park activity) (Table 25). Although National Parks Act parksreceived the greatest budget, the average operating budget allocated per project did not vary greatlybetween park type: Conservation Reserves were allocated $5433/project, Metro Parks & Waterways$5547/project and National Parks Act parks $6535/project.Heritage Management ActivityThe Heritage Management Program is characterised by a relatively small number of high-cost (manyin the order of $50 000) projects undertaken at a small number of sites in parks or reserves. Itexcludes any activities undertaken by reserve staff using recurrent funding.Of the Heritage Management Program operating budget for 2000–2001, 26% was allocated toConservation Reserves. This was abnormally high due to a high level of externally fundedexpenditure on historic buildings, including lighthouses on reserves.Most projects were within Historic and Cultural Features Reserves (52%), while 32% were withinNatural Features Reserves and 16% of projects were statewide or multiple-park projects.Approximately one third of the Heritage Management budget for Conservation Reserves was allocatedto each of these areas (35% to Historic Reserves, 34% in Natural Features Reserves includinglighthouse reserves, and 31% to statewide or multiple park projects). No Heritage managementactivity occurred within individual Nature Conservation Reserves. Individual reserves that received thelargest amounts were Tower Hill Wildlife Reserve (NFR in West Coast) (20.5%), Days Mill HistoricReserve (HCFR in Murray Central) (8.2%) and Gabo Island Lighthouse Reserve (classified as a NFRin East Gippsland) (5.5%).Indigenous Management ActivityThe Indigenous Management Program is characterised by a relatively small number of medium tohigh-cost (in the order of $20 000) projects, including both protection works and archaeological surveyundertaken in a small number of parks or reserves. It excludes any activities undertaken by reservestaff using recurrent funding.Conservation Reserves received 13% of the Indigenous Management Program funding. Threeprojects were conducted in Natural Feature Reserves and one in a Nature Conservation Reserve.Koorangie Wildlife Reserve (NFR, Murray Central) and Bishops Mitre Rock Scenic Reserve (NFRWest Coast) received the most funding allocated to Conservation Reserves: 64% and 21% of the total34

espectively. Other Conservation Reserves that received funding for indigenous projects were PointHicks Lighthouse Reserve (classified as a NFR in East Gippsland), and Red Bluff Flora and FaunaReserve (NFR, East Gippsland).Visitor and Asset Management ProgramThe Visitor and Asset Management Program is characterised by a relatively small number of one-offstrategic and high-cost projects undertaken mostly in parks and excludes any activities undertaken byreserve staff using recurrent funding.Conservation Reserves Visitor Management activity represented 6% of the total budget within thisoutput area.All projects allocated budget from the 2000–2001 Visitor Management Program were in NaturalFeatures Reserves; no projects occurred within Nature Conservation Reserves or Historic Reserves.Buchan Caves Reserve (NFR) received the most funding (67%), while three reserves received theremaining funding: Murray River Reserve (NFR Murray Central and Mallee districts) (14%), WilsonsPromontory Lighthouse Reserve (classified as a NFR in West Gippsland) (10%) and Tower HillWildlife Reserve (NFR in West Coast) (9%).Improvements to the financial and budget systems and linkages between these and managementsystems during 1999–2000 enable automatic reporting of budget and expenditure for Conservationreserves by output areas.The total expenditure for 2000–2001 across five output areas, including Environment, Heritage andIndigenous, and Visitor Services was approximately $15.8 million (Table 26). Of this total,approximately 8% was allocated to Conservation Reserves. Environment Management projectscomprised the largest allocation made to Conservation Reserves (71%), however 10% was allocatedto Asset projects and 11% to Visitor Services projects, and 9% to Cultural Heritage projects.TABLE 26 LEVEL OF ACTIVITY (EXPENDITURE) BY OUTPUT AREAS FOR 2000-2001OUTPUT AREA PARKS RESERVES REGIONALPARKSMETROPARKSPIERS &JETTIESTOTALEnvironment No. of projects 719 265 67 152 3 1206Cultural(Heritage andIndigenous)% of expenditure 72 14 26 14 0 $3 677 995No. projects 56 32 5 39 0 132% of expenditure 36 17 8 48 0 $959 288Assets No. projects 338 37 12 155 0 542% of expenditure 66 5 23 32 0 $4 776 612Visitor No. projects 257 41 20 296 0 614Services% of expenditure 37 5 23 61 0 $5 773 897Organisational No. of projects 70 6 3 85 0 164Performance% of expenditure 62 2 16 34 0 $646 865Further improvements to the budget and reporting systems allow a breakdown of the annual budget bypark type and the five agreed output areas: Natural Values Management (NVM), Cultural ValuesManagement (CVM), Fire Management (FM), Visitor Services Management (VSM), and OperationalPerformance (OP).Of the total budget of $18.5 for 2001–2002, approximately 12% was allocated to ConservationReserves (Table 27). Natural Values Management projects comprised the largest allocation made toConservation Reserves (62%), with 26% allocated to Visitor Services and 12% to Cultural Heritageprojects.35

TABLE 27 LEVEL OF ACTIVITY (OPERATING BUDGET) BY OUTPUT AREAS FOR 2001–2002OUTPUT AREA PARKS RESERVES REGIONALPARKSMETROPARKSPIERS &JETTIESTOTALNVM No. projects 236 574 115 53 3 981% of budget 29 22 2 47 0 $7 336 499CVM No. projects 30 41 27 6 0 104% of budget 8 0 25 67 0 $1 195 658VS No. projects 67 373 224 37 0 701% of budget 65 19 5 10 0 $9 726 408FMNo. projects 3 2 2 4 0 11% of budget 23 0 0 77 0 $77 150OPNo. of projects 4 8 9 5 0 26% of budget 58 6 0 37 0 $135 7423.3 INFORMATION GAPS AND DATA LIMITATIONSThis strategy draws on material collated from electronic databases, maps, aerial photographs,research documents and published reports. These sources vary in their age and hence the degree towhich they reflect the current situation. All attempts have been made to ensure that the informationcontained in this report is relevant, accurate and up-to-date.Parks Victoria and DSE use different GIS systems (MapInfo and Arc View respectively), andtranslation of data between the systems can be problematic.A whole-of-catchment and bioregional perspective from outside the reserve boundary is crucial forreserve planning. However, information systems available to PV staff are often limited to the parks andreserves system.Land tenure information• DSE and PV maintain separate data systems. Parks Victoria has no direct access DSE systemsand useful data may not be readily accessible. Parks Flora and Fauna (PFF) within DSEmaintains a Parks and Reserves Information System (PRIMS) and provides regular updates aboutreserves managed by Parks Victoria. The information from PRIMS is duplicated in the PV Parksand Reserves register. The register indicates whether reservation status is in accordance with theLCC/ECC recommendation but does not include comprehensive information on reservation status,land tenure or reservation history for every reserve. PV has no direct access to this informationwhich recorded on DSE’s statewide set of parish plans and only partly included in the DSE LandInformation System (LIMS). There is some confusion in PV about which part of DSE isresponsible for managing the data; for example, Land Victoria or PFF.• An ongoing process is in place between PFF and Parks Victoria to correct reserve boundary andother details, and the information is regularly updated. However, these updates are notconsistently adopted by other areas of DSE, and can lead to conflicting information about currentreserve tenure and area, particularly between regional staff.• The Parks and Reserves register and the derived GIS spatial layer Park_Bound does not includeparks and reserves where Parks Victoria has been appointed the Committee of Management, forexample Lake Corangamite WR, but will be included in future updates.Land (reserve) managers• Within DSE, PFF advises about all reserves Parks Victoria is responsible for managing throughthe parks and reserves register. As for land tenure this information is regularly updated between36

DSE and PV. However these updates are not available or adopted by other areas of DSE andcan lead to conflicting information about current reserve managers and confusion for staff andstakeholders.• Within DSE, Land Victoria is responsible for overseeing committees of management. Details ofcommittees of management for PV-managed reserves or about reserves where PV is thecommittee of management are out-of-date and often inaccurate. As is the case with land tenure,PV has no direct access to this data.Licences and leases• Land Victoria manages licences and leases for resource use such as grazing, firewood collection,and honey production. The processes are inadequate to ensure legislative compliance becausemuch of the information on reservation status and reserve managers is inaccurate or out-of-date.• Parks Victoria has completed an audit of reserves licensed for grazing stock in the Murray Centraldistrict, and audits of two other districts is underway. The process involves much data collectionand correction because records extracted by Land Victoria are not always comprehensive oraccurate.Species records• The data contained in the Flora Information System and the Atlas of Victorian Wildlife comes froma combination of incidental records and systematic surveys. The data varies in accuracy,precision and reliability. The relative lack of knowledge about the distribution of invertebrate andnon-vascular plant species means that records are weighted towards the less cryptic elements offlora and fauna, i.e. vascular flora and vertebrate fauna.• The records of threatened species analysed were limited to those less than or equal to 30 yearsago. If a species has not been recorded in the last 30 years it is assumed no longer present. Insome reserves this is case; there has been a serious decline in biodiversity, which is particularlyevident in the loss of medium and small mammal species, as a result of vegetation clearance andhabitat fragmentation across the landscape. In some cases it is likely that the reserve stillprovides suitable habitat for certain species, but the nature of their distribution and/or their biologylimits the likelihood that they will be observed and recorded. In other cases there is a lack ofrecent information. Many of the first systematic surveys in Victoria were undertaken in the 1970sto support the former Land Conservation Council studies. Records are likely to drop out if nofurther surveys have been made or incidental records added.• There is a huge lack of basic flora and fauna information; approximately 70% of reserves have noflora and fauna records in the DSE statewide databases and are unlikely to have been surveyed.Of the 30% with records, the number that have been systematically surveyed is likely to be low.• Current records entered by reserve staff are immediately accessible, but updates from and to theDSE statewide databases (that is, from outside PV such as DSE, researchers and field naturalists)can be over a year apart. Reconciling the differences between species lists from the two sourcescan be problematic.Ecological Vegetation Classes• EVCs are modelled to represent the most detailed level of vegetation typology available. Theyconsist of one or more floristic communities that exist under a common regime of ecologicalprocesses within a particular environment. Descriptions and mapping of EVCs has beencompleted for much of the state and compiled as statewide layer. However, mapping for northwesternVictoria (562 or 21% of reserves: that is 24% of NCRs, 21% of NFRs and 5% of HCFRs)will not be completed until the end of 2003.• The scale of the EVC mapping (1:100 000 or 1:25 000) leads to misleading results for areas withlow density of vegetation cover, and particularly for the small reserves. Over 50 reserves havevegetation that is not classified as any EVC because of low tree cover, and many others haveparts with vegetation that is not classified. The scale of the EVC mapping and the reserveboundary layer needs to be kept in mind when interpreting the EVC information (Figure 11).37

FIGURE 11LIMITATIONS OF EVC MAPPING FOR LITTLE DALYENONG FLORA RESERVE (NCR)EVC mapping (top) and remaining vegetation from aerial photograph (bottom). = reserve boundary38

• EVC mapping is not ground truthed. Like most developmental projects, EVCs are subject tocontinuous improvement and changes.Condition• There is no agreed vegetation condition assessment method, but several methods are in use byPV and DSE.• There are no assessment methods for habitat or species condition.• Methods for assessing vegetation condition have yet to demonstrate measurability andrepeatability, over time and consistency of results by different assessors.• The DSE habitat hectare method requires benchmarked EVCs. Less than a quarter of VictorianEVCs have been benchmarked, and these are mostly from North Central Victoria.• The PV method (developed by Ballarat University) requires identification of a ‘good’ conditionexample for benchmarking, which can be problematic in small reserves.• There are no defined or agreed targets for ecological management.Risks to environmental values• There are no agreed statewide data or contexts for assessing impacts.• There are difficulties in accessing CMA-based assessments of pest plants and animals, which iscurrently not available from the DSE Corporate Library; for example, CMA Rabbit Priority ControlZone maps.• DSE layers for salinity, erodibility, flood-prone areas and land use are in development initially forCMAs, then statewide, to be available through the DSE corporate library.Heritage values• A large proportion of reserves has yet to be comprehensively surveyed. A large number of placesstill need to be recorded, although the majority of significant places have probably been identified.• There may be errors of omissions in the Maximo database, because sites managed by ParksVictoria may have been misidentified and deleted from the inventory. In addition, since sitelocations are mostly based on map grid references, some may not match the current GIS-basedreserve areas. Some sites have yet to be matched with a park or reserve.• Survey in the past focused on themes such as gold mining, and did not collect data for other typesof places such as settlement sites.• While the Heritage Strategy (PV 2002b) establishes clear directions and guidance for themanagement of places in reserves, there is no statewide context for determining managementpriorities.Indigenous values• Very few reserves have been surveyed for sites. The likelihood of finding new sites in particularareas is high. For example, five new sites were identified during recent site inspections of tenreserves.• While there is clear guidance for the protection of sites and places in reserves (PV 2002a), there isno statewide context for determining management priorities.39

Visitor services• The focus of data collection for Levels of Service (LOS) was parks not reserves. Comprehensivedate on reserves may not be included for all districts. The LOS data includes only reserves withrecorded visitor sites; that is, built facilities. Most reserves have no visitor sites and are notincluded.• Actual visitation may be underestimated for a relatively small number of reserves; for example,high seasonal visits to Wildlife Reserves where hunting is permitted, which have no facilities.• As for parks, annual numbers of visitor days are estimated and not measured. The lowestcategory is between 0 and 5000.• Access roads and tracks to or through reserves may not be included, particularly when managedby VicRoads or Shires/Councils.40

4 MANAGEMENT DIRECTIONSThis section supports the legislative management objectives for Conservation Reserves detailed inChapter 2 by providing further guidance for decision-making in planning and managing ConservationReserves. This section describes directions for reserve management and explains their application.These management directions have been developed to facilitate decision-making about individualreserves, to ensure a consistent approach to reserve management, and to help set priorities. Thedirections cover six key result areas:• management planning;• information needs;• conservation of natural values;• conservation of heritage values;• conservation of Indigenous values; and• provision of visitor facilities or access.MANAGEMENT PLANNINGISSUEReserve managementstatementManagement plan (PV initiated)MANAGEMENT DIRECTIONInstead of comprehensive management plans, reservemanagement statements will generally be prepared forConservation Reserves (see Appendix 1).Management plans will usually not be developed forConservation Reserves. If plans are required for reserves (seeAppendix 2), management plans will be developed inaccordance with the PV standards and processes includingcommunity consultation required for the development of plansfor national parks.ExplanationThe development of management plans for protected areas is costly in terms of operational budgetsand staff time and take at least a year to complete. With almost 2800 reserves, the development ofplans for all reserves would be a major undertaking and a considerable drain on resources into theforeseeable future. Consequently, DSE and PV have agreed to develop a strategic basis formanaging reserves instead of developing management plans for all reserves. In accordance withlegislation, management plans for parks and Reference Areas will continue to be prepared.There are approximately 30 existing management plans for individual reserves and several underdevelopment. Plans will not be considered for reserves unless a reserve meets at least three criteria,such as high natural values, high visitation, and a proposed level of service that is inconsistent withthe reserve category (see Appendix 2).From time to time management plans are and will continue to be initiated by other agencies, such assalinity plans by DSE and Neighbourhood Environment Improvement Plans (EIP) by the EPA. PV willsupport and encourage the development of management plans for conservation reserves (all reservecategories) by other agencies subject to agreement that the plan not be approved without PV DistrictChief Ranger agreement on an implementation framework. District Chief Ranger approval is required41

for PV involvement in planning initiated by other agencies, and particularly as a partner inNeighbourhood EIPs. An approach consistent with PV current practice will be encouraged.For the majority of Conservation Reserves planning will be streamlined through the development of aConservation Reserve Management Statement. The statement identifies short and long-term naturalvalues, heritage values, indigenous values and visitor services management objectives (see Appendix1). Annual priorities for on-ground action to be incorporated into the appropriate program area willimplement these objectives.INFORMATION NEEDSISSUEInformation needsMANAGEMENT DIRECTIONGive priority to collecting basic information for all reserve.For priority reserves and reserves with on-ground workprograms ensure adequate knowledge of values and risks.ExplanationThe majority of reserves have not been comprehensively surveyed for flora and fauna or cultural sites.Vegetation mapping, available for 75% of reserves, is modelled at a broad scale and not necessarilybased on actual vegetation surveys. The extent of information gaps for Conservation Reserves meanthat the collection of basic information on natural and cultural values in reserves is a priority.While the completion of comprehensive surveys of all reserves might be a long-term goal, it iscurrently well beyond the resources of reserve managers. Nevertheless considerable progress can bemade with the assistance community groups and individuals interested in recording values and otherinformation. Focussing their efforts on both priority reserves and reserves where the values are notrecorded will be of greatest benefit in the short-term.CONSERVATION OF NATURAL VALUESISSUEOn-ground workprogram prioritiesMonitoring prioritiesMANAGEMENT DIRECTIONIn the short-term, undertake on-ground work programs to maintainor restore reserves with higher natural values where the risk ismanageable.Monitor reserves with lower value, in poor condition and where therisk is intractable, to detect any rapid decline in condition.ExplanationThere is a perception that Conservation Reserves protect few important natural values and that pastresource use has degraded the condition of reserves beyond repair. This is not the case. Despite alack of a comprehensive survey there are records of threatened flora or fauna species in more than20% of reserves. Almost half of all reserves protect valuable remnants of vegetation communitiesconsidered threatened because less than 30% of the pre-European extent remains. ClearlyConservation Reserves are important for biodiversity conservation in Victoria.In managing natural values it is important to make wise use of the limited available resources by givingpriority to projects most likely to achieve the best outcomes. Hence management of threats andthreatening processes to reserves with higher values in good condition is a priority compared totreating intractable problems such as some weed invasions or reserves already in poor condition.Reserve managers need to use values, condition and risk as indicated below to determine priorities fornatural values management.42

.HHL HHM MHM HLH HLL HLM MMH LMM LLLHML LHL HHH HMH MML LML MLL LMH LLMMHL HMM MHH LHM LHH MMM MLM MLH LLHH = Higher, M = Medium, L = Lower, arranged in order from left to right: values, condition, risk. Green =Higher management priority to maintain. Teal = Medium management priority to maintain. Purple = Lowmanagement priority to maintain. Red = High management priority to restore. Dark blue = Mediummanagement priority to restore. Brown = Lower management priority to restoreCONSERVATION OF HERITAGE VALUESISSUEPlaces listed on theVictorian HeritageRegisterAll other placesMANAGEMENT DIRECTIONDo not allow to fall into disrepair and ensure that their conservationis not threatened. Manage in accordance with Heritage Victoriarequirements and the Burra Charter.Protect all heritage places from avoidable damage and managesignificant heritage values in accordance with expert reports or bythe application of the Burra Charter.ExplanationOver 30% of all historic places (non-indigenous places) in parks and reserves are in just 168 reserves.Most of these reserves are Historic and Cultural Features Reserves but places are also found inNatural Features Reserves and Nature Conservation Reserves. It is thought that most significanthistoric places in reserves are known, however many relics and other evidence of former uses areprobably still to be recorded.PV manages all sites to protect their significance in accordance with the Burra Charter (ICOMOS1999), the Heritage Act and other relevant legislation. The significance of places is defined byheritage experts. PV has developed an overarching strategy (PV 2002b) which details the key historicthemes managed by PV. The themes guide priority setting particularly for presentation, promotion anddeveloping strategic partnerships with local communities. Management of significant places andplaces representing a PV key historic theme is directed by expert reports or advice. The Heritage Actrequires managers of places older than 50 years to ensure that they are not disturbed or destroyed,except in accordance with a consent under that Act. The most appropriate management of otherplaces is usually to prevent avoidable damage of the place, its component parts and setting but allownatural processes of deterioration to continue.CONSERVATION OF INDIGENOUS VALUESISSUEAll Indigenous sites(AAV registered or not)MANAGEMENT DIRECTIONAdequately protect sites consistent with the condition of the site andas agreed with all relevant Indigenous groups.ExplanationAlmost 40% of all sites found in parks and reserves are in just 241 reserves. It is anticipated thatthere are many unrecorded sites in reserves, as many reserves have never been surveyed. Themajority of reserves with sites are Natural Features Reserves, but sites are also found in NatureConservation Reserves and Historic and Cultural Features Reserves.43

PV manages all sites and places in accordance with relevant legislation, has operation policies toguide management of sites and is committed to establishing partnerships all relevant Indigenousgroups to improve management of reserves and sites in reserves. AAV (1997) describes how torecord information on new sites and AAV (2000) defines the condition of sites and recommends arange of appropriate management actions.PROVISION OF VISITOR FACILITIES OR ACCESSISSUEReserves with visitorsitesReserves without visitorsitesAccessInfrastructureGuided toursMANAGEMENT DIRECTIONIn the short-term, maintain existing appropriate and safe facilities atvisitor sites. Provide no new or upgraded facilities except for the protectionof values. In the long-term maintain or downgrade facilities consistentwith the level of use, reserve category desired levels of service (asoutlined below), risk and Level of Service (LOS) direction rating.Provide no new facilities. Subject to the availability of funding, givepriority to site identification signage for reserves with regulations,>5000 visitors per year and in line with LOS high, mid and basic sitesin that order.Provide standards of access consistent with PV Roads Strategy (noupgrading of access roads).Undertake regular inventory and condition assessments, and works tomanage risk as required.Permit tours, provided they are consistent with the managementobjectives for the reserve category and level of service.ExplanationThe majority of reserves have low numbers of visitors and most have no visitor facilities. Only 29 havemore than 10 000 annual visitors. Only 116 reserves have visitor sites with a range of facilities. Manyare too small to sustain large numbers of visitors without compromising the purpose for theirreservation.Facilities and standards of access within and to reserves are mostly a legacy of past uses, developedat the discretion of former managers. Similarly much infrastructure such as bridges and fences is alegacy of past management. The maintenance of visitor facilities and roads and tracks is very costly.In the short-term visitor management will promote best use of reserves with existing facilities andappropriate standards of access roads. Available resources are allocated on a statewide basisdepending on the importance of the site and level of risk. Visitors should be directed to reserves withfacilities or other areas (Shire or DSE) with facilities. Change in visitor use of a reserve or of visitorsites within a reserve may require periodic review of the levels of service direction rating.In the long-term, the majority of Conservation Reserves will continue to have no visitor facilities. Thefuture provision of visitor facilities at existing visitor sites needs to consider the primary purpose of theindividual reserve, risks and level of use. The desired levels of service for reserve categories are:NCRNFRRegardless of visitor numbers, the appropriate level of service is Very Basic — nofireplaces or other built facilities, no signage other than site identification signs, accessgenerally walking or limited vehicle. Provide no new facilities and decommissioninappropriate facilities e.g. fireplaces. If necessary, re-direct public access rather thanprovide facilities, e.g. boardwalks, to minimise visitor impact.0–5000 visitors — the appropriate level of service is Very Basic.5000–10 000 visitors — the maximum level of service is Basic.10 000–50 000 visitors — appropriate level of service is Basic to Mid.44

HCFRNo new or upgraded facilities (except to protect natural or cultural values).Small reserves ( 400 ha• with 0–5000 visitors — the appropriate level of service is Very Basic (other thansignage for site protection).• with 5000–10 000 visitors — the maximum level of service is Basic.• with 10 000–50 000 visitors — the maximum level of service is Mid.45

5 STRATEGIES FOR IMPLEMENTATIONThis section documents statewide management strategies that address a range of actions that willlead to an overall improvement in the management of reserves. The strategies have been developedin response to the analysis of the information available for reserves, and to issues that were raised indiscussions with reserve managers. Designed at the broader level, the strategies complement thedirections set out in Section 4, which aim to clarify decision-making and management priorities forindividual reserves.The strategies are grouped under seven important performance areas. A summary of the relevantmanagement issues or considerations follows the strategies to further explain the context for adoptingthe statewide strategies. To guide priorities and the allocation of resources to the most importantactivities, timelines and accountabilities have been assigned to each strategy.5.1 LEGISLATIVE AND MANAGEMENT ARRANGEMENTSSTRATEGY ACCOUNTABILITY TIMELINEImplement outstanding LCC/ECC recommendations by appropriatereservation.DSEOngoingInitiate processes to reconcile data and licensing issues. DSE & PV Year 1Ensure sustainability of resource use and adequate protection DSE & PV Ongoingconditions in leases and licences.Phase out resource uses that are incompatible with reserve DSE & PV Ongoingmanagement objectives.Apply and implement regulations to Nature Conservation Reserves. DSE & PV OngoingInvestigate making regulations for other reserve types. DSE Within 5 yearsMANAGEMENT ISSUES AND CONTEXTConservation Reserves are mostly reserved under the Crown Land (Reserves) Act, howeverapproximately 40% are not yet reserved as recommended by the LCC/ECC recommendations.Appropriate reservation will help resolve many existing boundary and encroachment issues. Reservesmust be managed in accordance with Government-accepted LCC/ECC recommendations, but reservemanagers must be aware of the current reservation status.Information about reservation history and current status, and reserves where PV has been appointedthe Committee of Management needs to be readily accessible. Land Victoria and other DSE units areresponsible for issuing leases and licences for resource use in reserves, including timber harvesting,firewood collection, grazing, water diversions for irrigation, apiculture and commercial fishing. Somelicensing of activities that are inconsistent with reserve management objectives is occurring as a resultof inconsistent records about LCC/ECC recommendations and which reserves PV manages. Forexample, grazing licences have been issued for some Nature Conservation Reserves when both themanagement objectives and LCC/ECC recommendations prohibit grazing in these reserves.The Crown Land (Reserves) Act allows for regulations to be made for reserves. The Land Act andCrown Land (Reserves) Act include some generic regulatory provisions, and there are specificregulations for State Game Reserves and proposed regulations for Nature Conservation Reserves tobe made in 2003 (totalling 20% of reserves). Parks Victoria will undertake a communication programto inform reserve managers, DSE, neighbours, stakeholders, users and the broader community aboutnew regulations and will implement a two-year transition phase before beginning enforcement.46

5.2 RESERVE PRIORITIESSTRATEGY ACCOUNTABILITY TIMELINEPrepare reserve management statements for 25 reserves selectedfrom the 300 priority reserves at the top of statewide ranking ofreserves (Appendix 3) and document the planned outcomes inindividual reserve management statements (Appendix 1).Review reserves where works are currently scheduled in annualon-ground work programs against the statewide priority ranking ofreserves.Develop a three-year program to complete reserve managementstatements for 150 priority reserves.Review reserve priorities (Appendix 3), subject to the availability ofnew or improved data such as completed EVC mapping orbioregional planning priorities.Review delivery of a three-year program including futureresourcing implications for planning for all reserves and PVscapacity to improve management of reserves.Subject to the outcome of the reviews in Year 3 develop andcommence implementation of a rolling three-year program fordevelopment of reserve statements for all reserves.NPPS Year 1Ranger in Charge(RIC)NPPS & ChiefRanger (CR)Year 1Year 1NPPS Year 4NPPS Year 4NPPS & CR Year 4MANAGEMENT ISSUES AND CONTEXTEstablishing systematic reserve priorities will allow resources to be allocated to where they will bemost effective.In the past, establishing statewide priorities for reserves has been hampered by a lack of a statewideperspective, lack of consistent and comparable data, and difficulty in apportioning relative importanceto natural or cultural values. There is a perception, based on the LCC classification of reserves, thatNature Conservation Reserves have higher natural values, Historic and Cultural Features Reserveshave higher heritage values and Natural Features Reserves have less values. Analysis of statewidedatasets shows that higher values are not clearly grouped by reserve category but spread morebroadly. Consequently, reserve priorities focus initially on reserves with an aggregation of natural andcultural values in a statewide context. Reserves have been assessed against nine criteria, grouped bythe number of criteria met and sorted by area to establish a statewide ranking. The reserves at the topbecome priority reserves (Appendix 3).An audit undertaken by DSE in 1996 documented a range of valuable information for many reserves,but there is still a lack of basic data, particularly on natural values, for many reserves. Reservemanagers will need to apply local knowledge of reserve values to ensure that appropriate resourcesare allocated to key reserves not identified as highest priorities. Priority reserve rankings will need tobe revised as additional information becomes available. Similarly if information about higher naturalvalues in Natural Features Reserves and Historic and Cultural Features Reserves continues to becollected, the need for review of the LCC/ECC classification of reserves may need to be considered.The capacity of Parks Victoria to undertake reserve planning and future resourcing levels will dependupon the extent of the emerging management challenge after three years, and will need to bereviewed.47

5.3 PLANNING AND WORK PROGRAMS FOR INDIVIDUAL RESERVESSTRATEGY ACCOUNTABILITY TIMELINEUndertake streamlined planning to identify specific short-term andlong-term management objectives for priority reserves.Give highest priority for action to programs to maintain or restorereserves with higher values where the risk is manageable.Defer action in reserves that have lower values, are in poorcondition and have intractable risk but monitor and take action toavoid any rapid decline in condition.Develop a reserve management statement kit for staff and trainregional planners and reserve managers.Develop annual on-ground work priorities to implement theobjectives described in reserve management statements andincorporate them into output area programs.If available, implement approved management plans for reservesand relevant actions from plans from other agencies in annual workprograms.Analyse the extent of changes in the level of management activityin reserves resulting from the implementation of reservemanagement statements.Review reserve statements and further refine the developmentprocess.Regional plannersand reservemanagersYears 1–5RIC Years 1–5RIC Years 1–5NPPS Years 1–2RICYear 1 and beyondRIC Years 1–5NPPS & RIC Year 3NPPS Years 1 & 5MANAGEMENT ISSUES AND CONTEXTA proportion of management effort is directed to Conservation Reserves each year: over 200 projectsand 10% of the total budget for natural values management, cultural values management, firemanagement and visitor services programs. Decisions on resource allocation to individual reservesconsider some statewide criteria but in the absence of a strategic basis. Annual managementprograms for individual reserves are developed to progressively implement these objectives.A streamlined planning process will ensure the development of desired outcomes of futuremanagement, to guide on-going work programs. Identifying achievable priorities for reserve managersis important in improving the overall health of the reserve system.In the short-term there is scope to continue or redirect work programs to achieve key managementobjectives in priority reserves. However, in the longer term, increased resources are likely to berequired to implement objectives in all reserves.There are efficiencies to be gained by training reserve staff to undertake streamlined planning toagreed consistent standards.48

5.4 INFORMATION COLLECTION AND MANAGEMENTSTRATEGY ACCOUNTABILITY TIMELINEEncourage increasing assistance of Friends, Field Naturalists,educational institutions, reserve neighbours and communitygroups to increase knowledge of priority reserves.For reserves lacking basic information, particularly environmentalinformation, encourage and promote the collection of key data.Improve the compatibility and access between PV and DSEsystems, including flora and fauna data, and data beyond thereserve boundary.Establish on-line access via the Web to enable PV staff and publicto access to baseline reserve data.Increase input of flora and fauna records by PV staff into PVsEnvironmental Information System (EIS), particularly from localrecords, and add records of new historic and indigenous sites intothe PV historic places inventory and AAV register respectively.RICYear 1 and beyondPV & DSE Years 1–5PV & DSE Within 5 yearsNPPSWithin 5 yearsRICYear 1 and beyondMANAGEMENT ISSUES AND CONTEXTThere is a lack of basic information about values in many Conservation Reserves. The statewidedatabases have no flora or fauna records for 70% of reserves. Vegetation mapping (EcologicalVegetation Class) is not available for 24% of reserves, mostly in north-western Victoria reserves wheremapping is scheduled for completion in 2004. Generally, the condition of natural values has not beenassessed. There is insufficient data to determine which reserves have lower values in poor condition.While many reserves have not been surveyed, the most significant historic places in reserves haveprobably been identified. However, reserves have yet to be comprehensively surveyed for Indigenoussites, and many new sites and places may be found.Nevertheless, reserves play an important role in biodiversity conservation and the protection of culturalsites. There is a perception that reserves protect few values, but threatened flora and fauna specieshave been recorded in 21% and 17% of reserves respectively. Over a third of the historic places andIndigenous sites recorded in parks and reserves are in Conservation Reserves. There is oftenconsiderable local knowledge about risks to the values of these reserves.Information on visitor facilities in reserves with visitor sites is available in Parks Victoria's Levels ofService database.49

5.5 COMMUNITY AND STAKEHOLDER PARTNERSHIPSSTRATEGY ACCOUNTABILITY TIMELINEPromote complementary planning processes to other agenciesplanning for reserves and raise awareness of the role andmanagement directions for reserves in CMA reviews.Canvass options for increasing community involvement inimproving management of priority and other reserves.Brief local officers of DSE and other agencies (including FFG andCMA staff) about the strategy and approach for priority reserves.Establish partnerships with relevant Indigenous groups to manageIndigenous historical places and sites in reserves.Consult reserve neighbours and local friends groups, BiodiversityCommittee and relevant Field Naturalists about the managementobjectives for individual reserves, and discuss options andpriorities for future involvement.Encourage increasing involvement of Friends, local HistoricalAssociations and other interest groups in management of priorityreserves and sites.Communicate information needs of reserves to PVs ResearchPartners.Work towards adopting agreed method for assessing andmeasuring vegetation condition over time.RIC Years 1 – 5NPPSEnvironmentalChief Ranger, CRPV Team Leader,IndigenousCultural HeritageRegionalplanners, RICRICNPPS, ResearchPartnersPVWithin 5 yearsYears 1 – 5Within 5 yearsYear 1 and beyondYear 1 and beyondWithin 5 yearsWithin 3 yearsMANAGEMENT ISSUES AND CONTEXTSuccessfully eradicating many of existing and emerging threats and threatening processes to reservesis a challenge for many reserve managers because the problems also occur or arise beyond thereserve boundaries. Unless tackled within a whole-of-catchment, bioregional or local context there islittle likelihood of long-term success. This is particularly the case of the third of reserves that are verysmall (

5.6 EDUCATION AND PUBLIC AWARENESSSTRATEGY ACCOUNTABILITY TIMELINEDevelop and implement a communication plan to continue to raiseawareness among stakeholders and the community of the role thatreserves play in Victoria’s parks and reserves system.Promote greater understanding and protection of reserves throughvoluntary programs such as Landcare, Waterwatch, Coastcare/Coast Action and Friends Groups.Develop a range of community education and promotional materialon conservation reserves.NPPS, RIC &RegionalMarketing andCommunicationsOfficersYears 1 – 5DSE Years 1 – 5DSE and PV Years 1 – 5Promote the use of reserves that have adequate levels of serviceand standards of access, and uses and activities consistent withLCC recommendations.As funding permits, improve signage in reserves to increase publicawareness of reserve categories and facilitate legislativecompliance. As a priority, identify high-use reserves with changedclassification or regulations.RIC & RegionalMarketing OfficersVS and RegionsYears 1 – 5Year 3 and beyondMANAGEMENT ISSUES AND CONTEXTToday, as in the past, it is mostly local communities that value conservation reserves as natural placesto picnic and walk, and pursue other recreational activities. Some reserves are favourite places forholidays, for fishing or hunting, and for firewood collection. Neighbouring landowners value some asareas to graze stock. Only a small number of reserves have high numbers of visitors and few offer arange of facilities, which are more generally located in larger parks.In recent times DSE has been working to implement LCC/ECC recommendations for conservationreserves to differentiate reserves that are valuable for the conservation of biodiversity and culturalvalues from other areas of public land.Increasing community awareness of the role of Conservation Reserves in the parks and reservessystem and for biodiversity conservation is an essential element of improving the management ofreserves. There are opportunities to educate local communities about Conservation Reserves byimproving signage and access to improved information and promotion material.51

5.7 REPORTING AND PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT FRAMEWORKSSTRATEGY ACCOUNTABILITY TIMELINEContinue reporting on the delivery of annual managementprograms, and measuring management performance inConservation Reserves within the agreed output areas andreporting and performance measurement frameworks.PV Years 1 – 5MANAGEMENT ISSUES AND CONTEXTParks Victoria develops annual management programs for agreed output areas, including NaturalValues Management, Cultural Values Management, Visitor Services, Fire Management andOrganisational Performance. Program development involves scheduling of priority actions required byGovernment as outlined in the annual Corporate Plan, and other actions derived from an assessmentof the suite of management actions required in individual parks and reserves against statewidepriorities.Reporting on the delivery of annual management programs in Conservation Reserves is currentlyrequired within the broader context of all areas managed by Parks Victoria, for the separate outputareas.Parks Victoria and DSE are working co-operatively towards establishing organisational performancemeasures, consistent with Government frameworks. It is intended that the organisational performancemeasures established will apply to all areas managed by Parks Victoria, including ConservationReserves.52

REFERENCESAAV 1997 Guide to Recording Archaeological Sites in Victoria, Aboriginal Affairs Victoria, Melbourne.AAV 2000 Conserving Aboriginal Places in Coastal Victoria, Aboriginal Affairs Victoria, Melbourne.EA 2001 A Directory of Important Wetlands in Australia, Environment Australia, Canberrra.ECC 2001 Box–Ironbark Forests and Woodlands Investigation: Final Recommendations, EnvironmentConservation Council, Melbourne.ICOMOS 1999 The Burra Charter: The Australian ICOMOS Charter for Places of Cultural Significance,International Council on Monuments and Sites, Burwood.LCC 1988 Statewide Assessment of Public Land Use, Land Conservation Council, Victoria.LCC 1994 Melbourne Area District 2 Review: Final Recommendations, Land Conservation Council,Victoria.NPS 1996 IUCN Categories and Other Key Data for Parks and Conservation Reserves, NationalParks Service, Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Victoria.NRE 1996 Proposed Classification of State Wildlife Reserves in Victoria, Department of Conservationand Natural Resources, Victoria (unpublished).NRE 1998 Implementation Plan for Victoria’s Biodiversity Strategy, Natural Resources andEnvironment, Victoria (unpublished).NRE 1999 Management Directions for Conservation Reserves, Department of Conservation andNatural Resources, Victoria (unpublished).NRE 2002 Victoria’s Native Vegetation Management Framework, Department of Conservation andNatural Resources, Victoria.PV 2000a Parks and Reserves in Victoria’s Bioregions, Parks Victoria, Melbourne.PV 2000b State of the Parks 2000, Volume 1: The Parks System, Parks Victoria, Melbourne.PV 2001 Pilot Grazing Audit Report - Part A Process for Murray Central Districts Audit and Part BResults and Analysis of Murray Central Grazing Audit, Parks Victoria, Bendigo, (unpublished).PV 2002a Guidelines for Working with Aboriginal Communities and Protection of Cultural Sites, ParksVictoria, Melbourne.PV 2002b Heritage Management Strategy, Parks Victoria, Melbourne.VCC 2002 Victorian Coastal Strategy, Victorian Coastal Council, Victoria.53

APPENDICESAPPENDIX 1 RESERVE MANAGEMENT STATEMENTLITTLE DALYENONG FLORA RESERVERESERVE ID 58 RESERVE PRIORITY CRITERIA METALTERNATIVE NAMEDalyenong (2) Flora ReserveRESERVE CATEGORYNature Conservation ReserveThreatened EVCLarge EVC area in bioregionImportant EVC in protected networkYESNONORESERVATIONRare EVC in protected area network NOTemporarily reserved under Crown LandReserves Act, gazetted. Threatened species YESLOCATIONMurray Central District, Central RegionINTEREST GROUPS CONSULTEDNeighbours, Emu Creek Land Care GroupLCC RECOMMENDATIONImportant wetlandRecorded historic placeRecorded Indigenous siteWell connected to indigenous vegetationNONONONOSpecific recommendation: North Central Study Area 1981 Rec. No. H2. The reserve be used to preservethe stunted box forest and wildflowers that have developed on a light sandy soil.Generic recommendation for Flora Reserves: The area be used to conserve particular species orassociations of native plants, honey production be permitted, passive recreation such as nature studyand picnicking be permitted, fossicking and prospecting not be permitted and grazing be phased out.SUMMARY STATEMENTLittle Dalyenong Flora Reserve (18 ha) was reserved to protect the stunted box forest and wildflowerswhich have developed on the light sandy soils of the area (LCC 1981). The reserve protects at leastfour threatened species and has an intact remnant of Heathy Woodland EVC. The reserve is almostentirely surrounded by cleared agricultural land used mainly for sheep grazing but connected byremnant roadside vegetation to Dalyenong Flora Reserve (1450 ha), 2 km to the east.OVERALL OPERATIONAL MANAGEMENT OBJECTIVESMaintain the good condition of the reserve while allowing natural processes of regeneration,disturbance and succession to occur.Maintain the current Very Basic level of service.NATURAL VALUES, CONDITION AND RISKSFlora valuesHeathy Woodland EVC is the major vegetation type covering all of the reserve. Heathy Woodland,classified as vulnerable in the Goldfields bioregion, is only found in small patches in the central area ofthe bioregion on sedimentary sandy soils that are moist in winter and dry in summer.Four threatened flora species are recorded in the reserve, including two species classified as highestpriority for conservation in the bioregion: Candy Spider-orchid Caladenia versicolor, and the RedCross Spider-orchid Calendia cruciformis (draft Action Statement available).54

Vegetation conditionThe condition of the vegetation in the reserve was assessed in 2002 using the DSE Habitat Hectaremethod.The vegetation is considered to be in good condition (scored 78.5/100). All stratas were present andrecorded close to the benchmark in both cover and diversity, with the exception of the tall andprostrate shrub layer. Only one species of the expected three species for prostrate shrubs, and oneof two for the tall shrubs, were recorded. This may be related to the higher than expected canopycover.Faunal valuesNo fauna studies have been undertaken, but the vegetation is considered to be suitable Brush-tailedPhascogale habitat. With many fallen logs, dense litter cover and many hollows in the mature trees,the reserve is potentially suitable habitat for other species, including bandicoots.Environmental risksThere are 30 introduced pest plants, all in the understorey layer, the most serious of which (LargeQuaking-grass Briza maxima and Squirrel-tail Fescue Vulpia bromides) are invading from thesurrounding cleared land. Overall, weeds cover less than 5% of the reserve, mainly on the northernand eastern boundaries. The potential for increase of weed cover is low due to an intact heathy midstorey.In 2002, rabbit numbers were at record low levels. However the reserve is in an area and hasvegetation that is the most susceptible to large increases in rabbit numbers. The reserve is ZonedPriority 1 rabbit prone soils – Sedimentary Hills & Rises by the North Central CatchmentManagement Authority.Inappropriate fire regimes may pose a risk to the Heathy Woodland EVC.Landscape contextThis small reserve is surrounded almost entirely by cleared land used for sheep grazing and graincropping. The entire reserve is fenced with rabbit-proof fencing. The reserve is linked by vegetatedroad reserves to larger blocks of indigenous vegetation (Dalyenong Flora Reserve 1505 ha,Dalyenong State Forest 1600 ha), which are within 5 km of the reserve.Management objectives (short-term and long-term)Maintain the good condition of the reserve while allowing natural processes of regeneration,disturbance and succession to occur.Natural values management program risk targets• Contain pest plant cover to less than 5% of the reserve.• Maintain rabbit numbers at less that 5 per spotlight km.HERITAGE VALUES, CONDITION AND RISKSNo recorded places, no evidence of places.INDIGENOUS VALUES, CONDITION AND RISKSNo recorded sites, no identified sites or features, potential for sites assessed as low, reserve not apriority for survey.VISITOR SERVICES, CONDITION AND RISKSCurrent Level of Service — None (classified as Very Basic). Provisional Future Level — Very Basic(no facilities). Current access — pedestrian access via unused road. Number of annual visitors —No data (assumed 0–5000). Current signage: None.Management objectives (short-term and long-term)Retain Very Basic level of service — no built facilities, access roads or MVO tracks.Signage: Provide locality signage within 5 years and maintain.55

Woodland Blind SnakeLocalityLittle Dalyenon F.R.Ecological Vegetation ClassesCleared LandCreekline Grassy WoodlandHeathy WoodlandLow Rises Grassy WoodlandAlluvial Terraces Herb-rich Woodland MosaicTiny Bog-sedgeQuinetia)Buloke)Veined Spider-orchid0 0.25 0.5kilometersAUSTRALIAN MAP GRID ZONE 55CONTOURS ARE TO AUSTRALIAN HEIGHT DATUMSTATE DIGITAL MAPBASE USED WITHPERMISSION OF GEOGRAPHIC DATA VICTORIAPRODUCED BY CONSERVATIONThis Map Supersedes All Previous Editions)Threatened FaunaThreatened FloraRivers / CreeksRoads / TracksLittle Dalyenong Flora ReserveEcological Vegetation ClassesLittle Dalyenong Flora ReservePark Boundary

APPENDIX 2 CRITERIA FOR RESERVES REQUIRING MANAGEMENT PLANSUnless a management plan is required by Government directive, reserves will need to meet at leastthree of the following criteria before a plan proposal is submitted into the annual plan program.1. High level of public or stakeholder interest.2. High natural values (including one or more of the following):• records of threatened flora or fauna species, or JAMBA/CAMBA and Bonn species;• reserve identified by DSE as a high priority location in action statements for FFG listedspecies or communities or in recovery plans;• representative ecological communities such as an EVC that is under-represented in the parksand reserves system and in particular where less that 15% is represented in the parks andreserves network and other public land;• site listed as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar convention or on theregister of the National Estate;• site of biological or other natural significance or high species diversity;• special water supply catchment area; and• contributes to a viable biolink.3. Recommended or reserved as part of a Wildlife Management Co-operative Area (plan must beapproved by the Minister).4. Presence of communities with ecological integrity, in pristine condition or higher intrinsic viability.5. Presence of significant heritage values.6. Presence of a number of Indigenous sites or recognised as an Aboriginal heritage place.7. High levels of visitation (>10 000 visitor per year) or potential conflicts in uses or activitiespermitted.8. Significant increase in proposed level of service or inconsistent level of service with levelrecommended for the reserve type.57

APPENDIX 3 PRIORITY RESERVESReserves were grouped by the number of the following nine criteria met and ranked by size withineach grouping:• presence of a vegetation community with less then 30% of their pre-European extent remaining inthe bioregion (threatened EVC);• an area of a community that is greater than 5% of the total bioregion (large EVC).• an area of a community that is larger than the total area protected in parks in the bioregion or acommunity that occurs in less than five parks or reserves (important EVC);• presence of a community that is inadequately reserved in the protected area network, that is lessthan 15% in parks or reserves (rare EVC);• presence of one or more records of threatened species;• presence of a wetland listed as Ramsar site or an important wetland;• presence of a Historic place;• presence of an Indigenous sites; and• reserve surrounded by indigenous vegetation along more than 60% of its boundary.For key to reserve category abbreviations see Table3. * Management plan approved or indevelopment ** incorporated in Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park.RANK PARK NAME PARKID NO.PV REGION AND DISTRICT BIOREGION CMA REGION1 River Murray Reserve* 3284 West, Mallee Murray Mallee, Victorian Riverina, MalleeMurray Scroll Belt, Robinvale Plains,Murray Fans, Northern Inland Slopes2 Lake Tyrrell WR 529 West, Mallee Murray Mallee Mallee3 Ewing Morass WR 456 East, East Gippsland East Gippsland Lowlands East Gippsland4 Lake Connewarre WR* 552 City & Bays, Port Phillip Otway Plain Corangamite5 Nunniong Plain NFSR 2918 East , Alpine Victorian Alps East Gippsland6 Kings Billabong WR 512 West, Mallee Murray Mallee, Robinvale Plains Mallee7 Blond Bay WR* 3647 East, East Gippsland Gippsland Plain East Gippsland8 Inglewood FR 115 Central , Murray Central Goldfields North Central9 North Western Port NCR 361 City & Bays, Mornington / Gippsland PlainPort PhillipWport10 Warrandyte – Kinglake NCR 368 Melbourne Metro, Yarra Highlands – Southern Fall Port Phillip11 Tower Hill WR* 446 West, West Coast Victorian Volcanic Plain Glenelg12 Lake Natimuk and Natimuk Creek 3114 West, Grampians Wimmera WimmeraLR13 The Spit WR 564 City & Bays, Port Phillip Victorian Volcanic Plain Port Phillip14 Lake Elingamite LR 3170 West, West Coast Victorian Volcanic Plain Glenelg15 Bats Ridge WR 687 West, West Coast Glenelg Plain Glenelg16 Coolart HA* 2874 City & BaysGippsland PlainPort PhillipMornington / Wport17 Kaladbro WR 693 West, Grampians Glenelg Plain Glenelg18 Eagle Point GLR 3762 East, East Gippsland Gippsland Plain East Gippsland19 Grant HA* 2924 East, Alpine Highlands – Southern Fall, Victorian East GippslandAlps20 Tooloy–Lake Mundi WR 701 West, Grampians Glenelg Plain Glenelg21 Wychitella FFR* 340 Central, Murray Central Goldfields North Central22 Castlemaine – Chewton HA** 2633 Central, Murray Central Goldfields North Central58

RANK PARK NAME PARKID NO.PV REGION AND DISTRICT BIOREGION CMA REGION23 Lake Colac LR 3162 West, West Coast Victorian Volcanic Plain,Warrnambool PlainCorangamite24 Jack Smith Lake WR* 668 East, West Gippsland Gippsland Plain West Gippsland25 Kanyapella Basin WMCA* 828 Central, Murray Central Murray Fans Goulburn26 Providence Ponds FFR 248 East, East Gippsland Gippsland Plain West Gippsland27 Mount McKenzie/Crinoline Creek 187 West, West Coast Otway Plain, Otway Ranges CorangamiteFFR28 Lake Colongulac LR 3131 West, West Coast Victorian Volcanic Plain Corangamite29 Lake Bolac LR 3174 West, Grampians Victorian Volcanic Plain, Dundas GlenelgTablelands30 Dundas Range SR 2526 West, Grampians Greater Grampians. Dundas GlenelgTablelands31 Lake Linlithgow & Bullrush 3075 West, Grampians Victorian Volcanic Plain GlenelgSwamp LR32 Inverleigh FR 116 Central, Basalt Plains Victorian Volcanic Plain Corangamite33 Lake Curlip WR 460 East, East Gippsland East Gippsland Lowlands East Gippsland34 Moormurng FFR 188 East, East Gippsland Gippsland Plain East Gippsland35 Lake Corringle WR 459 East, East Gippsland East Gippsland Lowlands East Gippsland36 Cooriemungle Creek FR 314 West, West Coast Warrnambool Plain Corangamite37 Mount William Swamp751 West, Grampians Dundas Tablelands Glenelg(The Big Swamp) WR38 White Lake, Douglas WR 778 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera39 MacLeod Morass WR* 3654 East, East Gippsland Gippsland Plain East Gippsland40 Nine Mile Creek SSR 2743 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina Goulburn41 Long Forest FFR* 163 Central, Basalt Plains Victorian Volcanic Plain, Central Port PhillipVictorian Uplands42 Black Range SR 2525 West, Grampians Central Victorian Uplands Wimmera43 Lake Ratzcastle LR 3095 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera44 Kooraweera Lakes WR 412 West, West Coast Victorian Volcanic Plain Corangamite45 Lake Cundare WR 420 West, West Coast Victorian Volcanic Plain Corangamite46 Nerrin Nerrin Swamp WR 438 West, Grampians Victorian Volcanic Plain Glenelg47 Apsley BR 2432 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera48 Mount Jeffcott FFR 203 Central, Murray Central Murray Mallee North Central49 Aire River WR 402 West, West Coast Otway Plain Corangamite50 Reedy Swamp WR* 599 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina Goulburn51 Heard Lake WR 725 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera52 Lake Karnak WR 737 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera53 Goulburn River, McCoys Bridge 2737 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina, Murray Fans GoulburnSSR54 Black Swamp (Black Dog Creek) 576 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina North EastWR55 Holden FR 110 Central, Basalt Plains Victorian Volcanic Plain Port Phillip56 Lignum Swamp WR 744 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera57 Picnic Lakes LR 3067 West, Grampians Dundas Tablelands Glenelg58 Lake Jollicum WR 425 West, Grampians Victorian Volcanic Plain Glenelg59 Lake Coradgill LR 3136 West, West Coast Victorian Volcanic Plain Corangamite60 Morass Creek FFR 190 East, Alpine Highlands – Northern Fall East Gippsland61 Limeburners Lagoon (Hovells 112 City & Bays, Port Phillip Victorian Volcanic Plain CorangamiteCreek) FFR62 Glenrowan I70 BR 1434 Central, Murray Central Northern Inland Slopes Goulburn63 Longerenong BR 1881 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera64 Locksley BR 2417 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina Goulburn65 Lake Hindmarsh LR 3063 West, Grampians Murray Mallee Wimmera59

RANK PARK NAME PARKID NO.PV REGION AND DISTRICT BIOREGION CMA REGION66 Bronzewing FFR 37 West, Mallee Lowan Mallee Mallee519 Central, Murray Central Murray Mallee, Victorian Riverina North Central67 Koorangie (The Marshes & AvocaFloodway) WR* (Ramsar)68 Lake Boga LR 3083 West, Mallee Murray Fans North Central69 Cullens Lake WR 508 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina North Central70 Lake Lalbert WR 525 West, Mallee Murray Mallee North Central71 Lake Tutchewop WR 543 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina North Central72 Johnson Swamp WR 586 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina, Murray Fans North Central73 Hird Swamp WR 583 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina North Central74 Lake Heywood WR 524 West, Mallee Murray Mallee, Murray Fans Mallee75 Tragowel Swamp WR 603 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina North Central76 Swan Bay – Edwards Point WR* 546 City & Bays, Port Phillip Otway Plain Corangamite77 Gunner's Tank BR 1153 West, Mallee Murray Mallee Mallee78 Torney's Tank BR 1257 West, Mallee Murray Mallee Mallee79 Jilpanger FFR 125 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera80 Avon – Mt Hedrick NFSR 2938 East, Alpine Gippsland Plain, Highlands – West GippslandSouthern Fall81 Cundare Pool (Lake Martin) LR 3143 West, West Coast Victorian Volcanic Plain Corangamite82 Mount Bolangum FFR 196 Central, Murray Central Goldfields North Central83 Stradbroke FFR 275 East, West Gippsland Gippsland Plain West Gippsland84 Lake Burrumbeet LR 3175 West, Grampians Victorian Volcanic Plain Glenelg85 Wilkin FFR 332 West, Grampians Glenelg Plain Glenelg86 Maldon HA* 2636 Central, Murray Central Goldfields North Central87 Lake Gnarpurt LR 3135 West, West Coast Victorian Volcanic Plain Corangamite88 Lough Calvert LR 3147 West, West Coast Victorian Volcanic Plain Corangamite89 Landsborough FFR 153 West, Grampians Goldfields Wimmera90 Mullungdung FFR 212 East, West Gippsland Gippsland Plain West Gippsland91 Narrawong FR 215 West, West Coast Glenelg Plain Glenelg92 Dowd Morass WR* 652 East, East Gippsland Gippsland Plain West Gippsland93 Mount Wombat–Garden Range 208 Central, Central Highlands Central Victorian Uplands GoulburnFFR94 Reedy Lake, Nagambie WR 638 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina Goulburn95 Howqua Hills HA* 2923 East, Alpine Highlands – Northern Fall Goulburn96 Moliagul HA 2637 Central, Murray Central Goldfields North Central97 Glenelg River, Fulham SSR 2532 West, Grampians Dundas Tablelands Glenelg98 Heathcote SR 2725 Central, Murray Central Goldfields North Central99 Lake Omeo LR 3066 East, Alpine Highlands – Northern Fall East Gippsland100 Lake Beeac WR 418 West, West Coast Victorian Volcanic Plain Corangamite101 North, Centre and other Lakes 753 West, Grampians Wimmera WimmeraWR102 Mount Murphy HA* 2929 East, Alpine Highlands – Northern Fall, Victorian North EastAlps103 Mount Beckworth SR 2724 West, Grampians Victorian Volcanic Plain, Central North CentralVictorian Uplands104 Lake Boort LR 3084 Central, Murray Central Murray Mallee, Victorian Riverina North Central105 Lake Weeranganuk LR 3134 West, West Coast Victorian Volcanic Plain Corangamite106 Lake Bullen Merri LR 3129 West, West Coast Victorian Volcanic Plain Corangamite107 Lake Bookar WR 419 West, West Coast Victorian Volcanic Plain Glenelg108 Mount Korong SR 2722 Central, Murray Central Goldfields North Central109 Lake Kanagulk WR 736 West, Grampians Wimmera Glenelg110 Stokes River (3) SSR 3212 West, Grampians Glenelg Plain Glenelg60

RANK PARK NAME PARKID NO.PV REGION AND DISTRICT BIOREGION CMA REGION111 Tooloy FR 299 West, Grampians Glenelg Plain Glenelg112 Kanawinka FR 256 West, Grampians Glenelg Plain Glenelg113 Mount Doboobetic BR 1941 Central, Murray Central Wimmera North Central114 Dumbopperty Swamp & Lake 3088 West, Grampians Wimmera WimmeraBringalbart LR115 Mortlake Common FR 3254 West, West Coast Victorian Volcanic Plain Glenelg116 Dowdle Swamp WR 579 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina Goulburn117 Macfarlane Lookout NFSR 2916 East, Alpine Highlands – Northern Fall East Gippsland118 Meereek FR 179 West, Grampians Glenelg Plain Wimmera119 Big Reedy Lagoon WR 575 Central, Murray Central Murray Fans Goulburn120 Milangil Lake WR 437 West, West Coast Victorian Volcanic Plain Corangamite121 Deep Lead EA 2713 West, Grampians Goldfields Wimmera122 Victoria Falls HA 2925 East, Alpine Highlands – Northern Fall East Gippsland123 Lake Wongan WR 398 West, Grampians Victorian Volcanic Plain Glenelg124 Seven Creeks WR 649 Central, Central Highlands Central Victorian Uplands, Highlands Goulburn– Northern Fall125 Brady Swamp WR 376 West, Grampians Victorian Volcanic Plain Glenelg126 Lake Terangpom WR 434 West, West Coast Victorian Volcanic Plain Corangamite127 Gemmill Swamp WR 581 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina Goulburn128 Wooroonook Lakes (Middle andEast) WR823 Central, Murray Central Murray Mallee, Wimmera North Central129 Reef Island and Bass River MouthNCR130 Goulburn River, Yambuna BridgeSSR366 City & Bays, Mornington /WportGippsland PlainPort Phillip2736 Central, Murray Central Murray Fans Goulburn131 Yambuk FFR 347 West, West Coast Warrnambool Plain Glenelg132 Tabilk Lagoon WR 639 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina Goulburn133 Tang Tang Swamp WR 640 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina North Central134 Hughes Creek FR 113 Central, Central Highlands Central Victorian Uplands Goulburn135 St. Mary's Lake LR 3102 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera136 Jacka Lake & lakes to north WR 715 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera137 Tyrendarra FR 309 West, West Coast Victorian Volcanic Plain Glenelg138 Lake Clarke WR 731 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera139 Avenel I177 BR 2413 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina Goulburn140 Lake Carchap WR 730 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera141 Hateleys Lake WR 724 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera142 Lake Oundell WR 429 West, Grampians Victorian Volcanic Plain Glenelg143 Pot Brook WR 763 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera144 Glenorchy I5 BR 2241 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera145 Western Wooroonook LR 3117 Central, Murray Central Murray Mallee, Wimmera North Central146 Mitta Mitta BR 1399 East, Alpine Northern Inland Slopes North East147 Princetown WR 440 West, West Coast Warrnambool Plain Corangamite148 Princetown NCR 3785 West, West Coast Warrnambool Plain Corangamite149 Mud Islands WR 559 City & Bays, Port Phillip Port Phillip150 Hotspur BR 1973 West, West Coast Glenelg Plain Glenelg151 Brodribb River FFR 36 East, East Gippsland East Gippsland Lowlands East Gippsland152 Nelson SSR 2541 West, West Coast Glenelg Plain, Bridgewater Glenelg153 Illawarra I59 BR 2478 West, Grampians Wimmera, Goldfields Wimmera154 Lake Werowrap LR 3165 West, West Coast Victorian Volcanic Plain Corangamite155 Lake Tim Dunn LR 3069 West, Grampians Dundas Tablelands Glenelg156 Gampola I7 BR 2243 West, Grampians Goldfields Wimmera61

RANK PARK NAME PARKID NO.PV REGION AND DISTRICT BIOREGION CMA REGION157 Waggarandall BR 2051 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina Goulburn158 Broadwater I91 BR 2510 West, West Coast Warrnambool Plain Glenelg159 Lake Bolac HP 3202 West, Grampians Victorian Volcanic Plain Glenelg160 Warrengine Creek SSR 2773 City & Bays, Mornington /WportGippsland Plain161 Woodnaggerak BR 2215 West, Grampians Victorian Volcanic Plain, CentralVictorian Uplands162 Mount Wills HA* 2928 East, Alpine Highlands – Northern Fall, VictorianAlps163 Cassilis HA 2927 East, Alpine East Gippsland Uplands, Highlands– Southern Fall, Highlands –Northern Fall, Victorian AlpsPort Phillip (& off Viccoast)GlenelgNorth EastEast Gippsland164 Mount Tambo NFSR 2917 East, Alpine East Gippsland Uplands, Highlands East Gippsland– Northern Fall165 Mount Elizabeth NFSR 2939 East, East Gippsland East Gippsland Uplands East Gippsland166 Mount Black FR 195 Central, Murray Central Goldfields Goulburn167 Tomahawk Creek BR 1043 West, West Coast Otway Plain, Warrnambool Plain Corangamite168 Olangolah FFR 229 West, West Coast Otway Ranges Corangamite169 Dalyenong (1) FR 57 Central, Murray Central Goldfields North Central170 Mount Gibbo NFSR 2915 East, Alpine Victorian Alps North East171 Wiridjil BR 1044 West, West Coast Otway Plain Corangamite172 Carpendeit FFR 50 West, West Coast Warrnambool Plain Corangamite173 Barrabool FFR 14 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera174 Tarnagulla FR 280 Central, Murray Central Goldfields North Central175 Anglesea FR 3 West, West Coast Otway Plain Corangamite176 Murrindindi River NFSR 2900 Central, Central Highlands Highlands – Northern Fall Goulburn177 Bryan Swamp WR 713 West, Grampians Victorian Volcanic Plain Glenelg178 Mount Bullfight NCR 197 Central, Central Highlands Victorian Alps Goulburn179 Lake Purrumbete WR 430 West, West Coast Victorian Volcanic Plain Corangamite180 Woolshed Swamp, Boort WR 608 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina North Central181 Glenelg River (8) SSR 3219 West, Grampians Glenelg Plain, Dundas Tablelands Glenelg182 Yellingbo NCR* 360 Central, Central Highlands Highlands – Southern Fall Port Phillip183 Lake Weering LR 3145 West, West Coast Victorian Volcanic Plain Corangamite184 Whroo HA 2639 Central, Murray Central Goldfields Goulburn185 Lake Thurrumbong LR 436 West, West Coast Victorian Volcanic Plain Corangamite186 Heart Morass WR* 3637 East, East Gippsland Gippsland Plain West Gippsland187 Rowan Swamp WR 600 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina Goulburn188 Lake Muirhead WR 740 West, Grampians Dundas Tablelands Glenelg189 Gobarup FR 97 Central, Murray Central Goldfields Goulburn190 Little Bog Creek FFR 162 East, East Gippsland East Gippsland Uplands, Monaro East GippslandTablelands191 Sale Common WR* 3667 East, East Gippsland Gippsland Plain West Gippsland192 Buchan Caves Reserve 2950 East, East Gippsland East Gippsland Uplands East Gippsland193 Mount Delegate SR 2968 East, East Gippsland Monaro Tablelands East Gippsland194 Doctors Swamp WR 613 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina Goulburn195 Lake Moodemere LR 3085 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina North East196 Darlot Swamp WMCA* 796 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera197 Boweya FFR 32 Central, Murray Central Northern Inland Slopes Goulburn198 Mount Erip FR 200 West, Grampians Central Victorian Uplands Corangamite199 Lake Condah WR 695 West, West Coast Victorian Volcanic Plain Glenelg200 Kerr Swamp WR 694 West, Grampians Glenelg Plain Glenelg201 Leah Swamp WR 743 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera62

RANK PARK NAME PARKID NO.PV REGION AND DISTRICT BIOREGION CMA REGION202 Ovens River FR 240 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina North East203 Lake Buninjon WR 729 West, Grampians Victorian Volcanic Plain Glenelg204 Huntly SSR 2693 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina, Goldfields North Central205 Morrl Morrl FR 192 West, Grampians Goldfields North Central206 Moodie Swamp WR 592 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina, Northern Inland GoulburnSlopes207 Lonsdale Lakes WR 556 City & Bays, Port Phillip Otway Plain Corangamite208 Goulburn River K50 SSR 2668 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina Goulburn209 Lake Terrinallum WR 435 West, Grampians Victorian Volcanic Plain Glenelg210 Latrobe I11 BR 1051 West, West Coast Warrnambool Plain Corangamite211 Connangorach Swamp WR 718 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera212 Tooan BR 2453 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera213 Haddon Common BR 2225 West, Grampians Victorian Volcanic Plain Corangamite214 Sheepwash, Charam WR 767 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera215 Clear Lake LR 3103 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera216 Jeeralang North EA 2987 East, West Gippsland Gippsland Plain, Strzelecki Ranges West Gippsland217 Mount Mitta Mitta FR 206 East, Alpine Northern Inland Slopes North East218 Miga Lake LR 3097 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera219 Derrimut Grasslands NCR* 4008 Central, Basalt Plains Victorian Volcanic Plain Port Phillip220 Bates Lake HP 3182 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera221 Kaladbro H3 BR 1022 West, Grampians Glenelg Plain Glenelg222 Glenelg River (5) SSR 3216 West, Grampians Glenelg Plain Glenelg223 Tungamah Swamp WR 604 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina Goulburn224 Jubilee Swamp WR 587 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina Goulburn225 Sparrowhawk Gully I156 BR 2392 Central, Murray Central Goldfields North Central226 Moyston FR 209 West, Grampians Central Victorian Uplands Wimmera227 Lang Lang EA 2852 East, West Gippsland Gippsland Plain Port Phillip228 Wimmera River, Marma SSR 2522 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera229 Mount Ridley Grassland NCR 4009 Central, Basalt Plains Victorian Volcanic Plain Port Phillip230 Jones Bay WR 3655 East, East Gippsland Gippsland Plain East Gippsland231 Lake Terang LR 3128 West, West Coast Victorian Volcanic Plain Glenelg232 Fosterville HA 2652 Central, Murray Central Goldfields North Central233 Boosey Creek SSR 2744 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina Goulburn234 Morea I4 BR 2423 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera235 Wash Tomorrow (Washdamorra) 776 West, Grampians Dundas Tablelands WimmeraSwamp WR236 Lake Crawford WR 696 West, West Coast Glenelg Plain, Victorian Volcanic GlenelgPlain237 McCosslen Swamp WR 749 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera238 Howell's Hill SR 2517 Central, Murray Central Goldfields North Central239 Breamlea FFR 33 City & Bays, Port Phillip Victorian Volcanic Plain Corangamite240 Floating Islands FFR* 408 West, West Coast Victorian Volcanic Plain Corangamite241 Lake Koynock WR 739 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera242 Waaia SSR 2741 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina Goulburn243 Mumbannar BR 1027 West, West Coast Glenelg Plain Glenelg244 Balmattum Hill BR 1039 Central, Central Highlands Victorian Riverina Goulburn245 Corack East I141 BR 1931 Central, Murray Central Murray Mallee North Central246 Yering Gorge BR 1601 Melbourne Metro, Yarra Highlands – Southern Fall Port Phillip247 Beeac Swamp LR 3153 West, West Coast Victorian Volcanic Plain Corangamite248 Lehmann Swamp WR 589 Central, Murray Central Northern Inland Slopes Goulburn63

RANK PARK NAME PARKID NO.PV REGION AND DISTRICT BIOREGION CMA REGION249 Bungalally I50 BR 2469 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera250 Jindivick G77 BR 1618 Melbourne Metro, Gippsland PlainPort PhillipDandenongs251 Donald (Dollin) Swamp WR 721 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera252 Mangalore FR 171 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina Goulburn253 Gresswell Forest NCR 105 Melbourne Metro, Yarra Gippsland Plain Port Phillip254 Drumborg BR 1032 West, West Coast Victorian Volcanic Plain Glenelg255 Devils Kitchen GR 2574 West, Grampians Victorian Volcanic Plain, Central CorangamiteVictorian Uplands256 Red Rock BR 2465 West, Grampians Dundas Tablelands Wimmera257 Dereel Lagoon WR 395 West, Grampians Central Victorian Uplands Corangamite258 Victoria Lagoon WR* 773 West, Grampians Dundas Tablelands Glenelg259 Tharanbegga H46 BR 2053 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina Goulburn260 Reilly's Creek WR 2444 West, Grampians Wimmera Glenelg261 Lake Charlegrark LR 3090 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera262 Wannon Falls SR 2529 West, Grampians Dundas Tablelands Glenelg263 Bungalally I49 BR 2468 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera264 Mount Martha NCR 362 City & Bays, Mornington / Gippsland PlainPort PhillipWport265 Red Hill Swamp WR 700 West, Grampians Glenelg Plain Glenelg266 Gooram Gooram Gong I47 BR 1411 Central, Central Highlands Central Victorian Uplands Goulburn267 Yalong South H3 BR 2211 West, Grampians Goldfields North Central268 Byron's Swamp LR 3098 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera269 Jung Jung Swamp BR 1882 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera270 Chesney Vale Hills H97 BR 2104 Central, Murray Central Northern Inland Slopes Goulburn271 Nalangil LR 3168 West, West Coast Victorian Volcanic Plain Corangamite272 Brig Brig Swamp WR 711 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera273 Marong I147 BR 2383 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina North Central274 Bald Hills FR 337 East, West Gippsland Strzelecki Ranges West Gippsland275 Mount Bute SR 2579 West, Grampians Central Victorian Uplands Corangamite276 Victoria Star Mine HA 2972 East, East Gippsland Monaro Tablelands East Gippsland277 Lake Sinclair WR 697 West, West Coast Victorian Volcanic Plain Glenelg278 Red Cap Creek SSR 2546 West, Grampians Dundas Tablelands Glenelg279 Lake Barnie Buloke WR 417 West, West Coast Victorian Volcanic Plain Glenelg280 Casey's Weir HP 3204 Central, Murray Central Northern Inland Slopes Goulburn281 Lake Coragulac LR 3164 West, West Coast Victorian Volcanic Plain Corangamite282 Wises Creek FR 335 East, Alpine Northern Inland Slopes North East283 Lake Cartcarrong LR 3078 West, West Coast Victorian Volcanic Plain Glenelg284 Beaufort H11 BR 2219 West, Grampians Victorian Volcanic PlainGlenelgCentral Victorian Uplands285 Charlegrark Swamp WR 717 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera286 Illawarra I60 BR 2479 West, Grampians Wimmera, Goldfields Wimmera287 Mount Talbot SR 2523 West, Grampians Dundas Tablelands Wimmera288 Lake Gillear WR 424 West, West Coast Warrnambool Plain Glenelg289 Tarago River, Robin Hood SSR 2786 East, West Gippsland Gippsland Plain Port Phillip290 Bolwarra H45 BR 1984 West, West Coast Victorian Volcanic Plain Glenelg291 Lake Aringa WR 415 West, West Coast Victorian Volcanic Plain Glenelg292 Hopkins River, Wickliffe SSR 2592 West, Grampians Victorian Volcanic Plain, Dundas GlenelgTablelands293 Gooram Gooram Gong I46 BR 1410 Central, Central Highlands Central Victorian Uplands Goulburn294 Digby H5 BR 1024 West, West Coast Dundas Tablelands Glenelg64

RANK PARK NAME PARKID NO.PV REGION AND DISTRICT BIOREGION CMA REGION295 Glenelg River J4 SSR 2542 West, Grampians Dundas Tablelands Glenelg296 St Arnaud Gold Mining Company 3723 Central, Murray Central Goldfields North Centraldam HA297 Murchison Waterworks Trust HA 2658 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina Goulburn298 Pyramid Hill BR 2013 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina North Central299 Marengo FR 147 West, West Coast Otway Ranges Corangamite300 Spadoni's NCR 267 Melbourne Metro, Yarra Highlands – Southern Fall Port Phillip301 Nigretta Falls FR 298 West, Grampians Dundas Tablelands Glenelg302 Lake Kornong WR 427 West, Grampians Victorian Volcanic Plain Glenelg303 Raglan BR 2216 West, Grampians Central Victorian Uplands Glenelg304 Kanawinka H16 BR 1955 West, Grampians Glenelg Plain Glenelg305 Wareek I90 BR 2326 West, Grampians Victorian Volcanic Plain North Central306 Yatmerone Swamp WR 454 West, West Coast Victorian Volcanic Plain Glenelg307 Glenorchy SSR 2705 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera308 Cranbourne Wetlands NCR 4005 City & Bays, Mornington / Gippsland PlainPort PhillipWport309 Naringaningalook H32 BR 2039 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina Goulburn310 Killawarra H107 BR 2114 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina North East311 Beaufort H10 BR 2218 West, Grampians Central Victorian Uplands Glenelg312 Kout Narin I37 BR 2456 West, Grampians Dundas Tablelands Glenelg313 Clarke Road SSR 2815 Central, Basalt Plains Victorian Volcanic Plain Port Phillip314 Sandy Creek, Elmhurst SSR 2581 West, Grampians Central Victorian Uplands Wimmera315 Port Fairy maritime complex HA 3718 West, West Coast Warrnambool Plain Glenelg (& off Viccoast)316 Everard Park SSR 2770 Central, Central Highlands Highlands – Southern Fall Port Phillip317 Barwo H19A BR 2134 Central, Murray Central Murray Fans Goulburn318 White's Lake LR 3072 West, Grampians Dundas Tablelands Glenelg319 Murchison WR 391 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina Goulburn320 Nungurner BR 2207 East, East Gippsland Gippsland Plain East Gippsland321 Broadwater I90 BR 2509 West, West Coast Warrnambool Plain Glenelg322 Moranding I23 BR 1493 Central, Basalt Plains Central Victorian Uplands Goulburn323 Molka H67 BR 2074 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina Goulburn324 Gowangardie FR 102 Central, Murray Central Northern Inland Slopes Goulburn325 Lake Buloke WMCA* 1789 Central, Murray Central Murray Mallee North Central326 Wathe FFR 326 West, Mallee Lowan Mallee Mallee327 Red Bluff FFR 253 West, Mallee Lowan Mallee Mallee328 Birdcage FFR 23 West, Mallee Lowan Mallee Mallee329 Lake Wahpool LR 3120 West, Mallee Murray Mallee Mallee330 Lake Timboram FFR 150 West, Mallee Murray Mallee Mallee331 Timberoo 291 West, Mallee Murray Mallee Mallee332 Wandella FFR 321 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina North Central333 Mullroo Creek WR 535 West, Mallee Murray Scroll Belt Mallee334 Lambert Island FR 152 West, Mallee Robinvale Plains Mallee335 Lakes Coorong & Lascelles LR 3064 West, Mallee Murray Mallee Mallee336 Mitre Lake FFR 186 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera337 Dartagook WR 509 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina North Central338 Lake Wyn Wyn WR 807 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera339 Lakes Powell and Carpul WR 532 West, Mallee Murray Mallee Robinvale Plains Mallee340 Bumbang Island HA 2606 West, Mallee Robinvale Plains Mallee341 Booroopki Swamp LR 3089 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera65

RANK PARK NAME PARKID NO.PV REGION AND DISTRICT BIOREGION CMA REGION342 Oliver's Lake FFR 230 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera343 Yassom Swamp FFR 354 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina North Central344 Baillieu (Richardsons) Lagoon 574 Central, Murray Central Murray Fans North CentralWR345 Brimy Bill (5 Mile Lake) WR 506 West, Mallee Murray Mallee Mallee346 Tutye BR 1123 West, Mallee Murray Mallee Mallee347 Barrett FFR 15 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera348 McDonald Swamp WR 591 Central, Murray Central Murray Fans North Central349 Cemetery Forest WR 578 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina, Murray Fans North Central350 Dooen Swamp BR 1880 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera351 Woodside H28 BR 2165 East, West Gippsland Gippsland Plain West Gippsland352 Boinka FR 26 West, Mallee Murray Mallee Mallee353 Mamengoroock I72 BR 1126 West, Mallee Murray Mallee Mallee354 Meringur FR 169 West, Mallee Murray Mallee Mallee355 Mount Hope FFR 210 Central, Murray Central Northern Inland Slopes North Central356 Lake Elizabeth WR 522 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina North Central357 Hardings Swamp (Tarranginnie 802 West, Grampians Wimmera WimmeraSwamp) WR358 Degraves Tank FR 64 West, Mallee Murray Mallee Mallee359 Loch Iel (Pink Lake) LR 3115 West, Grampians Murray Mallee Wimmera360 Yarrackigarra Swamp WR 825 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera361 Tcham Lakes LR 3065 West, Mallee Murray Mallee Mallee362 Patho WR 596 Central, Murray Central Murray Fans North Central363 Warracknabeal SSR 2520 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera364 Kiata FFR 140 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera365 McClure BR 1864 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera366 Lake Mannaor WR 527 West, Mallee Victorian Riverina, Murray Fans North Central367 Mooree HA 2608 West, Grampians Lowan Mallee, Wimmera Wimmera368 Morkala BR 1278 West, Mallee Murray Mallee Mallee369 Gerang Gerung (south) FR 87 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera370 Green Swamp WR 799 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera371 Telfer's Swamp (Parker Swamp) 284 West, Grampians Wimmera WimmeraFFR372 Jane Duff HP 3180 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera373 Murrayville BR 1297 West, Mallee Murray Mallee Mallee374 Leaghur BR 1272 Central, Murray Central Murray Mallee North Central375 Dimboola FR 66 West, Grampians Wimmera Wimmera376 Tyrrell Creek SSR 2513 West, Mallee Murray Mallee Mallee377 Major Mitchell Lagoon HA 2605 West, Mallee Murray Fans Mallee378 Bruthen FR 39 East, West Gippsland Gippsland Plain West Gippsland379 Ninyeunook I205 BR 1266 Central, Murray Central Victorian Riverina North Central66

Map 1 Number ofConservation Reserves7006005004003002001000MALLEE307602 07006005004003002001000BASALT PLAINS7217 1 07006005004003002001000MURRAY CENTRAL533693907006005004003002001000CENTRAL HIGHLANDS12424 6 0Number of Reserves24002000160012008004000TOTAL IN VICTORIA2174387 110 23Nature ConservationReservesNatural FeaturesReservesReserve CategoryHistoric & CulturalFeatures ReservesCoastal ReservesParks Victoria Region BoundariesParks Victoria District BoundariesVictoria700ALPINE700600500GRAMPIANS608W Westte s t6005004003004003002002001000788 12 0100071330Centrall CenttrallEasttE a s t700600WEST COASTMelbourne M Mellbourrnee o u eMetropolitanMettropolliittanMetropolliitan700EAST GIPPSLAND500400300City C Ciitty &BaysB a y s700600DANDENONGS60050040020014450030010004437700PORT PHILLIP400300200200100024653 360050040030020010008 7 5 17006005004003002001000CITY & WATERWAYS0 0 0 07006005004003002001000MORNINGTON /WESTERNPORT 70025 10 2 46005004003002001000EAST METROPOLITAN19 3 0 07006005004003002001000YARRA22 9 1 07006005004003002001000WEST GIPPSLAND3810001367 4342 0 00 37.5kilometres75

Map 2 Area ofConservation Reserves100000800006000040000200000MALLEE8583856881652 0100000800006000040000200000BASALT PLAINS2837 1343 0 0100000800006000040000200000MURRAY CENTRAL333322354194500100000800006000040000200000CENTRAL HIGHLANDS6741 5959856 0Area (Ha)3 0 0 0 0 0250000200000150000100000500000TOTAL IN VICTORIA153612 40403 15257273431Nature ConservationReservesNatural FeaturesReservesHistoric & CulturalFeatures ReservesReserve CategoryCoastal ReservesParks Victoria Region BoundariesParks Victoria District BoundariesVictoria100000GRAMPIANS100000ALPINE800006000060381W Westte s t80000600004000040000200000240312382 0Centrall Centtrall2000002333018789600 0EasttE a s t10000080000WEST COASTMelbourne M Mellbourrnee o u eMetropolitanMettropolliittanMetropolliitan6000040000200000139192687122707210000080000PORT PHILLIPCity C Ciitty &BaysB a y s100000800006000040000200000DANDENONGSNo Window750 322 0 01000008000060000No WindowEAST GIPPSLAND40000229162000010589120 12130600004000020000038551131 04317100000800006000040000200000CITY & WATERWAYS0 0 0 0No Window100000800006000040000200000MORNINGTON / WESTERNPORTNo Window60000 No Window 60000No WindowNo Window1958 1089244 1411000008000040000200000EAST METROPOLITAN131 206 0 01000008000040000200000YARRA1000001282 282 0 0800006000040000200000WEST GIPPSLAND9743133583712 26550 37.5kilometres75