Threatened ecological communities on farms

Hopefully I said that without
slurring it too much with the

Central West Local Land
Services, and she's based in

Grenfell.

She's going to go over tonight
some of the funding that's

coming up and why it's important
to protect some of these

remnants that are in our neck of
the woods.

And then we're going to hear
from Dan Clarke.

Dan's a botanical consultant
with Arcane Botanica, and he's

going to tell us some of the
cool species that you generally

find in these little remnants so
that you can go out after this

webinar and have a look in your
own backyard and see if you've

got any of this stuff on your
own property.

So without further ado, thank
you Caitlin from Dubbo and Tessa

from Dripstone and Kyra from
Nyngan and everybody else.

And I'll hand over to Bec to get
us started.

Thanks very much, Danielle.

OK, so hi everyone.

So this evening I'll I'll be
presenting a short introduction

on the Threatened Ecological
Communities on Farms project.

Before I start, I'd like to
acknowledge that I'm recording

the webinar from the lands of
the Wiradjuri people.

I also acknowledge the
traditional custodians of the

various lands on which you all
join us from this evening and

any Aboriginal or Torres Strait
Islander people participating in

this webinar.

I pay my respects to Elders
past, present and emerging and

celebrate the diversity of
Aboriginal people and their

ongoing cultures and connections
to the lands and waters of NSW.

So just a little bit of webinar
etiquette before we go too much

further.

Questions about what you have
learnt in the presentations are

encouraged this evening, so
please place questions in the

chat during this webinar.

We'll have 10 minutes to go
through a selection of your

questions following Dan's
presentation.

You're welcome to react during
the webinar.

So likes, applause and all of
those emojis are welcome.

From now until question time I'd
like to ask for you all, accept

our presenters to mute your
microphones please and slide

your video feed to the off
position.  Just in case anyone's

having trouble with their
Internet.

OK, so the Threatened Ecological
Communities on Farms project is

funded by the Australian
Government's National Heritage

Trust and is being delivered by
the Central West Local Land

Services.

The aim of the project is to
support farmers and public land

managers to implement management
practises that will improve the

condition of the Box Gum Grassy
Woodlands and Grey Box Grassy

Woodlands plus provide
production benefits.

So in the Central West Local
Land Services region, native

vegetation has been subject to
several extensive clearing

events following settlement in
the 1830s.

In this region, the ecological
communities of Box Gum Grassy

Woodland and Grey Box Grassy
Woodland are listed nationally

as endangered.

Respectively, only 5% and 10% of
their pre settlement extent now

remain as remnant patches across
the region.

Implementing a few key
management practises is the best

way to help protect, restore and
extend our threatened ecological

communities.

The project will include an
annual invite to land holders in

target areas with either or both
of the

Box Gum Grassy Woodland or Grey
Box Grassy Woodland to express

an interest in funding.  The
grants will provide assistance

for a variety of management
practises including weed control

to reduce competition for native
species, fencing to protect

remnants from the impact of
livestock and to reduce grazing

pressure by pest animals and
native wildlife.

Controlling pests including
particularly pigs, rabbits, cats

and foxes.

Supplementary planting to
improve diversity of existing

remnants or improve the
connectivity between remnant

woodland patches.

Also looking after habitat by
retaining and installing homes

for wildlife.

Also so this might include
leaving fallen logs, rocks and

dead standing trees within the
remnant patches and in doing so

providing shelter and places to
hide for native animals.

Alternatively, reintroducing
habitat features by installing

nest boxes or augmenting tree
hollows in existing trees.

So the project's first year of
Landholder incentives 24/25 will

focus on farms between
Wellington and Dubbo.

Landholder grants will be rolled
out in other target areas until

2027/2028, which is the
project's fifth and final year.

So aside from managing grazing,
pressure, weed and pest, animal

control, revegetation of habitat
and encouraging habitat for

wildlife, there are several
other activities that will be

delivered as part of the
project.

So these include the development
of skills and knowledge of our

landholders, community members
and stakeholders through

engagement and training
activities, awareness raising

about threatened ecological
communities through the

provision of educational
resources, the creation of short

films, and visibility on social
and mainstream media.

Demonstration of the importance
of cool burns through cultural

burning activities in years 3
and 5 will also happen.

Extensive floral flora surveys
to monitor change following

implementation of the key
management practises.

And last but by no means least,
continuation of the annual

monitoring of 33 floral survey
plots set up in 2010 at our

original population locations of
the Small Purple Pea.

So the long term monitoring of
the endangered Small Purple Pea,

which was once found throughout
central NSW and parts of

Victoria, is important in
determining if the density of

the population is declining,
stable or slowly increasing, and

what environmental or biological
factors may be preventing its

recovery.

Here's just a few links for you
to help find out more.

And now I'd like to pass you
over to Dan Clarke for his

presentation on the importance
of our threatened ecological

communities and their amazing
floral gems.

So thank you, Dan.

I'll, I'll dive straight in
because I am worried about

running out of time that that's
a bad way for a presenter to

start.
But we'll see how we go.

But I'm really glad to be with
you tonight.

I'm on Dharawal land tonight in
the Sydney area, so I pay my

respects as well to the eldest
past and present on Dharawal

Country in Sutherland Shire in
Sydney.

Yeah, diving straight in here.

I just had this slide from
another presentation just in

case you are not completely
familiar and I just wanted to

throw it in in case very
quickly.

You might have been familiar
with the Threatened Species

Conservation Acts 1995.

It took that long for us to have
something where threaten

entities could be listed and
protected and I guess

recognised.

But just if you weren't aware,
that act has now gone along with

that nightmare Native Vegetation
Act that farmers used to wrestle

with.

And we've now got a Biodiversity
Conservation Act, but that

pretty much functions the same
way as what we call the TSC ACT

at the NSW level.

And we've also got an amended
Local Land Services Act running

alongside, which I'm sure Bec
and Danielle and Steven could

tell you more about and are
probably working within the

constraints of.

I do all my work pretty much
within the BC ACT, but at the

Commonwealth level.

And I understand this is a
Commonwealth funded project.

You've got the Environment
Protection and Biodiversity

Conservation Act, which will
also list threatened entities

and pretty much or almost mirror
the Biodiversity Conservation

Acts.

They don't always completely
mirror each other, but by

enlarge if you've got a
threatened species listed in

NSW, it will more than likely be
listed at the Commonwealth

level.

So just if you were on holidays
in 2016 and you haven't caught

up and we've had COVID and all
that sort of thing, they're the

main acts we're running with now
at NSW and then at the

Commonwealth level.

So you're probably familiar that
that these acts have the power

to list threaten flora, fauna
and fungi.

Now I like this new little
paradigm here.

We've always talked about flora
and fauna, but we're now told it

should have been three F's and
not two.

We've now got fungi thrown in
that are in their own group and

there is one example, at least
in Sydney, where pretty much a

colony of mushrooms growing in
bushland is now listed as a

threatened ecological community,
which is quite interesting and

we might see more of that as we
go forward.

But we have species whether
the're animal, plant populations

as well as ecological
communities and that's what

we're focusing on tonight.

Just note that they're all
recognised as being threatened

and then they can be categorised
as vulnerable, endangered or

critically endangered.

I've just been to a lot of, I
guess environmental meetings and

a bit of protest where a lot of
these terms get interchanged and

get confused, but they're all
threatened with extinction and

then they're just given one of
those 3 categories.

If we go beyond critically
endangered, we're in the realms

of presumed extinct and none of
us really want to go there with

anything we've got.

So Bec mentioned this one, the
Swainsona recta.

This is a threatened plant in
your part of the world, the

Small Purple Pea.

It's got the category of
endangered, both at the State

and the Commonwealth level.

Sometimes those categories can
differ, but you know, it can be

vulnerable at 1 and endangered
at the other.

But again, I think they're
trying to be a bit more

consistent with each other.

And this is endangered.

Beautiful plant.

We saw this last week.

Stephen took me to see this one
as part of the workshop.

But our focus tonight is the
Threatened Ecological

Communities.

And just in case you're not
familiar, it's where we are

taking the whole vegetation
community as a whole, a unique

assemblage of species that
occurred together in a certain

part of the world and are now,
yeah, like Bec said, being

cleared to a lot of the time to
within an inch of their life

sort of thing.

So we're taking in the canopy,
the shrub layer, which in this

photo is more or less absent,
and the ground layer as well.

And one of the ones we're
focusing on has this mouthful of

a name, which is called White
Box, Yellow Box, Blakely's Red

Gum, Grassy Woodlands and
Derived Native Grasslands.

That's the first TEC.

This would be the most prominent
TEC on the tablelands and I'd

say that, you know, part of the
Western Slopes, it's sort of the

forerunner, one of the flagship
TECs that is pretty much the

well known.

Just in case you're wondering,
you know, the government isn't

picking on your part of the
world.

You know, this all started in
the Sydney area and it's

radiated out from there.

It's getting to the point now in
Sydney if you walk into any

patch of bushland, it's pretty
much going to be a TEC.

So we've got about 30 TECs in
Sydney and it's radiated out

into all of NSW and now they're
recognised everywhere.

I think we're over about now 100
Threatened Ecological

Communities in NSW.

I believe this one is now
critically endangered.

The Commonwealth and the state
have pushed it to that brink.

So that's a bit of a red light
for everybody.

That's it's on the fertile
country.

It's normally in the valleys and
on the Creek lines.

It's been on the fertile
farmlands, and we can understand

it's been on the productive
lands.

It's not really up the rocky
slopes and the ridges and it's

very common on the tablelands
parts of NSW, but I'd say it

sort of gets into the more
eastern parts of the western

slopes, if that makes sense.

So we're treating the whole
community as a whole.  Trees,

mid-storey, ground layer.

We think about the habitat that
use it, the microbes in the

soil, it it involves the soil
underneath as well.

And if we're going to quantify,
we'll measure it in square

metres or hectares.

It's the whole vegetation
community.

I just threw in some typical
species that you can find in the

White box/Yellow box community.

I want to show some of these in
that order.

They're three eucalypts that
they're referring to, and that's

Eucalyptus albens, melliodora
and blakelyi.

And generally you got to have
those plants making up the

community, just some mid-storey
species or might be called the

shrub layer.

We can have a lot of wattles
like dealbata, we can have

Kurrajongs (Brachychiton) you
can put a lot in there.

But these are just some typical
ones that we find.

And in the ground layer you can
have a whole range of things.

Grasses as it's called, a Grassy
Woodland and a lot of herbs and

forbes aswell.

There's a hell of a lot of
diversity in the ground layer.

And in most vegetation
communities, 90% of the

diversity will be in the ground
layer.

Just note it's got a clause here
it says and Derive Native

Grasslands.

And in ecology we'll call that
DNG.

If the trees have been cleared
and the shrub layer has been

cleared and we're pretty much
left with a bit of a paddock or

grassland type environment.

If a lot of that is made up of
native grasslands and forbes,

the community can still be
recognised in a modified form as

Derived Native Grasslands.

And that requires in my line of
work, ecological assessment and

things like that.

But you can have a modified form
of the community and, and that's

a Derived Native Grassland where
the ground layer is still pretty

much there.

This is the Grey Box.

The second one, Grey Box Grassy
Woodlands, and it's still got

that Derived Native Grasslands
clause in there or modification,

of Southeastern Australia that's
endangered.

I would say this one is more
common into the western slopes

and I guess the western part of
the western slopes.

This is around Parkes where this
beautiful tree, Eucalyptus

microcarpa kicks in.

It's called a Grey Box.

They're quite easy to identify
most of the time.

We saw a lot of them around
Parkes the other day, just a

little bit different to the
three trees that dominate the

Grassy Box Woodlands, but I'll,
I'll go into those as well.

But normally it's on the Penny
Plain country.

The ground layer can be similar,
though.

There's a lot of western species
kicking in which you don't get

on the tablelands, but that's
the second TEC

We're focusing on tonight.

Just want to show you what's
online that you can get.

There's a whole heap of
literature I've put.

I'm happy for this PowerPoint to
be available.

There's some links there.

You can download documents like
this and have a really good

read.

You can even get a species list
on the next page.

And I'm just showing some of
these tonight.

This is the Grassy Box
Woodlands.

There's some really good info
there that you can have a good

read on.

That's the Grey Box (Microcarpa)
Woodlands.

We can still get Eucalyptus
melliodora, that's the Yellow

Box.

But normally you get a dominance
of microcarpa.

We get a bit more Callitris pine
than we would in the White Box /

Yellow Box country.

And you can also get a tree
called Bimble Box, which I think

is a pretty easily identifiable
Eucalyptus with it's green

rounded leaves.

That's called Poplar Box.

That one there, the ground
layer, you just get in a few

more western species coming in
and a bit of a different

dominance.

But the ground layer between the
two TECs, they share a lot of

species.

There's a lot of crossover.

A lot of these ground layer
species have massive ranges and

there's just a lot of crossover
and a lot of commonality.

Some of the mid-storey will be
different, like Acacia deanei,

which is a bit more of a western
species and Acacia decora.

We saw those around Parkes and
Wellington very easily last

week.

Still got Kurrajong and some
really common mid- storey

species like that.

But they're just a few of the
the common ones there.

Just the importance of TECs, you
know, a lot of typical things

about keeping bushland on sites.

We argue they're, they're unique
assemblages of species that that

form the natural vegetation of
the landscape.

You know, those things have been
here for thousands of years and,

and we tend to knock them over
really quickly.

They're essential for habitat
for local wildlife.

That includes vertebrates.

It includes insects, which we're
getting more and more worried

about these days, microbes in
the soil, all that sort of

thing.

All the fungi that live in the
soil as well.

Will, you know, will ecologists
will argue they're good for

soil, soil stability, nutrient
recycling.

They're reducing water runoff.

They're part of the water
cycling and that sort of thing.

Water has been pumped up through
the trees, been evaporated off.

Very important for holding soil
moisture.

We're worried about carbon these
days.

We believe that vegetation
sequests carbon and when it gets

degraded or knocked over, you
just get carbon dioxide plumes

being released.

And they'll provide shade for
wildlife, livestock.

They'll also, you know, reduce
the heat sink event or heat sink

effect, I should say, on the
ground.

And one of the things that
government will look at, and I

think Bec and Danielle and
Stephen will sort of look at is

how patches connect to each
other for the purposes of

regeneration and rehabilitation.

And more and more we're looking
at the landscape in terms of

connectivity and stepping stones
of patches, you know, between

patches, allowing fauna to move
between those patches.

So look, I just took a random
shot here from east of Parkes

and I didn't mean to pick on
anyone's property or anything

like that.

It's, it's just a random Google
map shot.

But I don't know what the land
use is here.

But we can see what we might
call some pretty intact or what

look to be intact patches of
vegetation, even though we can

see some fragmentation between.

But if a person wanted to do
some restoration here, for

example, then that might be
pretty appeasing for funding and

things like that in order to
enhance vegetation and and form

more connection between patches.

If someone wanted to do some
planting of trees, say along

there and it like for example,
if koalas were in this habitat,

they could move from this patch
and might be able to move more

safely to this patch.

So government are looking to to
do a lot of what we call

wildlife corridors and
connectivity rather than say

plants, 1000 trees here and try
and get some funding for it.

It'd be sort of more favourable
to possibly do that here and

relieve the fragmentation of
these patches and just provide

some more connectivity.

And that's one thing that that
government is sort of strongly

looking at.

There's a lot of ecological
research that goes into

connectivity and stepping stones
and, and sort of the, the

processes of fragmentation.

So I just got this off the web
the other night.

It's it's in the North East of
NSW, But they've gone to efforts

here to, to put in, I guess,
belts of trees to connect one

patch to the other.

And it's a bit of an example of
how people are trying to connect

patches up just these lines of
trees where animals might move

through, birds might move
through and koalas might move

through and and other fauna as
well.

And it's just one important
aspects.

When a patch sort of gets
fragmented like this and it has

a big edge ratio on the ends,
ecologists do detect a decrease

in ecological function.

You get less mammals coming in,
you get less insects coming in,

you get plant species dropping
out, you get other plant species

taking over.

It's subject to edge effects.

You get more weed invasion and
the ecological function of this

patch will decrease over time.

And sometimes it's really
obvious as an ecologist when you

walk into it, you just see a
lack of diversity.

So it's we're trying to sort of,
I guess, stitch these two

together and and create more
intact patches.

So now I'm moving on to the
floral gems and hope I can get

through these.

This is Eucalyptus albens, which
is one of the trees of the

Grassy Box Woodland TEC called
the White Box.

Box trees or box eucalyptus
normally have this finely

tessellated bark in a bit of a
jigsaw pattern and when you go

halfway up the tree it'll go to
smooth bark and you might get

the odd ribbon or so hanging
down in a lot of box trees.

So finally tessellated smooth up
the top where the branches come

out.

Eucalyptus Albums has these nice
generous buds and they normally

have a bit of a waxy hue on
them.

It's a very common tree on the
tablelands and slopes of NSW,

nice big flowers and the leaves
will have a bluey green look to

them.

The ones we saw at Mount Arthur
last week, the leaves are pretty

much blue.

They've just got a large hint of
blue in them and they're up sort

of that end of the spectrum.

And if you're looking at a box
eucalypt, they tend to have

fruits like this where they've
just got a deeply inserted discs

there.

And the best way to describe
them is a champagne glass or I

call them a wedding champagne
glass, you know, probably

doesn't need that on it.

But if you think of a wedding
champagne glass, these are a

really good example.

And they're on the large side
for boxes on the large side of

the scale.

This is Yellow Box, the famous
Eucalyptus meliodora.

It would be the, I would say the
most common tree.

If you take the tablelands and
the western slopes combined,

it's probably, it would be in
the top three most numerous

trees, even though a lot of its
habitat has been cleared.

But the're a favourite one with
beekeepers, their fruit is a bit

more or their gum nut, if you
like.

It's a bit more of a cup shape,
not so much of a champagne

glass, but you get in the same
sort of shape there.

They flower very prolifically.

Their leaves tend to be a bit
narrower than the White Box.

They tend to be a lot narrower
and sometimes they're a lot

shorter with a bit of an
elliptic shape, still bluey

green, a bit more maybe green
than those of albens, but they

do vary a bit, blue, green to
green.

And again, the bark will go up
to the lower branches there and

then it will go smooth for the
rest of that.

But if you look at a Yellow Box
trunk, and we did see this last

week, the bark will sort of S
spend up the tree.

I'm exaggerating it a bit, but
it will sinuate as it goes up

the tree.

You can see these sort of S
spends in the bark and it's a

bit of a good feature for
melliodora.

It's not there all the time, but
it's there a lot of the time.

So look out for that.

It's a dominant one in Grassy
Box Woodland.

It can be in the Grey Box
Woodland as well.

It's got a big range.

This is Eucalyptus microcarpa.

It's got a trunk like Eucalyptus
albens, but it's a lot darker.

It's normally darker brown and
not that sort of pale grey that

we saw a bit darker.

And the thing about the leaves,
which I haven't shown, but the

leaves are green.

They're a nice green colour most
of the time, the same tone of

green on both sides.

They can be a little bit bluey
green, but they're they're down

the green ends of the spectrum,
buds like melliodora.

And they've sort of got fruit
like melliodora or the Yellow

Box as well.

But their microcarpa sort of
means small fruit.

So they'll be on the small side
and they're a lot smaller than

Eucalyptus Albens.

And I'm just ignoring all the
integrates here 'cause that just

gets complicated.

But another typical box fruit.

Look for them if you're around
Parkes and that sort of area,

going west to Griffith and north
as well.

From there.

They're a really common tree,
even on the side of the road as

you drive along.

I just got asked to throw this
one in Eucalyptus conica, the

Fuzzy Box.

We saw these around parks last
week and I had to get more

familiar with them.

They're a bit of a vague 1 to
me, but they've got more of a

messy bark down the bottom, very
fibrous and chunky.

They've got a canopy like
Eucalyptus albens and that's

what we thought they were, but
they were just looking a bit

different.

But it's a very common tree.

Again, it's probably part of the
Grey Box.

Woodland TEC and Danielle just
mentioned micro bats and I, I

got asked to do a, a bit of a
cross promotion here.

You can get these guys getting
under the bark of these trees.

So happily get under the bark
and sit under there.

So they're good habitat trees
for that sort of thing.

We have a lot of microbat
species in NSW.

They are not usually insect
eaters.

We have some threatened species,
we have some common ones, and we

have some threatened ones.

And these are the only time I've
helped an ecologist do some

microbat trapping and I managed
to get those photos.

They're tiny.

I mean, that thing sort of
doesn't look that small, but

then you look at his finger and
you can see how sort of tiny it

is.

These are trapped at night and
then they're released on the

following night once they're
identified.

This was around Gunnedah where
we did a site and I think he

caught about 50 microbats during
the night.

They they can whip over your
head at dusk.

Sometimes you just think it's a
moth going over your head, but a

lot of the time it's these guys.

They'll live in a tree hollow,
they'll live under the bark and

they can live under a concrete
bridge on a main road or a, or a

minor Rd.

If it's got little recesses
under the concrete, sometimes

there's holes under there and
they can live in those.

So we get worried about these
guys as well.

And just remember they're
relatives, the flying foxes.

We get told by flying fox
experts that they do most of the

pollinating.

So they will fly up to 100
kilometres every night

pollinating eucalyptus trees.

So they're, they're reported to
be the main pollinator.

So these guys will go for the
insects, but the flying foxes

will go for the eucalypts and
the fruit.  Tree hollows in

Ecology,

Now we're very concerned about
these hollow bearing trees.

I only photographed these two
Yellow Boxes on a farm in

Goulburn a couple of weeks ago.

But you could, yeah, they're
pretty decrepit and pretty

isolated, but you can see the
hollows that are in them.

This one's full of hollows here.

And if you take time to have a
look, they're full of parrots.

They can have possums in them.

You can see a bird of prey using
them or you can get bees or you

can probably get microbats as
well.

So these take decades to form. 
In a place like Sydney,

we're just losing them all. 
They're a non renewable resource

because they take so long to
form.

So we're really worried about
those too

When a when you know a person
who wants to do some

environmental conservation when
they've got hollow bearing

trees, we're really happy to see
that and we try and encourage

them to keep them and just keep
the tree for as long as possible

to keep those hollows in there.

I'll move into the mid-storey.

This is Acacia decora

It's a very common one in the
grey box woodland Tec.

As you get a bit further West,
this will grow on the side of

the road.

We saw it easily last week.

It wasn't flowering
unfortunately it had just

finished.

But this is a beautiful wattle
on the western slopes, easily

identifiable most of the time,
doesn't grow very tall.

Often it's on the side of the
road at about a metre tall or

two metres, and it's probably
one you can get familiar with.

So if you've got a lot of this
on your property and a bit of

Eucalyptus microcarpa, well, you
might have, you know, the Grey

Box Woodland TEC, even if it's
in a modified form.

This one is more from the Grassy
Box Woodland a bit further east,

it sort of dropped out when I
got to Parkes, but this is

Acacia dealbata, the Silver
Wattle.

It's a beautiful one in the
Grassy Box Woodland, especially

around Bathurst, and Orange. 
Flowers profusely.

The leaves have a really blue
silvery hue to them and further

west at Parkes in Wellington
there's a really similar species

called deanii that doesn't
flower as prolifically, but it's

still a nice and common one.

The leaves are a bit more green
and a bit more spaced out on

deanii, and on dealbata

they're a nice silvery blue and
a bit, well, silvery green blue

and compact.

But two beautiful wattles,
dealbata and deanii, that are

part of these TECs.

We saw this last week, a
beautiful Swainsona

This one isn't threatened, but
it's a common one.

But this is a pea.

These pea flowering plants are
great for attracting insects.

They're part of both TECs and we
saw one in full flower last week

and I'm so glad Bec took a
photo.

Really common plant and just an
example of a pea flower, that's

a big family related to the
wattles, which the insects

really go for.

This is a Hop Bush, a Dodonaea.

The flowers aren't that
spectacular, but it's the female

fruit that are really sort of
showy.

And these will be eaten by a
whole heap of parrots, including

rare ones as well

I'm told.   The leaves are
sticky.

It's a very, very common shrub,
like out in this part of the

world and it's even on the coast
of NSW too, but very common.

It's a part of both TECs

It's a beautiful plant to have
around just for the fruit.

There's male and female plants
and this is a female plant that

bears seed.

But these beautiful papery
capsules, they're a really

important habitat resource.

Just moving to the ground layer
now and finishing off with about

six or seven species to go look,
I apologise for this.

Some of these are my garden
photos, but I'm sure you get the

the gist.

This plant grows all over NSW
with sort of a variety of forms.

It'll be in your part of the
world, it'll be in both of the

TECs

The only difference is the
foliage might be more blue.

It might be a more blue type of
foliage and not so green.

But have a look in your patches,
see if you can see this one.

Especially in spring and summer,
it does flower very readily.

You've got another Daisy here
called the Sticky Everlasting.

This is Xerochrysum viscosum.

We saw this in in large numbers
at the workshops last week.

Whether it was Wellington or
Parkes, this guy was everywhere.

Pretty easy to identify.

It's a common plant.

It's part of both of the TECs
and it'd be very common even on

the edges of farm paddocks where
there's a bit of woodland.

Just another Pea, a scrambler,

this one's got a lot smaller.

peas than the Swansona, this one
is called a Glyine, a very

useful plant for the ground
layer that I guess provides

nitrogen in the soil.

It's a very widespread species
across NSW.

Look for that one.

It it just means you got a bit
of native herb forb sort of

layer in the ground layer.

It can climb up other shrubs,
but it's pretty, it's pretty

weak and pretty dainty, but it's
another pea scrambler.

The grasses are very important
in your two TECs, obviously the

Grassy Box and the Grey Box.

This is Themeda, Kangaroo Grass,

it's just one of the easiest
grasses to identify.

It's not the most prolific grass
in these two TECs, but it is out

there and you do get patches of
it.

And with these kangaroo like,
paw like florets, I guess the

seeds are inside with these long
black horns coming out, when

it's in seeding time.

And it's just an easy grass to
identify.

And it's very ecologically
important for a lot of

communities as well.

It will be there in the TECs in
patches.

I just find it's not one of the
strongest grasses.

This one is a strong one.

If you're familiar with this,
this is Austrostipa scabra, part

of both TECs.

It'll be more common in the Grey
Box.

It's got these beautiful golden
heads that blow in the winds and

you can get patches of it like
this and it makes it easily

identifiable.

It does look like some weedy
grasses, but if you get familiar

with it quickly enough, you
should be able to pick it.

It's a very common and easy one
that when we learn plants out in

in this part of the world on the
western slopes, it's one we

learned very quickly.

It's just it's golden seed heads
and they're raspy stems at the

bottom that make it easily
identifiable.

It's a good grass to have in
large patches.

You might see this, a Bulbine
Lily, my garden again, but they

can look like this out in the
bush if you get the right patch.

These beautiful star shaped
yellow flowers.

It's related to leeks and onions
and plants in that group.

They can flower for most of the
year.

Sometimes they like a moist
spot.

We did see them at the Mount
Arthur picnic area at

Wellington.

It might have been a different
species, but the flowers look

pretty much the same, beautiful
yellow, easy to identify.

I can't think of any weeds that
you'll get that'll sort of look

like that.

Great plan to have.

And it's part of both of the
TECs

It's one of the showy species,
likes a bit of moisture.

Danielle sent me these ones and
we did see this last week.

This is Stackhousia monogyna.

It's called creamy candles.

This is a beautiful plant.

And we did see these in Mount
Arthur.

They've got 5 petal flowers come
up in a real showy spike like

this.

And if these are hanging around
in the ground layer on your

property or your, your favourite
bushland patch, it shows that

the ground layers in in not too
bad a condition.

If these sort of things are
hanging in there, they can they,

you can just get sort of
colonies of them through the

ground layer and they're quite
beautiful.

Just two more to go.

This is, well, this is a plan
I'm familiar with, but I, I

won't go into that.

This is called a Ajuga
australis.

We saw a lot of this amount
Wellington and it piqued a lot

of interest.

It's actually related to all
those culinary herbs like mince

and oregano and lavender.

But the leaves don't really
smell in, in this particular

native one.

But it's a nice plant.

It's got nice purple flowers.

It'll sort of grow stems to 30
centimetres tall.

Doesn't show up everywhere, but
it shows up in a few patches.

And again, if you've got this in
your ground layer, it, it sort

of shows that that the ground
layer would, would sort of be

moderately intact or, or mostly
intact.

It's a very interesting
Australian species.

It looks very different from
place to place.

And they'll probably break it up
into multiple species sooner or

later, but it's part of both
TECs.

This thing grows right across
NSW, quite commonly.

And we snapped an orchid just at
the ends.

This is Caladenia tentaculata.

This was generating a lot of
interest last week.

It's a real funky orchid.

It's called Fringe Spider Orchid
and there's a few Caladenias

with this sort of shape, but Bec
just got this last week.

If you have orchids in your
ground layer again, it shows

that the ground layer is in
pretty good nick or all the

essentials are there for orchids
to be able to grow.

It's hard to find orchids a lot
of the time in degraded

landscapes.

So if these are hanging in there
and they are listed in both

TECs, I've seen this in Grassy
Box Woodland around Bathurst,

beautiful plant.

And so if, if you're getting
orchids in your patch, that's

really good evidence that
there's a lot of resilience

there.

And I'd be documenting them as
best you can, documenting what

orchids that you're getting,
because there are a few rare

ones out there.

And it just demonstrates the
good nature of that ground

layer.

So don't forget that handout.

I've just thrown it in there at
the end.

That's the Local Land Services
handout that's also on the

website.

And I'm more than happy to hang
around and answer any questions

for as long as you want until
Bec or Danielle shut the door on

us.
Yeah, that was excellent.

Thank you so much, Dan.

Fantastic.

Hi, my name's Dominic Nowlan.
I'm a Senior Land Service Officer with the Central West LLS here at Grenfell.
Today I'm just going to have a bit of a quick chat to you
about the pros and cons of direct seeding
and using it to establish corridors or enhance existing remnant vegetation.
When considering to enhance an existing piece of remnant vegetation
or alternatively planting a new corridor,
direct seeding is a very viable option.
When choosing direct seeding as an option to either enhance
an existing piece of remnant vegetation or plant a new corridor,
the first thing and most important thing to consider is preparation.
Preparation for direct seeding
is best achieved by baring a one metre piece of ground
the full length of your anticipated planting,
and keeping that bare for at least three months before planting.
This will give the direct seeding the best chance to survive
and flourish once germinated.
When choosing the species or seeds to direct seed,
my experience has been that the understory species work best.
This includes things like your acacias or wattles,
and dodonaeas and another understory species.
The success of eucalypts is never
as good as it is with those understory species.
Probably the two biggest advantages when choosing to do your revegetation
with their direct seeding is its cost effectiveness and its efficiency.
It's not unreasonable to plant up to ten, 20,
30km a day when direct seeding with one person.
You cannot do that when you're using tube stock.
When choosing to direct seed, you must consider
that some of your seed may or may not need seed treatment prior to planting.
For many of the understory species, like the acacias and dodonaeas
is this as simple as placing the seed into off boiled hot water
for maybe an hour or two, allowing it to dry before planting.
Another one of the benefits of direct
seeding, is the way in which the plantings establish.
Sometimes unintentionally the plantings germinate
sporadically in clumps and gaps
and somewhat imitate more of a natural setting.
For anyone thinking about undertaking direct seeding,
or even just wishing to learn more about it, please contact
your local LLS office and ask to speak to someone from the NRM team.