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Native Vegetation

Your farm is part of a bigger picture

Farmers in a locality can join together to plan the bigger picture. Border Rivers-Gwydir CMA staff can provide assistance with your group's catchment planning.

To halt tree decline, we need to:

1. Maintain major regional belts with natural tree cover and bushland. These can be used for timber production, grazing and beekeeping as well as catchment protection and conservation.
2. Maintain habitat for and populations of the full range of native species that can survive in co-existence with agriculture.
3. Link tree establishment projects together to establish sub-­regional corridors of natural vegetation so beneficial native animals can disperse across the region.

Three steps to better management: Retain, protect, manage

These are the three simple steps that are central to the sustainable management of native vegetation.

Retain native vegetation

The first step to sustainable management is to retain existing native vegetation where possible. Consider the indirect and direct economic benefits of retaining native vegetation, such as:

• shade and shelter, and protection against land degradation;
• timber products; and
• cut flowers and foliage, bush foods, oils, seed and honey.

Against these benefits, consider the full costs of clearing and new enterprise establishment. There may be better ways to spend scarce dollars, better ways of providing an assured economic return, such as improving economic returns from enterprises on existing cleared land. There will be instances where clearing of native vegetation is appropriate. However, in most instances, in most parts of the State, best practice management of native vegetation involves retention of existing areas of native vegetation.

Protect native vegetation

The second step is to protect any retained native vegetation from degradation. The most important thing you can do is to fence off native vegetation from adjoining paddocks. This does not mean 'locking it up'. It does mean that management can be tailored both to the needs of the vegetation and matched to your own management goals.

On a farm, there will be different areas for different purposes - different paddocks or areas for cropping, intensive grazing, light grazing, horticulture. Each of these has its own management requirements and so they need to be fenced separately to enable them to be managed differently.

Native vegetation is no different. It needs to fenced separately from other areas of a property so that suitable management can be provided. Even fencing off a small area downwind of a big old paddock tree may give good regeneration quickly - and keep trees in the landscape for future generations.

Manage native vegetation

The third step is to actively manage the vegetation to improve its condition.

In some cases no active management may be required. But to achieve your own management goals, and especially where the vegetation is 'modified' or 'degraded', active management may be required to suppress weeds, to control feral animals, and to encourage regeneration of native plants.

Benefits of maintaining your native vegetation: Pest Control

Without their natural predators insect populations can easily reach proportions which threaten pastures, crops and trees. By maintaining native vegetation, you provide habitat for these natural predators, reducing the number of insect pests.

Birds

In healthy, well-structured woodland birds species alone consume 50-70% of the insects produced:

• Straw-necked Ibis sometimes called the "farmers friend" feed on mice and insects (especially grasshoppers) - estimates show a single rookery can consume 500 tonnes of food per day
• Magpies - an important predator of scarab grubs can consume 40 grubs per day
• Insectivorous birds and honeyeater consume 24-38 kg of invertebrates (mainly insects) per hectare per year in eucalypt woodland;
  • 10-11 kg from leaves
  • 4-7 kg from bark
  • 9-18 kg from the ground
  • 1-2 kg from the air

Other Insect Predators

A significant proportion of the remaining insects are consumed by:

• Sugar gliders - principal predator of adult scarab beetles - consume up to 15 beetles per hour per night
• Echidnas - feed on ants and termites also consume 120 scarab grubs per day
• Bats - estimates show a colony of Common Bent-wing Bats can consume 200kg of insects per night
• Reptiles - skinks, geckos, and dragons inhabit leaf litter fallen logs and trees
• Frogs - although generally associated with aquatic environments many native frogs are highly dependent on trees
• Predatory insects and spiders

References and Further Reading

• Breckwoldt, R. (1986) The last stand - managing Australia's remnant forests and woodlands. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.
• Hawes, W. (n.d.) Wildlife as a Natural Resource. Macintyre Development Unit 2000.
• Saunders, D.A., Arnold, G.W, Burbidge, A.A., & Hopkins, A.J.M. (1987) Nature conservation - the role of remnants of native vegetation. Surrey Beatty and Sons, Sydney.