Posted on July, 26 2002

Canberra, Australia - WWF-Australia has launched a free, full-colour management guide to help conserve south-eastern Australia's threatened native grasslands. The 20 page guide covers a range of topics including grazing management, mowing and slashing, patch burning and weed control. Written and researched by David Eddy, WWF-Australia's Monaro Grasslands Project Officer, the guide is available free on request to anyone interested in native grassland management. Mr Eddy, a biologist with an Advanced Diploma in Farm Management from Orange Agricultural College, has been involved in grassland management for more than a decade. Prior to joining WWF-Australia, he spent six years with NSW Agriculture, working on research in to native grasses and pasture. "I am hoping this guide will open people's eyes to the incredible beauty and diversity of native grasslands, and enable them to see that they are not just treeless, boring landscapes," he said. "Native grassland remnants harbour hundreds of plant species that have largely disappeared from agricultural grasslands. Good grassland remnants can provide us with living genetic reservoirs of native plant species that may have become regionally uncommon elsewhere." The guide, Managing Native Grassland, had been written to provide a basic understanding of the ecological function and management needs of natural temperate grasslands in south-eastern Australia, he said. "However, although the book is based on my experience in the Southern Tablelands it has been written in general terms so that the information might be useful throughout New South Wales and beyond. Much of the information can also be applied to management of grassy woodlands as well." "Grasslands are more than just grass," he added. "In addition to a wide variety of native grasses, there is also a diversity of herbs including sedges, rushes, orchids, lilies and broad-leaved herbs known as forbs. About 700 species of native herbs have been identified in the grasslands of south-eastern Australia, the majority of which are not grasses." Native grasslands once occupied large expanses of south-eastern Australia but because they were relatively clear of trees, they were attractive for pastoral settlement and development. The land became divided by fences and roads and vegetation was subject to new management, which often differed from paddock to paddock, said Mr Eddy. "This resulted in changes to the species composition of much of the area of native grassland and isolation of the remainder into fragments. Relatively unmodified native grasslands now cover only a fraction of their original area and many remnants are small and highly vulnerable to change." For further information:< Rosslyn Beeby WWF-Australia E-mail: rbeeby@wwf.org.au