EVC Benchmarks - Highlands - Northern Fall bioregion

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Below is a list of published Ecological Vegetation Class benchmarks for the Highlands-Northern Fall bioregion.

These benchmarks have been developed to assess native vegetation using the method for Vegetation Quality Assessment (VQA).

Please note: These benchmarks are endorsed for the purpose of implementing 'Victoria's Native Vegetation Management - A Framework for Action, 2002'. For Wetland Vegetation assessments, please follow this link. Mosaic and complex mapping units have been removed from this page except where the scale is too fine to resolve at the site level. When assessing a site, you should be able to determine which component EVC is dominant on-site. See note below.

EVC no.	BCS	Ecological Vegetation Class Benchmark	Last Updated
3	V	Damp Sands Herb-rich Woodland (PDF 138 kb) - VQA
7	V	Clay Heathland (PDF 96 kb) - VQA	December 2004 - New
16	LC	Lowland Forest (PDF 137 kb) - VQA
18	LC	Riparian Forest (PDF 137 kb) - VQA
19	V	Riparian Shrubland (PDF 136 kb) - VQA
20	LC	Heathy Dry Forest (PDF 138 kb) - VQA
21	LC	Shrubby Dry Forest (PDF 138 kb) - VQA
22	LC	Grassy Dry Forest (PDF 138 kb) - VQA
23	LC	Herb-rich Foothill Forest (PDF 138 kb) - VQA
27	R	Blackthorn Scrub	New - November 2007
28	R	Rocky Outcrop Shrubland (PDF 137 kb) - VQA	Changed BCS - November 2007
29	LC	Damp Forest (PDF 137 kb) - VQA
30	LC	Wet Forest (PDF 137 kb) - VQA
31	E	Cool Temperate Rainforest (PDF 137 kb) - VQA	Changed BCS - November 2007
35	LC	Tableland Damp Forest (PDF 95 kb) - VQA	December 2004 - New
36	LC	Montane Dry Woodland (PDF 97 kb) - VQA	December 2004 - New
37	D	Montane Grassy Woodland (PDF 138 kb) - VQA
38	LC	Montane Damp Forest (PDF 137 kb) - VQA
39	LC	Montane Wet Forest (PDF 137 kb) - VQA
40	V	Montane Riparian Woodland (PDF 139 kb) - VQA
41	R	Montane Riparian Thicket (PDF 137 kb) - VQA	Changed BCS - November 2007
43	LC	Sub-alpine Woodland (PDF 137 kb) - VQA
44	R	Sub-alpine Treeless Vegetation - refer to Treeless Alpine Vegetation Lookup Table	Changed BCS - November 2007
45	D	Shrubby Foothill Forest (PDF 137 kb) - VQA
47	V	Valley Grassy Forest (PDF 140 kb) - VQA	Changed BCS - November 2007
48	D	Heathy Woodland (PDF 129 kb) - VQA
55	E	Plains Grassy Woodland (PDF 138 kb) - VQA
56	E	Floodplain Riparian Woodland (PDF 140 kb) - VQA
59	V	Riparian Thicket (PDF 137 kb) - VQA
68	E	Creekline Grassy Woodland - VQA [PDF File - 164.3 KB]	New - November 2007
72	LC	Granitic Hills Woodland (PDF 137 kb) - VQA
82	V	Riverine Escarpment Scrub (PDF 138 kb) - VQA
83	V	Swampy Riparian Woodland (PDF 138 kb) - VQA
107	E	Lake Bed Herbland	New - November 2007
127	E	Valley Heathy Forest (PDF 138 kb) - VQA
169	V	Dry Valley Forest - VQA [PDF File - 211.0 KB]	New - November 2007
172	LC*	Floodplain Wetland Aggregate - refer to wetland aggregate table	New - November 2007
175	D	Grassy Woodland (PDF 137 kb) - VQA
185	E	Perched Boggy Shrubland (PDF 136 kb) - VQA	Name Change - March 2006
191	V	Riparian Scrub (PDF 136 kb) - VQA
201	LC	Shrubby Wet Forest (PDF 137 kb) - VQA
206	V	Sub-alpine Grassland (PDF 135 kb) - VQA
207	E	Montane Grassy Shrubland (PDF 96 kb) - VQA	December 2004 - New
210	E	Sub-alpine Wet Heathland (PDF 137 kb) - VQA
318	E	Montane Swamp (PDF 135 kb) - VQA
319	LC	Montane Herb-rich Woodland (PDF 138 kb) - VQA
702_61	E	Limestone Montane Grassland (PDF 96 kb) - VQA	January 2005 - New
702_62	E	Montane Grassland (PDF 95 kb) - VQA	January 2005 - New
1003	R	Sub-alpine Dry Shrubland	New - November 2007

EVC - Ecological Vegetation Class
BCS - Bioregional Conservation Status
* - BCS rating to be used only if unable to determine the component EVC within the generic and/or aggregate wetland tables.
VQA - vegetation quality assessment

EVC 44 Treeless Alpine Vegetation - Lookup table [PDF File - 105.3 KB]

Wetland Vegetation Assessment
If you are interested in assessing a wetland area for the purpose of implementing 'Victoria's Native Vegetation Management - A Framework for Action, 2002', you must use an EVC Benchmark for Vegetation Quality Assessment (VQA) in conjunction with the VQA methodology.

If a wetland EVC benchmark for the VQA is unavailable, please use the wetlands default habitat score of 0.45 as outlined in the 'Guide for Assessment of Referred Planning Permit Applications, 2007'.

If you are interested in undertaking a wetland vegetation assessment which is not for the purpose of implementing "Victoria's Native Vegetation Management - A Framework for Action, 2002', then the Index of Wetland Condition (IWC) methodology may be appropriate. The IWC method uses a set of dedicated wetland EVC benchmarks that you will find on the IWC webpage.

Lookup tables for wetland areas:
The tables below provide information for mapped wetland areas that have not yet been assigned a wetland EVC type or are known to comprise an aggregate of wetland EVCs due to their temporal nature. Please keep in mind your purpose for assessing a wetland area and make sure you use the appropriate benchmark.

Generic wetland EVC - lookup table [MS Excel Document - 35.0 KB]

EVC wetland aggregate table [MS Excel Document - 30.0 KB]

Note

• The bioregional conservation status of EVCs was revised and updated in November 2007 following revised native vegetation mapping. To view the changes in the spatial datasets please go to the Accessing Native Vegetation Data page.
• Before choosing any vegetation mapping units that are EVC mosaics, complexes and aggregates and generic wetland mapping units, some further on-site decision will be required before selecting the appropriate benchmark to apply. In addition, EVC 'variants' and those EVCs that are known to exhibit structural variation across their range will also need to utilise on-site information to determine the appropriate benchmark to apply.
• The EVC benchmarks contain a subset of “typical” but not comprehensive lists of species for each EVC in a bioregion. It should also be noted that not all species listed in the benchmark will be appropriate to all sites across the range of an EVC in a bioregion nor readily available through local nurseries.