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Victorian Midlands
The
Bioregional Landscape The
Bioregional Landscape Prior to European settlement, aboriginal people of seven or eight language groups inhabited the Midlands. The Jardwadjali were found in the Dundas Tablelands and Grampians, while the Djadja wurrung lived in the goldfields and upper Loddon valley. Further to the east the Aboriginal people included the Ngurai-illam wurrung and Duang wurrung, who extended through this region from the Riverina plains. The Victorian Midlands area comprises four bioregions. Dundas Tablelands is an undulating area to the west of the Grampians, much of which has been cleared for agriculture. The Greater Grampians bioregion is dominated by the striking parallel ranges and valleys which comprise the Grampians National Park, and retains substantial areas of native vegetation. The topography of the Goldfields bioregion is dominated by rolling plains and low hills between Stawell and Wangaratta, north of the Great Dividing Range. It supports fragmented native forests and woodlands, mostly on the relatively poor soils. The Central Victorian Uplands bioregion extends from Beaufort in the west through Ballarat, Seymour and Alexandra to Beechworth in the east. This bioregion was formerly dominated by foothill forest, some of which is still found on the upper slopes. The flatter and more fertile areas are largely cleared for agriculture. The major towns in the Victorian Midlands developed during the gold rushes of last century. Together, Ballarat and Bendigo support over 150 000 people. Other centres of population include Stawell, Ararat, St Arnaud, Daylesford, Kyneton, Maryborough and Alexandra. There is a general trend of decline in population from farming areas and the smaller towns, although some localities are growing as a result of tourism, such as the Daylesford area, or their proximity to Melbourne, such as the Woodend–Gisborne area. Important parks and reserves in the Victorian Midlands include the Grampians and Brisbane Ranges national parks, Whipstick, Warby Range and Lerderderg State parks, Mount Bolangum and Deep Lead flora and fauna reserves, and the Hepburn Regional Park. No major parks or reserves occur within the Dundas Tablelands bioregion. Within the Victorian Midlands, the major primary industry activities are agriculture (sheep and cattle grazing, cropping and viticulture), mining and timber production. The area retains a significant manufacturing sector focused on Bendigo and Ballarat, and an expanding services sector featuring retail, education and tourism businesses. The area also includes important water catchments and water storages. Parts of many shires are represented in the Victorian Midlands. The Catchment Management Authorities of Wimmera, Corangamite, Loddon and Goulburn catchments also cover this area.
The
Natural Capital of the Landscape Today, the Victorian Midlands continue to support a wide variety of forest and woodland species; 980 species of flora have been recorded, of which 96 are rare or threatened; 502 species of fauna have been recorded, of which 105 are rare or threatened. Species endemic to the Victorian Midlands and found in more than one bioregion include Mount William Beard-heath, Creeping Grevillea, Twining Scale-rush and Scented Bush-pea. Threatened fauna species in the region include the Powerful Owl, Brush-tailed Phascogale and Common Dunnart. Each of the four bioregions within the Victorian Midlands is distinct. At the time of European settlement, the Dundas Tablelands were dominated by Plains Grassy Woodland Complexes, Grassland Complexes and Inland Slopes Woodland Complexes. Endemic flora species in the Dundas Tablelands bioregion include Mossy Woodruff, Reader’s Daisy, Hairy Raspwort and Hoary Bush-pea. The Greater Grampians bioregion remains dominated by Dry Foothill Forest Complexes, Inland Slopes Woodland Complexes, Herb-rich Woodland Complexes and Plains Grassy Woodland Complexes with small patches of Heathy Woodland Complexes and Valley Grassy Forest Complexes. The Greater Grampians is well recognised as an exceptionally rich area for plants, supporting a large number of endemic species, with a diverse range of fauna. The Goldfields bioregion was dominated by Box-Ironbark Forest but also had large areas of Dry Foothill Forest Complexes, Inland Slopes Woodland Complexes, Plains Grassy Woodland Complexes and Herb-rich Woodland Complexes. Endemic flora species of the Goldfields bioregion include several orchids, Narrow Goodenia, Whorled Zieria and Goldfields Grevillea. Dry Foothill Forest Complexes dominated the Central Victorian Uplands, but large areas of Moist Foothill Forest Complexes and Valley Grassy Woodland Complexes also occurred. This bioregion also supports a range of endemic plants. The flatter and more fertile areas of the Victorian Midlands have been substantially cleared for agriculture, principally sheep and beef cattle grazing. There has been a major increase in cultivation of grapes for the wine industry over the past two decades. Honey production based on nectar resources from native vegetation and introduced pasture species is also widespread within this area. Timber harvesting remains an important land use in the Victorian Midlands. Much of the forests were extensively cut for timber to meet the demands of the gold mining industry of last century. A variety of wood products (sawlogs, posts and firewood) is still produced in State forest areas and on private land. Eucalyptus oil is also produced in some areas, where suitable species occur. Gold mining is the most significant mineral development industry in the Victorian Midlands. Although the area of land affected by mining today is relatively small, large areas of the Victorian Midlands are covered by exploration licences. The production and storage of water for domestic and agricultural purposes is important in the area. Among the major impoundments are Rockland and Wartook reservoirs and Lake Bellfield in the west, with Eppalock and Eildon lakes, and Coliban, Laanecoorie and Lauriston reservoirs in the central and eastern areas. Nature conservation is a significant land use on public land in parts of the Victorian Midlands, and is associated with an expanding nature-based tourism sector. Another recent trend has been the expansion of areas devoted to rural living and hobby farms, especially within commuting distance of Melbourne or major centres such as Ballarat and Bendigo.
In fertile areas where native vegetation has been cleared, most of the native biodiversity has been lost. Remnants of vegetation in these landscapes are often degraded, many having been affected by grazing, weed invasion, timber harvesting and altered fire regimes. Degradation and fragmentation of habitat in these fertile landscapes has led to the local extinction of native species where they depended on particular habitat features which have been lost. This fragmentation and alteration of habitat is likely to have been a key factor in threatening the survival of a number of species. Characteristic rare and threatened fauna in the Victorian Midlands include the Brush-tailed Phascogale, Squirrel Glider, Swift Parrot, Regent Honeyeater, Bush Stone-curlew, Pink-tailed Worm-lizard, Woodland Blind Snake and Common Dunnart. Fauna known to have ormerly occurred in the Victorian Midlands and that are now extinct are the Eastern Hare-wallaby, Tasmanian Bettong, and White-footed Rabbit-rat. Species that are extinct in the Victorian Midlands but survive elsewhere in Victoria or Australia are the Bridled Nailtail Wallaby, Rufous Bettong, Eastern Quoll, Southern Purple-spotted Gudgeon and Dingo (pure forms). There have also been many fauna extinctions on the bioregion scale. Plants species that have been recorded in the Victorian Midlands but are now extinct in Victoria are the Long-tail Spleenwort, Rough Wax-flower and Spike Grass. In the less fertile parts of the Victorian Midlands, substantial areas of native vegetation remain. In some cases this vegetation is in remarkably good condition — weed-free, structurally diverse, species-rich and with ecological processes largely intact. For example, parts of the Grampians National Park fit this description. In other cases, the spread of weeds and pest animals, the loss of hollows or fallen timber and changes to fire regimes have meant that some degree of habitat degradation has occurred across even relatively large blocks of vegetated public land. Large areas of the Goldfields and Central Victorian Uplands bioregions were cleared during the gold rushes of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The rivers, streams and wetlands of the Victorian Midlands have generally been greatly modified, largely as a result of altered flow regimes and the loss and degradation of riparian and fringing vegetation, leading to stream bank erosion and increased sedimentation. The introduction of exotic fish has added to predation pressure and competition for some native species, while reduced flows and less-frequent flooding has affected the life cycle of some aquatic species. Some of the BVTs that previously occurred across the Victorian Midlands have been significantly depleted by clearing for agriculture. Ninety per cent of the Dundas Tablelands bioregion has been cleared for agriculture. Remnants of Plains Grassy Woodland Complexes constitute 30 per cent of the remaining area of this BVT in Victoria. In the Greater Grampians bioregion, Plains Grassy Woodland Complexes is the only BVT that has been substantially cleared and remains poorly reserved. Fragmented but considerable remnants of Box– Ironbark Forest BVT occur within the Goldfields bioregion, while most other BVTs are almost all cleared for agriculture. Moderate proportions of the Mallee and Dry Foothill Forest BVTs remain, mostly on public land outside conservation reserves. The Goldfields bioregion has a very high number of threatened flora species and many of these are not present or adequately represented in conservation reserves. Fragmented but moderately extensive remnants of Foothill Forest BVT remain within the Central Victorian Uplands. Substantial areas of the Moist Foothill Forest and the Dry Foothill Forest BVTs remain within this bioregion, plus significant remnants of Valley Grassy Forest BVT, which has been depleted across its range in Victoria. The Central Victorian Uplands include a large number of rare or threatened fauna species (e.g. one of four Victorian populations of the Smoky Mouse). The Grampians State Forest supports a significant remnant of Plains Grassy Woodland BVT. The character and condition of each of the bioregions means that some potentially threatening processes are of higher priority in some than in others. In the Dundas Tablelands, many remnants on private land are continuously grazed by domestic stock, preventing adequate regeneration of woody species. Even within the modified agricultural landscape, the ongoing decline of mature and senescent trees, without adequate recruitment, will further restrict the available habitat for hollow-dependent species, such as Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos, Squirrel Gliders and some bats. Salinisation is a major threat to agricultural productivity and native vegetation alike. Elevated salinity in runoff and groundwater is especially damaging to aquatic systems. Further degradation of riparian zones and remnant vegetation in general is a major potential threat in this bioregion. In the Greater Grampians, fire is a particularly important ecological factor for biodiversity and appropriate regimes need to be determined and integrated with fire management for other purposes. Foxes are suspected to be a major threat to fauna in the Greater Grampians, especially to threatened species such as the Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby in the Grampians National Park. Habitat fragmentation and incremental loss poses a threat to many species and communities within the Goldfields bioregion. Weed invasion and clearing are continuing threats to remnant vegetation. The decline of senescent trees on private land is also a threat to some species in this bioregion. Particular mining techniques, such as open-cut and dredge mining, permanently remove existing native vegetation, although over relatively small areas. Others, such as doze and detect operations, cause substantial disturbance to native vegetation and require careful management. Timber harvesting and firewood collection can modify extensive areas of forest on public and private land. Impacts are currently addressed to some extent on public land by forest management prescriptions. Dryland salinity poses a threat to lower lying areas of this bioregion. Environmental weeds are a major threat in some areas, particularly on fertile soils near farmland, while rabbits remain a threat to palatable native plants, such as orchids. Major potentially threatening processes in the Central Victorian Uplands include inappropriate fire regimes, weed invasion and habitat modification as a result of timber harvesting. Loss of native vegetation along rivers and streams continues to pose a threat to water quality and therefore native aquatic species. Of the 155 known threatened species and undetermined number of threatened ecological communities in this suite of bioregions there are:
Management Responses
In the fragmented landscapes of the Victorian Midlands, where most land is in private ownership, the emphasis will be on cooperation with the local community to identify and protect remnant vegetation, especially areas of high biological significance, and to restore degraded areas. The active involvement of Catchment Management Authorities, particularly through the Regional Vegetation Plans, will assist vegetation protection and restoration. The full range of community involvement programs, including Land for Wildlife and the Botanic Guardians scheme, will be encouraged and facilitated. Together with the state-wide key directions outlined earlier, land and water managers and planners in each bioregion should consider the following priorities. Dundas Tablelands
Greater Grampians
Goldfields
Central Victorian Uplands
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VICTORIA'S
BIODIVERSITY |
The
Victorian Midlands cover 3.7 million hectares of undulating terrain stretching
east-west across central Victoria. This area is characterised by patches
of woodland and forest interspersed with a rural landscape with modified
pastures and some cropping. It contains the upper catchments of north
flowing rivers — the Wimmera, Avoca, Loddon and Campaspe and south flowing
rivers — the Werribee, Moorabool and Hopkins. The Victorian Midlands straddles
the south western portion of the Great Dividing Range with rainfall being
higher on and south of the Divide than to the north.
Biodiversity
Condition