Northern Inland Slopes
Bioregion: Northern Inland Slopes

The Bioregional Landscape
The Natural Capital of the Landscape
Land Management Themes
Biodiversity Condition
Management Responses
Tables and Charts for the Northern Inland Slopes

The Bioregional Landscape
The Northern Inland Slopes bioregion is a small part of the New South Wales South Western Slopes IBRA region which extends across the Murray River into this State. It occurs on the granite, metamorphic and sedimentary lower foothills to the north of the Great Dividing Range in north-eastern Victoria. The bioregion comprises a number of blocks stretching from Corryong to near Shepparton, with a single outlier further west around Terrick Terrick. The landscape consists of foothill slopes and minor ranges separated by river valleys that drain northward from the High Country to the Murray River. Rainfall varies from a mean of 500 mm at Dookie to approximately 1000 mm at Beechworth. The major rivers draining though the area, the Mitta Mitta, King, Ovens, Kiewa and Broken, have their origins in the Victorian Alps and Victorian Highlands bioregions to the south.

Prior to European settlement, the Aboriginal people who inhabited the Northern Inland Slopes were the same groups found at other times of the year along the Murray River, or on the Riverina plains and into the highlands. They included the Jodajoda in the west of the region, the Way Wurru, who were centred on the Ovens valley, and the Dhudhuroa in the East.

Clearing has been greatest in the valleys and in the west of the bioregion. This is also where population density is highest. The regional centres of Wodonga, Wangaratta and Benalla are all within or adjacent to this part of the bioregion.

The major land uses are agriculture and forestry. Sheep and cattle grazing are common on the hills while dairy farming is important in the more fertile valleys. The remnant vegetation consists of a series of isolated blocks on the rockier hilly areas, largely on public land, and smaller remnants and corridors in the valleys and slopes, which are predominantly on private land. The bioregion is fragmented, partly as a result of the natural topographic dissection of the bioregion by major river floodplains, and partly as a result of broadscale clearing. This presents major challenges in management to ensure the conservation of the region’s biota.

Important reserves in the area are Chiltern Box-Ironbark and Burrowa-Pine Mountain National Parks, Warby Ranges, Mt Lawson, Terrick Terrick and Mt Granya State Parks, Boweya Flora and Fauna Reserve and Reef Hills Regional Park. Approximately 7.5 per cent of the area is included in reserves intended primarily for conservation. The bioregion spreads across three Catchment Management Areas, the North-East, Goulburn Broken and North Central, and through several shires.

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The Natural Capital of the Landscape
The bioregion was once covered with a diversity of drier forest and woodland types, including Box-Ironbark Forest, Granite Hills Woodland Grassy and Heathy Dry Forest, Herb-Rich Woodlands and Valley and Riverine Grassy Woodlands. A distinctive feature of the bioregion is the overlap of species found mainly in New South Wales and those typical of Northern Victoria. Several species of flora and fauna reach the southern limits of their range here. They include the Carpet Python, Rainbow Skink , Mugga Ironbark, and Deanes Wattle.

The Box-Ironbark Forest remnants are extremely important for nectar feeding birds including the nationally endangered Swift Parrot and Regent Honeyeater. The bioregion has a particularly rich reptile fauna with over a third of the State’s species found here. The granitic hills and outcrops are critical to a number of reptiles, including the vulnerable Carpet Python and flora such as Spur-wing Wattle, Green Grevillea and Hairy Hop-bush.

Other species found in the bioregion include the Squirrel Glider, Brush-tailed Phascogale, Turquoise Parrot, Grey-crowned Babbler, Warby Swamp-gum, Dookie Daisy, Narrow Goodenia, and Cupped Bush-pea. More than three-quarters of the bioregion has been cleared, with most of the area now rough grazing or pasture.

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Land Management Themes
The Northern Inland Slopes were settled by Europeans in the nineteenth century. As was the case in many areas the earliest settlers made use of the grassy woodlands of the plains and valleys. The population of the bioregion increased rapidly during the goldrush. Large areas, particularly in the Box-Ironbark Forests, were felled for fuel and timber for the mines. Clearing began in earnest as the goldrush waned and was initially concentrated in the valleys, but as these areas were selected then later settlers were forced to look to the more hilly areas. Where remnants have survived they are usually on the poorest soils, and the larger remnants are on public land. Very few remnants have been unaffected by grazing or logging at some stage.

Whilst most private land is cleared, it still contains 30 percent of remnant vegetation. This fact coupled with the isolation of the conservation reserves makes the management of private remnants critical, both for their own habitat value, and in providing corridors between larger remnants on public land. Valley Grassy Forests and Riverine Grassy Woodlands are both greatly depleted. The majority of what little remains of these vegetation types is on private land, and practically none of either type is in the reserve system. The great importance of vegetation on private land to the region’s biodiversity makes liaison with landholders and municipal authorities particularly important in effective conservation.

The relatively high human population levels found in and adjoining the bioregion generate some particular management issues. People are attracted by the lifestyle opportunities of living on ‘bush blocks’. This increases pressure for development in the areas surrounding parks close to regional centres. In popular areas low level rural development could effectively surround conservation reserves isolating them further, and fragmenting existing links. Careful consideration needs to be given in planning decisions to the maintenance of the integrity of links between separate blocks of conservation reserves. This will ensure that the values which attract people to these areas are maintained.

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Biodiversity Condition
Clearing has been particularly extensive in the more fertile Valley and Riverine Grassy Woodlands. Very little of these vegetation types remain. Loss of habitat and the fragmented and disturbed nature of much of the remainder have already caused the loss of much biodiversity. What was once a continuous mosaic of forest and woodland systems across the bioregion, is now a patchwork of a few moderately sized blocks of native vegetation on public land (many of which are conservation reserves) and a scattering of remnants on private land, along road reserves and riparian corridors. In the area west of Benalla and the Warby Ranges small remnants and linear corridors are all that survive of the Box-Ironbark Forest.

Broad-scale clearing and overgrazing in the foothills have led to erosion problems. These compound the rate of habitat loss, as well as degrading aquatic habitats and increasing groundwater recharge. This causes salinity and waterlogging lower in the catchment and this in turn is one of the causes of tree decline.

Remnants throughout the area are of great conservation significance. Small remnants are all that remain in the bioregion of some vegetation classes, for example Riverine Grassy Forest. Linear remnants along streams and roads are important corridors linking small remnants in the locality. At a regional level they help to maintain connectivity between otherwise isolated conservation reserves. Small remnants are particularly exposed to ‘edge effects’, which degrade the habitat. These include invasion by environmental weeds, grazing removing understorey and preventing regeneration, tree decline and the introduction of plant pathogens. Environmental weeds have invaded and replaced the understorey in disturbed areas. St John’s Wort, for instance, is a major weed in Mt Pilot Multi Purpose Park and has invaded several other parks. Environmental weeds can most easily invade small remnants and disturbed areas.

Firewood collection is another source of habitat degradation, particularly in roadside reserves, and other easily accessible areas such as parks close to the major population centres. Fallen wood and dead trees are both important habitat components. They form habitat for invertebrates, some reptiles, and act as refuges and nest sites for arboreal mammals and birds. Squirrel Gliders, for instance, are reliant on tree hollows in mature and dead trees for nesting, and Grey-crowned Babblers forage for invertebrates in fallen dead wood on roadsides.

Of the 51 known threatened species and undetermined number of threatened ecological communities in this bioregion there are:

• 44 listed vertebrates and plants, of which 13 have Action Statements;
• one listed invertebrate which does not have an Action Statement;
• no listed communities.

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Management Responses
The management, enhancement and linking of the significant vegetation remnants on private land with parks and reserves is particularly important for biodiversity conservation due to the fragmentation of habitat in the Northern Inland Slopes. The systematic identification, assessment and mapping of remnants and critical habitat will provide the basis for arresting the decline of flora and fauna that has been a consequence of this fragmentation. This will allow identification of the largest and best quality remnants as has already been done for Box-Ironbark ecosystems. The Regional Vegetation Plans being prepared by the Catchment Management Authorities will provide strategic frameworks for protection of remnants and priorities for rehabilitation. Detailed information from Roadside Conservation Plans, vegetation mapping and the identification of sites of biological significance at the local scale will provide valuable input to these plans and to the revised Local Government Planning Schemes.

The coordinated approach to vegetation management across all land tenures will facilitate the maintenance of current vegetation corridors and provide the framework for the development of new linkages to enhance habitat values.

Landcare and Land for Wildlife programs involving private landholders have played an important role in developing a greater awareness and more sensitive management of these significant conservation resources. The current focus on the development of woodlots and larger scale agroforestry on cleared farmland will provide an alternative source of firewood and relieve pressure on valuable remnants on private land and roadsides.

Community involvement in conservation initiatives includes tree planting and population survey work for the Regent Honeyeater. Friends groups are also active in conservation activities in the Warby Ranges State Park and the Chiltern Box-Ironbark National Park.

Together with the state-wide key directions outlined earlier, land and water managers and planners in the bioregion should consider the following priorities.

• Identify all sites of biological significance in the rural landscape in conjunction with local government and land holders and encourage appropriate use of this information in local planning schemes.
• Target vegetation protection and revegetation works towards areas where they will enhance the conservation value of existing areas of significant EVCs including Grassy Woodland, Box-Ironbark Forest, Valley and Riverine Grassy Forest and of habitat for threatened species e.g. Regent Honeyeater.
• Enhance the long-term integrity of isolated blocks of native vegetation on public land through co-operative agreements with owners of vegetated land connecting these blocks.
• Complete and implement the North East Forest Management Plan and the North East Regional Forest Agreement.