Wilsons Promontory
Bioregion: Wilsons Promontory

The Bioregional Landscape
The Natural Capital of the Landscape
Land Management Themes
Biodiversity Condition
Management Responses
Tables and Charts for Wilsons Promontory

The Bioregional Landscape
The Wilsons Promontory bioregion is a spectacular area of rugged forested hills, tannin-stained creeks, dense heathy lowlands, sweeping white sandy beaches and prominent granite headlands surrounded by the cold waters of Bass Strait.

Prior to European settlement, the Boon wurrung people occupied the hills and coastline of South Gippsland including Wilsons Promontory. The marine resources of the area were of great importance to them. Clear evidence of this is seen in the shell middens that remain on the coastline today.

The bioregion lies entirely within the Wilsons Promontory National Park, which is one of Victoria’s oldest national parks. With this long history of protection the Wilsons Promontory bioregion still maintains 96 per cent cover of native vegetation. Development is concentrated in about 90 hectares (less than one per cent of the bioregion) at Tidal River, with a visitor centre and facilities, visitor and staff accommodation and commercial developments. Cattle grazing formerly occurred within the Park (largely confined to the Yanakie Isthmus adjacent to the bioregion), but was phased out in 1992.

Wilsons Promontory National Park is a designated Biosphere Reserve under the UNESCO ‘Man and the Environment’ program, and is listed on the Register of the National Estate. The Wilsons Promontory bioregion lies within the local government area of South Gippsland and the West Gippsland Catchment Management Area.

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The Natural Capital of the Landscape
Wilsons Promontory bioregion is almost entirely covered in natural vegetation, principally Moist Foothill Forests, Coastal Scrubs, Heathlands and Heathy Woodlands, and the mostly natural state is reflected in the variety of flora and fauna communities. The flora and fauna of the bioregion have similarities to that of parts of the Bass Strait islands which form the remainder of the Furneaux IBRA region.

There are several significant vegetation communities including the southernmost examples of warm-temperate rainforest, areas of cool temperate rainforest, stands of open forest on the mountains, and White Mangrove, the southernmost mangroves in the world. Mammals are a prominent faunal component, with heaths having populations of small mammals such as New Holland Mouse, White-footed Dunnart and Southern Brown Bandicoot, while woodlands and forests have Koala, Long-nosed Potoroo, and a variety of possums and gliders. The creek systems have a rich assemblage of native freshwater and estuarine fishes and no introduced fish.

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Land Management Themes
The size, virtually intact condition and remote nature of much of the bioregion means that most ecological processes have been little altered, especially when compared with other bioregions in Victoria. Fire has probably the most substantial impact, with its frequency and intensity having a major influence on the composition and structure of vegetation communities, particularly heaths and heathy woodlands. Fire prevention and suppression have altered the natural fire regimes, with the result that fire-sensitive species including White Kunzea and Coastal Tea-tree have invaded some vegetation communities, reducing the floristic diversity. Reinstatement of ecological burning and managing successional change of vegetation to maximise biodiversity values and protect identified threatened species and communities are major issues. The single land tenure (national park) and sole management agency (Parks Victoria) allows for effective integrated management for biodiversity conservation. Many areas in the bioregion are relatively remote, with minimal human impact, where access is deliberately kept to a minimum and natural processes allowed to run their course. Development and human impact are confined to a few locations where these impacts are more readily managed.

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Biodiversity Condition
Almost all of the Wilsons Promontory bioregion is still in its natural state, with alteration and development confined to a few small discrete areas (less than one per cent of bioregion). This intact nature is reflected in the large number of species found in Victoria’s smallest bioregion, with some 20 per cent of Victoria’s vascular flora species (including about 30 per cent of its orchids), about half of its bird species and about one-third of the State’s mammal species.

The bioregion is significant in that it is one of very few areas in Victoria where catchments have been almost entirely unmodified by drainage and engineering works or clearing, and are currently free of introduced fish species. This is reflected in the rich fish assemblages in the creeks and streams of the bioregion.

Nonetheless, European settlement has had an impact, with at least six fauna species no longer found there. Four species (Spot-tailed Quoll, Water Rat, Dingo and Platypus) are still found elsewhere in Victoria, while two (Eastern Quoll and Tasmanian Pademelon) are extinct on the Australian mainland but still occur in Tasmania.

The adoption of ecologically appropriate fire regimes in the bioregion will enhance the biodiversity conservation values of the bioregion. Other threats to biodiversity which require attention are feral predator impact on populations of threatened fauna, environmental weeds and uncontrolled visitor impact on sensitive sites.

Of the 17 known threatened species and undetermined number of threatened ecological communities in this bioregion there are:

• 11 listed vertebrates and plants, of which two have Action Statements;
• no listed invertebrates;
• no listed communities.

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Management Responses
The Wilsons Promontory bioregion is currently managed for maintenance and enhancement of its natural values as a high priority. Management directions have been firmly set through Government policy and Land Conservation Council recommendations adopted by Government. These are the principles underpinning the development of the Wilsons Promontory National Park Management Plan (Parks Victoria July 1997), which will be the main instrument for managing the bioregion to maintain and enhance its substantial nature conservation values. Under the plan the vast majority (98 per cent) of the bioregion will be managed for its wilderness and nature conservation values, including reference areas, with the remainder managed for recreation and education. In particular the park will be established as a model of best practice in ecological management and environmental monitoring, through the development and implementation of a comprehensive Environmental Management Plan for Wilsons Promontory National Park.

Detailed actions are outlined in the Wilsons Promontory National Park Management Plan (Parks Victoria July 1997).

Major actions for biodiversity conservation include:

• Develop and implement an Environmental Management Plan for Wilsons Promontory National Park (which includes the whole of the Wilsons Promontory bioregion).
• Develop and implement a GIS-based baseline data collection and environmental monitoring program.
• Prepare a management plan for the Mount Vereker Creek Natural Catchment Area in accordance with the Heritage Rivers Act.
• Protect and preserve vegetation communities in accordance with the Environmental Management Plan.
• Prepare and implement a fire management plan based on ecologically appropriate fire regimes for maintaining the vigour and diversity of flora and fauna.
• Implement approved recovery plans, FFG Action Statements and other recovery instruments for relevant threatened flora, fauna and communities, especially the New Holland Mouse and Ground Parrot.
• Prepare and implement an integrated program of monitoring and control for pest plant and animal species (including invasive species and predators) and pathogens.