Belconnen Naval Transmitter Station, ACT. VAST-2: Tracking the Transformation of Australia's Vegetated Landscapes

The aim of this project is to compile land use and management practices and their observed and measured impacts and effects on vegetation condition. The results provide land managers and researchers with a tool for reporting and monitoring spatial and temporal transformations of Australia’s native vegetated landscapes due to changes in land use and management practices. Following are the details about Belconnen Naval Transmitter Station in ACT, Australia.

Pre-European benchmark-analogue vegetation: the original vegetation for the site Belconnen Naval Transmitter Station was a temperate grassland in an ecological community dominated by native species of perennial tussock grasses.

Brief chronology of changes in land use and management:
Up to late 1820s the area was managed by indigenous Ngunnawal people
1830s: Area first grazed by sheep and cattle with the aid of shepherds
1860: Fences were established and continuous stocking commenced
1900: Patches of woodland areas on higher ground were partly cleared
1900-39: High likelihood of moderate to heavy grazing pressure due to sheep and cattle
1940-1993: Area managed as a naval transmission station
1940-92: Area managed for sheep grazing under continuous grazing
1970: Secure people and kangaroo proof fence established
1993: Sheep removed from the site
1995: mowers used to manage the grass
1997-2008: Kangaroo population increased to unacceptable levels
2006: Naval transmission towers demolished, area continued to have a secure people proof fence
2008: Kangaroo population culled to reduce grazing pressure
2011: Site managed for nature conservation values.