14.6 Revegetation success at Yellingbo.pdf

The Yellingbo Conservation Nature Reserve (YNCR) within the Yarra Valley provides habitat for the
critically endangered Helmeted Honeyeater and lowland Leadbeater’s Possum. Habitat values of
the reserve are currently under threat from dieback of mature vegetation and a lack of natural
regeneration. Much revegetation has been done previously, and much further revegetation is
planned within the reserve and its surrounds, to improve areas of declining habitat and provide new
habitat. This report provides a brief assessment of early and recent revegetation (including
experimental trial plantings) to inform future revegetation programs at Yellingbo.
Summary of findings
 Much revegetation has been done within the Yellingbo area, primarily by volunteers from
Friends of the Helmeted Honeyeater and other community groups, but also by a range of
land management agencies including Parks Victoria and Melbourne Water.
 Unfortunately, few resources have been made available to monitor or assess the outcomes
and trajectories of these revegetation efforts.
 Early plantings (e.g. prior to the 1990s) generally lack structural complexity, and a dense
shrub stratum in particular. More recently, fenced plantings of high density and appropriate
species mixes have proved mostly successful.
 Currently, unprotected plantings of eucalypts and myrtaceous shrub seedlings in cleared
areas fail due to browsing (by deer and wallabies). In areas within remnant vegetation,
susceptibility to browsing is dependent on plant palatability (with eucalypts particularly
susceptible) and accessibility by browsers.
 Chicken wire tree guards and fenced plots (up to 40m x 20m) have been largely successful in
protecting plants from damage from browsers (much larger areas of fencing are likely to fail
without sufficient monitoring and maintenance). However, when fences are removed plants
are often subsequently damaged by browsers, i.e. browsing, trampling, and rubbing.
 Preliminary evidence suggests the use of tree tubes to establish overstorey plants, i.e.
eucalypts, even in areas of dense Phragmites, is likely to be successful.
 There is considerable need for greater resourcing of monitoring and maintenance of
plantings/fences/etc.