Threats to Biodiversity and Wedderburn CMN Responses - there are many threats such as fragmentation of the area, wildfire, pest species and declining habitat quality.

Image Environment Under Threat From The Weed, Bridal Creeper
Bridal creeper is native to South Africa and has been present in Australia since at least 1871. It was first recorded as naturalised in Victoria in 1886 and by the 1960s was well established, mainly in coastal areas including Port Phillip Bay. It is now found through most of the State, predominantly on sandy, well-drained soils. Bridal creeper has invaded grassland, heathland, dry and damp sclerophyll forests, mallee shrubland, coastal vegetation including secondary dunes, rock outcrop vegetation, warm temperate rainforest, the banks of watercourses, roadsides, citrus groves and orchards. This weed is present in the Wedderburn CMNs focus area and concerted efforts at eradication have been made by the Wedderburn CMN, Parks Victoria and Loddon Shire Council.
The Red Fox - a predator of native animals
There are a number of pest species present in the Wedderburn CMNs area of interest including both plants and animals. Programmes designed to deal with these various pests have been implemented particularly for foxes, rabbits, bridal creeper and wheel cactus. These programmes are ongoing. The fox baiting programme carried out in conjunction with Parks Victoria and some private landholders has been operational since 2004. The fox baiting programme designed to reduce predation on wildlife has been very successful as judged from comments made by the Wedderburn CMN ranger regarding the outcome of a spotlight transect carried out for foxes. “Wednesday night saw 9 foxes counted and Thursday night saw 6 counted. These are the lowest numbers recorded so far. This transect has been spotlighted by DPI, Parks Victoria and the Wedderburn CMN since 2006 with an average of 14 foxes being seen each time, (the highest being 23 foxes during the first transect). The most surprising part was the lack of young foxes seen. Only two were counted for both nights”.
Image
Image Destruction of environment by erosion
Erosion, although not an issue often addressed by the Wedderburn CMN, has been successfully tackled on a few occasions. Erosion does occur naturally but is accelerated by clearing of vegetation, over grazing and by altering natural drainage lines. Gully erosion occurs when soil is washed away by running water thus creating large channels such as the ones shown here. It is much more difficult to treat advanced gully erosion than to prevent it from happening. Repairing the damage can involve excluding grazing animals, fencing and revegetation. The Wedderburn CMN has rectified erosion by such means and resorting to earthworks.
Image Enhancement Of Habitat Required
There are sites in the Wedderburn CMNs focus area such as the one shown here. The declining habitat quality is illustrated by lack of shrubs, ground cover and different age ranges of plants. These issues can possibly result in food resources and species becoming depleted. The Wedderburn CMN response to this issue is given below.
Fragmentation
The Wedderburn CMN’s focus area is of high conservation value with more than 25% vegetation cover in the Wedderburn/Wychitella area. There are also large areas of cleared and semi-cleared land with scattered blocks of bush and remnant vegetation on public and private land. It is a highly fragmented landscape caused by past land clearing for agriculture, mining, eucalyptus oil production and subdivision for housing. This fragmentation results in some species being unable to move around the area of interest easily and safely.

Response
In order to alleviate this situation the Wedderburn CMN is attempting to create wildlife corridors or biolinks . At present the drive is to build on the links already made between blocks of the Wychitella Nature Conservation Reserve. Plans are also being considered for larger scale biolinks. One such link would be between the Wychitella Nature Conservation Reserve and both the Kooyoora State Forest and the Mt Korong Reserve.

Wildfire
No major wildfire fire has gone through the area to date and the effects on the environment of such fires are unknown. Wildfire would have a devastating effect on the fauna in such a fragmented landscape.

Response
• Formulation of a fire plan
• Firebreaks should be constructed to prevent wildfire spreading across key assets areas. Different types of firebreaks should be considered e.g. earth, saltbush etc.
• Identification and rehabilitation of key corridors for movement of native fauna in the event of a major fire
• An emergency plan for the feeding of native fauna after the event of a wildfire should be considered.

Declining Habitat Quality
Associated with the threat of fragmentation are issues contributing to declining habitat quality in the Wedderburn CMN’s focus area. Issues include lack of diversity in vegetation structure i.e. lack of shrubs, ground cover and age range possibly resulting in food resources and species becoming depleted.

Responses
Habitat Enhancement
• Improvements to vegetation structure, i.e. planting ground cover species, understorey species and possibly canopy species in areas where structure has been affected by clearing, eucalyptus harvesting and mining activities.
• Existing vegetation enhancement should be carried out to support increased number of species utilising the areas.
• Ensure the age structure of the vegetation is diverse by promoting seedling growth and providing protection.
• Promotion of the value of scattered mature trees on public and private land, mature trees along roadsides and also the value of fallen timber.
• Identification of weed free areas for protection
• Remnant vegetation protection promoted through schemes such as Bush Tender, Trust For Nature, Bush Broker, Land For Wildlife, Landcare etc.
• Revegetation
• Ecological Burns - undertake ecological burns to promote shrub regeneration.
• Ecological Thinning - this management strategy is still in the experimental stages with Parks Victoria conducting various trials at different sites in Victoria. The stated objective of the research is to investigate whether such thinning can be used to achieve forests with a more diverse mix of juvenile, intermediate and mature trees and therefore improve habitat for fauna.

Pest Plant and Animal Species
There are a number of pest plant and animal species which pose a threat to the
environment of the area of interest including:
• Foxes, rabbits and hares, feral cats and goats.
• Bridal creeper, Patersons curse, wheel cactus, oxalis.

Response
The Wedderburn CMN has implemented programmes designed to deal with these various pest plants and animal species particularly foxes, rabbits and Bridal creeper.



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