Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Box 7.2.
Sand dunes at Zara - restoration by the Falkiner Group
F.S. Falkiner & Sons is the archetypal Australian pastoral company, with sprawling
homesteads and gardens set on expansive country and a rich history intertwined with
the development of the Australian merino industry (via the Peppin-Shaw Merino and
subsequently the Poll Merino). Based in the New South Wales Riverina, near Deni-
liquin, it comprises nine properties spanning more than 130 000 hectares. In 2000,
C, A & L Bell Commodities acquired F.S. Falkiner & Sons. They are committed to the
maintenance of the properties' history and improvement of their environmental assets.
One of the most significant environmental assets on the F.S. Falkiner & Sons
properties is the Zara Station sandhill. Within the Riverina bioregion, such sandhills
support distinct assemblages of animals, and particularly plants. Unfortunately, the
vast majority of them have been highly disturbed as a result of sand mining, rabbits,
inappropriate grazing regimes by stock, and invasion by exotic weeds, particularly
Spiny Burr Grass and African Boxthorn. The Zara sandhill is unique in that this
60-hectare area still closely resembles the vegetation that once covered the san-
dhills of the Riverina prior to European settlement. Being located near the property's
homestead, the area was stocked only intermittently, and the vegetation was retained
as a buffer against dust storms. The area was fenced from stock and rabbits in 1997
with support from a range of local, state and federal authorities. Pest control, par-
ticularly of rabbits and African Boxthorn has since been actively undertaken and
regeneration of native tree species such as Rosewood
Alectryon oleifolis
and Sugar-
wood
Myoporum platycarpum
is occuring.
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Encouraged by these successes, F.S. Falkiner & Sons, with funding and support
from the Murray Catchment Management Authority, has recently commenced res-
toration of other sandhills on their land. The Australian National University has
established permanent monitoring points to document the change in plants and
animals over time on a number of these sandhills.
agricultural production and biodiversity conservation will often be best guided by
a carefully considered farm plan. An informed natural resource management
agency (e.g. a Catchment Management Authority) should be able to assist
landholders with creating a farm plan (see Figure 7.4 for an example). This process
can be very instructive because it can help a farmer to: (1) identify places which
support the different kinds of environmental assets that feature in Chapters 2-6 of
this topic, as well as how these areas might be best combined to create increased
benefits for biodiversity; and (2) plan different options for restoration treatments in
different parts of a farm (e.g. connecting previously isolated plantings or restoring
degraded stream banks).
Some management activities are best coordinated using a farm plan. For
example, it is clear that on farms that use irrigation water, such as those with
centre-point pivot systems, clearing of paddock trees is highly likely to occur.
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A
key issue on these kinds of farms is to plan for ecologically appropriate offsetting
