Cross Regional Victorian Alpine Peatland Protection Project
A year in review
The project
The Cross-Regional Victorian Alpine Peatland Protection - North East is a 5-year project that serves to protect and increase the abundance of alpine peatlands.
Alpine Peatlands, or Alpine Sphagnum Bogs and Associated Fens, are an endangered ecological community listed under the EPBC Act (1999) that are crucial for providing habitat and for modulating water flow and maintaining the hydrology of surrounding environments.
This five-year, cross-regional project is coordinated by the Victorian Alpine Peatlands Project Coordinating Committee (VAPCC) and delivered in collaboration across three CMA regions (North East, East Gippsland and West Gippsland) with Parks Victoria.
During the fourth year of the project, on-ground weed and deer control works continued in with the objective to improve the condition of alpine peatlands within the North East Catchment.
Project on-ground activities delivered in 2021-2022.
Pest control
Introduced hoofed animals are a serious threat to alpine environments.
In northeast Victoria, deer is one of the main threats to alpine peatlands – while pigs and horses cause significant impacts and are the focus of control efforts elsewhere.
In the last year only, the project has achieved 15,870 ha of deer control across the Alpine National Park, adding to a total of about 16,000 of initial and 45,000 hectares of follow-up control efforts over the years.
These efforts are informing a Deer Control Trial, led by Parks Victoria with the support of the Victorian Alpine Peatland Protection Coordinating Committee (VAPPCC).
The trial combines deer control activities on the Bogong High Plains while investigating the impact and cost-effectiveness of deer management on peatlands.
At its completion, the project will have supported the protection of alpine peatlands by actively controlling deer, and leaving a valuable legacy of adaptative management and best practices for future investments.
Weed control
Invasive weeds, including willows, are an ongoing threat. These transformative weeds are widespread across the landscape, at times in remote locations of difficult access.
Earlier in the year, North East CMA provided a grant to Jaithmathang Traditional Ancestral Bloodline Owners Organisation (TABOO) to develop a methodology for identifying willows using remotely sensed imagery.
This new method holds the potential to improve the efficiency of future on-ground works, especially in remote headwater environments, with applications of this research to be explored more in the final year of the project.
Remote sensing on Bimble by Jaithmathang TABOO.
In the last year, weed removal targeted willows and soft rushes over 95.5 hectares in the Alpine National Park, Dinner Plain, and Mt Buffalo National Park, adding to over 700 hectares of control efforts in previous years.
The project has also supported field surveys to research and identify exotic grasses at Mt Buffalo, to better understand the status and investigate the emergence of new threats.
Yorkshire fog (Holcus lanatus) identified at Mt Buffalo.
Protecting values
By reducing threatening processes including deer trampling and weed incursion, the vulnerable peatland ecosystem can continue to perform important ecological functions more effectively, including include filtering the headwaters of the Murray Darling Basin, storing significant amounts of carbon, and supporting a plethora of biodiversity.
More info on Alpine Peatlands at Alpine Peatlands (arcgis.com)
Community engagement
Over the last year, the North East CMA has significantly invested in engaging with local Traditional Owner and First Nations groups and custodians of the Victorian high country.
Engagement highlights include a 3-day Knowledge Sharing event on the Bogong High Plains, facilitated through the Cross-Regional Victorian Alpine Peatland Protection Project and the Mountain Pygmy-possum Recovery in the Alps.
The event gathered members of the Jaithmathang Traditional Ancestral Bloodline Owners Organisation, Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation, alpine scientists and land managers to share perspectives on caring for country.
"Everyone comes from a different point of view and mindset, but what all of us have in common is care for country."
More about this event at Alpine Knowledge Share (arcgis.com)
The final year
Over the fifth and final year of the project, the North East CMA will continue to collaborate with project partners and stakeholders, including Jaithmathang Traditional Ancestral Bloodline Owners Organisation, Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation, Parks Victoria, East Gippsland CMA, West Gippsland CMA and the Research Centre for Applied Alpine Ecology.
Acknowledgements
This project is supported by the North East Catchment Management Authority through funding from the Australian Government's National Landcare Program.
