Friends of Grasslands
supporting native grassy ecosystems
PO Box 987
Civic Square ACT 2608
Phone: 02 62.. ....
Phone: 02 6251 8949
Email: correspondence@fog.org.au
Web: www.fog.org.au
The Planner
Turallo Nature Reserve
National Parks and Wildlife Service
PO Box 472
TUMUT NSW 2720
Turallo Nature Reserve draft plan of management
Dear Madam/Sir
Friends of Grasslands (FoG) welcomes the opportunity to comment on this draft plan of management. FoG apologises for the delay in making comment, but understands that the comments are still welcome.
FoG is a community group dedicated to the conservation of natural temperate grassy ecosystems in south eastern Australia. FoG advocates, educates and advises on matters to do with conservation of grassy ecosystems, and carries out surveys and other on-ground work. FoG is based in Canberra and its more than 200 members include professional scientists, landowners, land managers and interested members of the public.
FoG is a fairly frequent visitor to this reserve and to other reserves with grassy ecosystem vegetation managed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service. FoG appreciates the Service's commitment to the management of these reserves.
The draft plan contains much useful information about the reserve and addresses the issues that future managers need to consider. FoG's view is that the document would be improved if there was a short section on 'main management objectives' that sits above 'Strategies', making it easier to see how the strategies follow from the objectives. FoG also considers that there should be an 'indicative annual operational plan' which illustrates the types of activities that will be carried out each year and when. Some more detailed comments are attached.
FoG would be very happy to discuss these comments further.
Yours faithfully
Geoff Robertson
Vice President
26 February 2008
Attachment
FoG comments on Turallo Nature Reserve Draft Plan of Management
Page 1, line 5
Rather than 'This reservation ensured the land's protection to the current date …', suggest 'This reservation minimised agricultural development and inadvertently led to the retention of the natural temperate grassland within the reserve area, while this ecological community was lost from much of the surrounding landscape'.
Page 4, para 3, line 1
'The reserve has a particularly high native plant species richness …'
Page 4, para 4, line 2
Suggest delete the word 'grasses' as graminoids include grasses.
Page 10
'Fire management' appears abruptly in the 'Management Issues and Strategies' table, without any earlier mention or discussion. Much of the text in this section could be used as part of an earlier section discussing fire, its natural role and intended management.
In the last paragraph under 'Fire management' in the 'strategies' column, 'trial burns' and 'the burning regime' are mentioned in the complete absence of any previous discussion. What 'trial burns', what 'burning regime'?
Page 12
'Trial biomass reduction' is mentioned without any reference to the method of defoliation – fire? slashing? grazing? This would seem to be related to the above comment on 'fire management', but no connection is drawn.
In general, the discussion in sections 1 to 4 seems pretty thin and might be improved with a little more depth and detail.
Some of the text in the table in section 6 appears to simply repeat the text from corresponding earlier sections. The table could (and perhaps should) be more concise if the earlier discussion (sections 1 to 4) was more comprehensive and not repeated.