Vic Forum – Grassland Resurrection
May 8 @ 8:30 am - 5:00 pm
| $25 – $160Grassland Resurrection: Connecting Knowledge,
Research & Management
Friday 8 May 2026 | Fitzroy Town Hall, Melbourne
All the recordings are now online on regenTV
The Program at a glance (pdf)
Presenters
Dr Steve Sinclair
Senior Scientist, Plant Ecology, Arthur Rylah Institute
Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action
Steve has been fascinated by plants since childhood. He studied plant physiology at Monash University, and has worked as a plant ecologist at the Arthur Rylah Institute (ARI) since 2003. At ARI, Steve has conducted field work across Victoria, and led numerous projects, mostly focussed on vegetation mapping, understanding how to measure ecological condition, monitoring ecological change and modelling ecosystem dynamics.
Why are grasslands grasslands, and why do they seem so hard to manage?
Grasslands occur all over the globe, in a wide range of ecological and cultural contexts. Despite their diversity, most grasslands share some basic features, such as soil fertility, the presence of certain key plant families, and long histories of human use. These features explain some of the persistent difficulties that confront grassland managers. This talk will introduce the variety of grasslands found globally, and the impressive diversity of grasslands within Victoria. It will describe the common features that define Victorian grassland systems, and their management, and set the scene for further discussion.
Megan O’Shea Rick Van Keulen and Amanda Dodd
Iramoo: three decades of restoration
Rick Van Keulen, Amanda Dodd and Megan O’Shea have been working with the Cairnlea Conservation Reserves Committee of Management for more than a decade to restore three remnant native grasslands in the Melbourne suburb of Cairnlea, including Iramoo Wildflower Grassland Reserve. Rick is a dedicated land manager with a wealth of local knowledge, outstanding observation skills, has the capacity to respond to current and local conditions, and is inventive and a good problem-solver. Amanda has been involved with the Iramoo grasslands for over 20 years and is a founding member of the Cairnlea Conservation committee of management and current secretary. Megan has a background in ecological research, working on Striped Legless Lizards and Spiny Rice-flower. Megan currently leads The GREEN Lab @ Iramoo (Grasslands | Research | Education | Engagement | Nursery) which is a nexus between land managers, community groups and Victoria University – all working for great grasslands.
Damien Nicholson Wurundjeri TO and Narrap Ranger & Kristian Verdan Narrap Crew Leader
Damien Nicholson
Damo is a proud Wurundjeri man and one of the longest-serving rangers on the Narrap team. Since joining in the early days, he has watched the unit grow from a small crew of five to a workforce of around 30 rangers across the connected Ranger and Water programs. His dedication to caring for Country runs deep, and his long tenure has made him a steady presence and knowledge-holder within the team. Damo’s commitment reflects the heart of Narrap’s work: Traditional Owners leading self-determined land management across Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Country, restoring landscapes that will sustain people, plants and animals for generations to come.
Kristian Verdun
Kristian has been part of the Narrap team for nearly four years, with around three of those spent as a crew leader. A lifelong nature lover, his early passion for animals — particularly reptiles — first drew him to the industry, but over time his focus has shifted toward the plants of western Melbourne’s grasslands. Kristian thrives on the constant learning the work brings, whether it comes from conversations with industry veterans or questions from trainees that send him searching for answers. He takes particular pride in helping trainees connect with Country and watching their skills develop into capable rangers. For Kristian, working on the Narrap team is a privilege — a chance to give back to the environment and the culture that has shaped this Country for thousands of years.
Wurundjeri Caring for Biik: Narrap Rangers
Damien Nicholson & Kristian Verden, Narrap Rangers, Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation
The Narrap Unit is the Caring for Country team of the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation (WWCHAC), grown from a small crew in 2012 to a workforce of around 30 rangers across connected Ranger and Water programs. Guided by principles that place Traditional Owners as decision-makers on Country, Narrap delivers self-determined land management across Wurundjeri country, supported by a two-year traineeship pathway in conservation and land management.
In October 2024, WWCHAC was appointed Committee of Management for a portfolio of land parcels under the Melbourne Strategic Assessment — a multi-year partnership with DEECA spanning seven Conservation Areas, with more to come. This presentation focuses on two of those grasslands: Mirrm boolok (110 ha, Wollert), Wurundjeri’s largest site, which combines plains grassland, stony knolls and ephemeral wetlands of high cultural and ecological value; and Kororoit Creek North Grassland, a 13-hectare Themeda-dominated Natural Temperate Grassland supporting threatened species including the Striped Legless Lizard, Pimelea spinescens and Senecio macrocarpus.
We share how we work — from the formal process by which sites are named in partnership with Wurundjeri Elders, to the partnerships with Parks Victoria, DEECA, Zoos Victoria, ARI and others that underpin delivery. Across both sites, ecological and cultural goals are intrinsically linked: returning Wiin (fire) to Country, restoring water to ephemeral wetlands(planning), controlling threats, with the aim of building resilient, functional landscapes that sustain Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people, plants and animals for generations to come.
Dr Joshua Hodges
Dr Joshua Hodges is a fire and grassland ecologist, currently working for the Country Fire Authority. They are particularly interested in how grassland species respond to different fire regimes, and how grassland burning can have dual benefits for both biodiversity and strategic fire management.
Fire and Grasslands, a win win for biodiversity and fire management
Nick Williams
Nick Williams is a Professor of Urban Ecology and Urban Horticulture at the University of Melbourne and in his spare time he is also the President of Friends of Merri Creek. After spending much of the past 15 years researching ways to get biodiversity on to city buildings via green roofs and walls, he has returned to his academic roots and now leads a large research program developing new restoration and conservation technique for urban native grasslands which were the subject of his PhD. This continues the pioneering native grassland restoration research conducted at the University’s Burnley Campus by PGR and John Delpratt.
Reimagining urban transport and utility corridors to restore and connect an endangered ecosystem.
Authors: Nicholas S. G. Williams, Zahra Saraiean, Sophia Blosfelds Ben Roberts Katherine Horsfall
Urban road, rail and utility corridors sometimes contain small fragments of remnant ecosystems but what if they could form a connected network supporting significant biodiversity. We are working with municipal governments, Metrotrains and Yarra Valley Water to reinstate species from critically endangered grassy ecosystems to urban corridors. Ecologically this has been achieved by developing methodologies to sow diverse species mixes, on to low nutrient preferably recycled construction wastes selected after careful evaluation. This allows projects that span the ecological restoration continuum, from highly designed urban green spaces to a vegetation community that mimics the adjacent endangered native grassland.
Cindy Hauser
Senior Scientist | Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research
Land and Biodiversity Policy Division | Regions, Environment, Climate Action and First Peoples Group | Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action
Cindy Hauser is a Senior Scientist at the Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research. She specialises in ecological modelling, including survey design and adaptive management, and has worked on invasive hawkweed eradication, malleefowl conservation, use of detection dogs, and fire management planning in addition to grassland restoration.
Modelling the costs and outcomes of management in the Western Grassland Reserve
Victoria’s Western Grassland Reserve is an important, growing area of native grassland that requires active management and restoration. We have built a model that predicts how vegetation in the Reserve changes over time and responds to management actions such as planned burns, weed control and grazing. We link these predictions to models of management cost, informed by past management experience and supplier quotes. These models can be used to test a variety of future management scenarios and identify cost-effective approaches to grassland management, before management is carried out on-ground.
Ben Courtice
Ben Courtice has a degree in botany, with honours in plant ecology. He was a founding member and past convenor of the GPN, and is a member of AABR. He works as a bush regenerator for Southern Ecosystems Management
Is it OK to plant trees in grasslands if they are on escarpments?
Rocky escarpments are one of the most diverse and surprising of the remnant ecosystems on the plains. But what if conservation efforts were to threaten that? A look at how common high-level approaches to “restoration” can damage and homogenise these environments.
Michael Goddard
Michael is a Senior Associate Botanist and Technical Lead at Biosis. He conducts flora and fauna surveys, ecological monitoring and impact assessments in a range of ecosystems, specialising in the Victorian Alps and Victorian Volcanic Plain bioregions. He has more than a decade of experience monitoring the condition and mapping the extent of threatened ecological communities, including Natural Temperate Grassland of the Victorian Volcanic Plain. Michael believes that sharing of knowledge and innovation will be crucial to arresting the decline in this critically endangered ecological community.
What will be required for Natural Temperate Grassland of the Victorian Volcanic Plain to avoid an extinction vortex?
Over the last 15 years, Biosis has periodically re-visited several grassland sites to assess the extent and condition of Natural Temperate Grassland of the Victorian Volcanic Plain (NTGVVP). While the location, size, land tenure and management regime of these sites vary, the trend for NTGVVP at these sites does not. NTGVVP has declined at all sites, including those managed for conservation. If these sites are representative of the bioregion, NTGVVP could be extinct in the wild by 2030. Significant investment in innovation, including robotics, machine learning and automation, will be needed to arrest this decline and avoid an extinction vortex.
Lincoln Kern
Lincoln is an ecologist with a keen interest in indigenous biodiversity conservation and environmental issues. He trained in botany and environmental science in the USA, before studying environmental management at Deakin University in Melbourne. After gaining experience in Victoria, in 1993 he set up, owns and manages Practical Ecology P/L, an ecological consultancy and restoration contractor and another company implementing biodiversity offsets in rural Victoria.
Native Grassland: Biomass, Fire, Sheep and Weeds
After 30 years of managing native grassland on the Volcanic Plains in urban and rural Victoria I have reviewed extensive science, many management plans and been intimidated by the scale of loss and degradation of good quality sites and restoration works required. Having said all that I have also developed a general approach for monitoring biomass and weeds that informs annual works management based on fire or sheep and weed control. I will review examples of different management plans and sites to illustrate a simple adaptive planning framework required to support restoration and management of the rare ecosystem.
Lauren Talbot
Lauren Talbot has a background in environmental science and over a decade working in park management. Starting in bush regeneration and seasons as a Project Fire Fighter, before stepping into the role of Park Ranger. More recently Lauren has been working as a Project Officer-Nature Conservation, focusing on habitat restoration across the prom and the offshore islands. Lauren enjoys all aspects of park management and protecting natural landscapes.
Using fire to reverse Coast Tea-tree invasion of rare coastal grasslands at Wilsons Promontory National Park.
The Coastal Grassy Woodlands of Wilsons Promontory were managed for thousands of years as a Cultural Landscape, especially through the burning practices of Indigenous Australians. Post European settlement much of the grasslands across Victoria faced a wide variety of pressures such as clearing, fire and grazing. Of particular significance is the Calcareous Swale Grassland of the Yanakie Isthmus at Wilsons Promontory, which is the only remaining remnant of this EVC in Victoria. As a result of too much bad fire (sever, large scale, infrequent, wrong time of year) and the introduction of grazing the resilience of desired species was diminished and fires created bare ashbeds for prolific summer seeding shrubs to invade- in particular our largest battle in the Yanakie Isthmus Coast Tea-Tree. Over many years a vast amount of work, research, monitoring and collaborating has gone into restoring the Yanakie Isthmus back to a grassland.
Tim Connell & Alex Hodgson – Cith of Whittlesea
Tim Connell has been driving environmental planning and public land management in one of Melbourne’s fastest growing municipalities for over two decades. Tim leads a team who manage important reserves on Melbourne’s northern fringe and regularly engage in vertebrate fauna survey. This monitoring has driven management decisions, also leaving a legacy for Grassy Eucalypt Woodland.
Alex Hodgson has a background in Environmental and Forest Ecosystem Science. Over the last twelve years Alex’s has strongly focused on contract development and biodiversity enhancement projects including threatened species habitat restoration of waterways and woodlands. Tim and Alex share insights into two decades of survey and restoration at the Growling Frog Golf Course.
Reflections on restoration as the Growling Frog Golf Course: We’ve come a ‘fairway’
The Growling Frog Golf Course was established in the early 2000s managed by the City of Whittlesea’s Conservation Team. We have planted, weeded and direct seeded a mosaic of landscapes across a 52 ha conservation area. Management of biomass and importing rock and woody debris has diversified habitat for reptiles and amphibians, while the landscape scale restoration has also focused on connectivity and dispersal for arboreal mammals like Krefts Gliders. Restoration efforts through 2024-2026 focus on enrichment and diversity now that much of the architecture has been established, assisted by fencing strengthened via a Trust for Nature Covenant. This case study speaks to how our regular surveys and works performance monitoring have been used to measure success, and the efforts/inputs needed for reestablishing functional GEW: it is a small step with a fairway to go!
Taylor Gundry
While Taylor was undertaking his PhD on plastic pollution, he attended the Conservation and Habitat Management course then ran by Greening Australia, now by the Darebin Creek Management Committee, which he highly recommends. While doing his course Taylor decided a career in land management is what he wanted to pursue. Taking time off from his studies over the summers Taylor has worked as a project firefighter and on multiple bush crews. Arming himself with a chainsaw and knapsack he even had a short stint sole contracting in environment services taking on blackberries and hawthorn bushes. Taylor has now worked his way up to the position of Conservation Manager for the housing developer Resimax and oversees the restoration and management of 1,000 Ha of their biodiversity offsets.
Victorian Native Vegetation Offsets: A tale from direct experience
Biomass management (fire, mowing, grazing): How we are managing two grasslands in Toolern Vale and Little River, conductimg burns, pulse grazing, direct seeding/seed harvesting, boom spraying, and spot spraying,
Gidja Walker AOM
Gidja Lee Walker is an ecological consultant and natural systems teacher based on Victoria’s Southern Mornington Peninsula. Her specialties include restoration ecology, threatened species management, endangered ecosystems including Moonah Woodland and wetlands, coastal and saltmarsh ecology and fire ecology. She’s received a Banksia Award for her long-term work on various threatened terrestrial orchids and a Parks Victoria Kookaburra Award for volunteer environmental work. She’s a founder and current long-time president of the Southern Peninsula Indigenous Flora and Fauna Association.
Lesson I have learnt from calcereous swale ‘grasslands’
John Delpratt
John is an Honorary Fellow with the University of Melbourne. He lectured in plant production, seed technology and weed management at the University’s Burnley Campus for more than three decades. In retirement, John advises on native grassland restoration research at the University and is Project Officer with the Woorndoo Chatsworth Landcare Group. The Landcare Group restores diverse native grassland by direct sowing on rural road reserves within the Moyne Shire in south-west Victoria.
Native grassland restoration in south-west Victoria
The contribution of a local Landcare group to the principles and practices of diverse native grassland restoration on public land – specifically road reserves – in an area recognised for its high quality but seriously threatened remnants of Natural Temperate Grassland. From seed production to on-ground restoration, reconnecting fragmented remnants and broader community engagement. (Community engagement through hosting student and community visits and an annual forum, Community Day.)
Kai Lane
Kai is a proud Yorta-Yorta Barapa-Barapa man, with connections to Dja Dja Wurrung and Wurundjeri, who is passionate about his culture and loves to share his knowledge. Growing up near the Murray River he now lives in Geelong working in the ecology and restoration field. Kai is Vice president to Eco Warriors Australia which is a non for profit that focuses on empowering individuals and groups to come together, take action and strengthen our natural ecosystems through hands-on restoration and education initiatives with a strong focus on indigenous led projects with over 60% of the board being Traditional Owners. Kai also co-leads ERA’s ‘Habitat Warriors’ initiative, delivers curriculum based community projects to schools and other community groups, including cultural knowledge sessions and hands on conservation workshops. Kai is super passionate about teaching how traditional ecological knowledge can enhance scientific research.
Habitat Warriors- Creating a living classroom for students
Students from Kerang South Primary School are leading the restoration of a registered native grassland in their hometown, demonstrating how young people can play an active role in protecting biodiversity. Ecologists surveying the site identified a healthy population of the endangered Grey-crowned Babbler (listed in Victoria) and sightings of the native Blue-banded Bee, despite a concerning absence of key pollinator plants. The once-abundant Chocolate Lily—a culturally and ecologically significant grassland species—has sadly disappeared from the site due to past chemical use. Working alongside professional ecologists and local Traditional Owners, students participated in three on-site excursions, a hands-on plant propagation and seed collection workshop, a community planting day, and a follow-up monitoring session. During monitoring, students collected and analysed data to assess the overall health of the grassland three months after planting. Through this project, students are not only restoring habitat for threatened species but also building skills in conservation science, cultural knowledge, and environmental stewardship—becoming the next generation of land carers and citizen scientists.
Matthew Kneller
Basalt Buddies is a loose collective of people advocating for grassland conversation in the inner-west and inner-north of Naarm. growing locally-native plants and trying to get young and marginalized people involved in caring about their local remnant areas and planting local provenance plants in their yards.
Grasslands ecocide and the avenues for grassroots community militancy
An outsider-community and Indigenous perspective on current grassland destruction and its alternatives.
Forum Co-Hosts
Grassy Plains Network (VNPA)
Merri Creek Managemnt Committee
AABR Vic
City of Yarra
Forum Sponsors
Gold Sponsors
Native Seeds
Eco Skills
Bronze Sponsors
Globalgreen
Friends of Imaroo
ECA Victoria
Arborgreen
Forum Overview
Victoria’s grasslands are among the most endangered ecosystems on the continent. Less than two per cent remain. Yet across the state, practitioners, researchers, Traditional Owners and community stewards are keeping these systems alive through careful, adaptive management.
Grassland Resurrection brings that collective knowledge into one room.
This one-day forum will focus on what actually works on the ground. Expect practitioner-led case studies, hard-won lessons, and honest conversations about trade-offs, uncertainty and decision-making in complex grassy systems. Topics under development include biomass management, weeds, fauna, fire, grazing, monitoring, restoration by seed, and the economics of grassland care, all grounded in Victorian contexts, with relevance beyond state borders.
The program is being developed collaboratively by the Australian Association of Bush Regenerators (AABR Vic), the Grassy Plains Network (VNPA) and Merri Creek Management Committee, with venue support from Yarra City Council and involvement from land managers, councils, researchers and First Nations representatives. Indigenous perspectives, applied science and practitioner experience will sit side by side, because resilient grasslands demand all three.
Planning is underway and speakers are currently being confirmed. More details will be released as the program takes shape. What we can say now: the last AABR Vic forum sold out, and this one will too.
If you work in bush regeneration, land management, ecology, planning, research, or you care deeply about the future of Victoria’s grasslands, this is a day to be part of.
Come for the knowledge. Stay for the conversations. Leave with sharper tools for grassy country and an expanded network of grassland enthusiasts.
Capacity- 300- SOLD OUT
Secure your spot- Join the Waitlist
Tickets via Humanitix
| Non-member agency | $ 160.00 |
| Member agency | $ 130.00 |
| Non-member individual | $ 110.00 |
| Member | $ 90.00 |
| First Nations | $ 80.00 |
| Unwaged | $ 65.00 |
| Student | $ 25.00 |
Getting There
The following transport lines have routes that pass near Fitzroy Town Hall
- Bus: 200, 246, 250, 251, 302, 402
- Tram: 109, 11
The nearest stations to Fitzroy Town Hall are:
- Brunswick St/Johnston St (Fitzroy) is 52 meters away, 2 min walk.
- 15-Bell St/Brunswick St (Fitzroy) is 180 meters away, 3 min walk.
- 18-Hodgson St/Smith St (Fitzroy) is 408 meters away, 6 min walk.
- St Vincent’s Hospital/Victoria Pde (East Melbourne) is 522 meters away, 7 min walk.
Keep up to date on our socials
- Grassy Plains Network – Facebook
- Merri Creek Management Committee – Facebook , Instagram, LinkedIn
- AABR Vic- Australian Association of Bush Regenerators –Facebook , Instagram, LinkedIn
Planning update
- Working group has formed, meeting fortnightly
- Venue and date confirmed
- Tickets on sale and 27% sold
- Themes identified and speakers are being contacted and sought
- Sponsors being sought
- Presenters Finalised
- Event SOLD OUT- active waitist
Secure your spot- Grab a ticket