Reference ecosystems

The hidden world of Travelling Stock Routes (TSRs) comes to light as Ian Davidson explains their unique role across the Riverina landscape as a stronghold for biodiversity and threatened species. The absence of agricultural production techniques and fertilisers along with their location on flat fertile soils, linearly linked, has enabled the TSRs to remain prime [...]

A concise case study outlining an offset transformation of a highly degraded saltmarsh community at Kurnell. Careful planning and extensive community education is helping to address years of degradation from vehicles and timber getting Unrestricted access to the site was curtailed by fencing. The community has been engaged around the benefits of food chain health [...]

This is an inspiring presentation that showcases a variety of strategies that were used to improve aquatic habitat. Approaches undertaken ranged from mechanical bank shaping to altering mowing practices, resnagging with whole trees to purpose built fish hotels. The detailed monitoring and commitment to community engagement has meant that the upward trajectory for in-stream restoration will continue beyond the funded project.

Revegetation guides can provide a valuable resource in determining a local indigenous reference community- Principle 1 of the National Restoration Standards. Gill Earl provides a walk through of the Murray-Riverina vegetation guides that are widely accepted as the go-to resource for revegetation projects in that area. The elements of the guides are outlined and why [...]

Jen Ford provides a brilliant 10 minute overview of the National Restoration Standards six principles and the contents of the document. Why have standards, what are they and how can they assist with on-ground restoration activities are all clearly explained. Topic Mins: seconds Titles 00:00 Background 00:08 Introduction to the standards 00:35 Relevance of [...]

How do you ensure your restoration project will be resilient in times of changing climate and increased fragmentation across the landscape? Tein McDonald discusses with Linda Broadhurst the implications of population size, the parental gene pool and the significance of pollinators in ensuring genetic diversity and countering inbreeding depression. In this expanding field, the importance [...]

Just add water...Three wetland restoration case studies are presented by Mark Bachmann which outline the historical basis for the degradation, the process of identifying viable project sites and the setting of goals to deliver significant wetland restoration. Mark references the Six Principles in the National Restoration Standards to highlight their relevance in designing, monitoring and [...]

How do you work out what plants are suitable to grow in a climate changing world? Trevor Booth outlines a process using readily available web tools, the Atlas of Living Australia along side the Climate change in Australia website, which enables a variety of climate change scenarios to be considered and the location of potential [...]

Peter Jensen from the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust outlines the tools and techniques that have been trialed to assist the restoration Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub (ESBS) at North Head Sanctuary. The site holds nearly half of the remaining ESBS (77ha) and professional and volunteers bush regenerators have utilised three different strategies to assist restoration; regeneration [...]

This video describes a landscape scale project, Gondwana link, which aims to connect a fragmented landscape in Western Australia from the wet forests to the deserts. The process of gathering information to build a picture of the landscape vegetation communities and the continuous improvement cycle which saw the on-ground restoration delivered in ‘broad brush strokes [...]