Australasian Plant Conservation

Originally published in Australasian Plant Conservation 14(1), June - August 2005

President's Report

Judy West
Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, CSIRO Plant Industry

Effective plant conservation happens through interactions between various contributors, including land managers and landholders, community groups, government agencies, industry, researchers and on-ground practitioners.  Through hosting a national conference on aspects of plant conservation and strategic directions every couple of years, ANPC aims to bring together these groups with different skill sets, providing the venue for effective exchange of information and network development.

The 2005 ANPC National Conference, Plant Conservation: The Challenges of Change, is to be held in Adelaide from 26th September to 1st October, hosted jointly with the South Australian Department for Environment and Heritage and the Botanic Gardens of Adelaide. Four symposium themes have been recognised to tease out the challenges we are facing in plant conservation into the future:

1. Extreme policy changes
2. Urban ecology
3. Using revegetation to achieve ecological outcomes
4. Indigenous interests in conservation.

The conference program includes two days of scientific program, a field day and two days of workshops, several of which have arisen from feedback provided by participants in various workshops during the past year.

The program is shaping up with some stimulating papers.  REGISTER NOW to play your part and contribute ideas for a strong presence and good conservation outcomes.

ANPC's workshops on Translocation of Threatened Plants are proving to be popular and appear to be approaching the subject with the right balance of theory and practical applications to provide the participants with real implementation strategies.  As mentioned in my report in the last issue of APC, the NSW Environmental Trust has supported ANPC to run three of these workshops in regional areas of NSW.  Two of these have already taken place, with one in Queanbeyan (May 18) and another recently held in Newcastle (July 28) with over 40 participants, many of whom were environmental consultants of each, in addition to staff of state government agencies, local councils, land managers and representatives of NGOs.  This particular workshop also attracted some media attention.  The third translocation workshop for NSW will be held in Coffs Harbour on August 30, and another will be run in association with the National Conference in Adelaide on October 1.

We also mentioned earlier the workshops on approaches & techniques for Rehabilitation and Management of Disturbed Native Vegetation.  The first of these was held in Armidale 19-20 July with 103 participants from as far north as Queensland and  south to Sydney, and representing a wide range of constituencies - community groups, environmental consultants, government agencies, CMAs, local government and those from NGOs, or with weeds interest or landholders.  The feedback on the workshop has been positive with indication that focusing on the knowledge and skills required to undertake ecological rehabilitation and management
of disturbed native vegetation is filling a void for the practitioner.

Another two rehabilitation workshops will be held in New South Wales:

• Wagga Wagga: 14-15 September
• Dubbo: 25-26 October

The last of these will be followed by a Grass Identification techniques workshop in Dubbo on 27 October.

Details for all three workshops are on the ANPC website.

This edition of APC on "Conservation of Cryptogams" includes several very interesting articles raising awareness of the role different cryptogams play in ecosystem functioning, much of which has been taken for granted in the past, and remains poorly understood.  The ANPC greatly appreciates sponsorship towards this issue of Australasian Plant Conservation from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne.

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