WA workshops report: ‘After the Fence’
Helena Mills
WWF Australia, Northam, WA. Email: hmills@wwf.org.au
Originally published in
Australasian Plant Conservation
Vol 17 No 1 p 32
The Australian Network for Plant Conservation ran two successful workshops,
After the Fence, in the Western Australian Wheatbelt towns of Northam and Moora
on 17-18 and 27-28 March, 2008. The workshops were done in partnership with
WWF-Australia, the Northern Agricultural Catchments Council, the Avon Catchment
Council and the Australian Government Envirofund.
Based on the successful format of the ANPC’s previous rehabilitation
workshops, the March 2008 workshops focused on the management needs of Wheatbelt
woodlands after a fence has been erected. Western Australia’s Wheatbelt, like
many other agricultural landscapes in Australia, has seen significant investment
in recent years in fencing native vegetation to exclude grazing by domestic
stock. While fencing is the first and most important step in ensuring the
long-term future of native vegetation in grazed landscapes, it is frequently the
first and last step in native vegetation management in these areas.
The After the Fence workshops attracted 67 participants, presenters and
volunteers. All involved found the workshops valuable and interesting. The
networking component of the workshops was judged as useful as the content of
presentations and field trips.
Workshop participants included farmers, community group members, Natural
Resource Management Officers from throughout the Wheatbelt, WWF Project
Officers, and staff from the WA Department of Main Roads, the Water Corporation,
the Department of Environment and Conservation and CSIRO. The common factor
linking all participants and presenters was an interest in the on-ground
management of Wheatbelt woodlands.
A new feature of the WA workshops was the inclusion of a group dinner and an
after-dinner speaker. At the Northam workshop Patrick Smith from CSIRO spoke to
the group about the reality of balancing production and conservation, while at
the Moora workshop, Dejan Stojanovic from Birds Australia entertained the group
with photos, stories and bird calls in his presentation on using Carnaby’s Black
Cockatoos as a flagship species for biodiversity conservation in south-west
Australia.
A flora identification session on the afternoon of the first day of each
workshop was also popular, with participants (and presenters!) learning how to
identify local woodland eucalypts and wattles using the latest interactive keys,
and the techniques and importance of proper plant collection. Farmers,
researchers and community group members worked together to nut out botanical
terms and tricky morphologies and had a great time doing it – some refusing to
stop until they’d worked their specimens out!
The second day of each workshop was largely taken up by a field trip. Two
sites of varying condition and vegetation type were visited on each trip. At
each site participants had worksheets to complete on assessing  the health of the
woodlands they were visiting, deciding upon management actions and developing
monitoring plans. Particularly rewarding for the organisers was the answer to
the last question on the worksheet, viz. whether the participant’s opinion of
the health and management of the woodlands changed between their first sight of
the remnants and when they had completed the worksheets. Almost all participants
found that working systematically through indicators of health and management
actions helped them to find conservation value in woodlands they thought were in
poor condition, and to realise that woodlands they thought were in great
condition could still benefit and improve with management.
All in all, the workshops successfully achieved their aims. The organisers
are grateful for the enthusiastic participation of all who attended,
particularly the presenters who gave up their time to develop relevant
presentations and be involved.
Moora workshop participants at a majestic Salmon Gum woodland site. Photo:
Helena Mills/WWF-Australia
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