What are threatened species?
Threatened species are a species of plant or animal that has been identified and declared under either the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act 1999, or (in Victoria) the Flora and Fauna Guarantee (FFG) Act 1988, to fall into one of the following categories:
Both the EPBC Act and the FFG Act have Scientific Advisory Committees established, who advise the Ministers on the listing of communities of plants and animals and potentially threatening processes. Nominations are made to these committees, to either add or remove a species from the Threatened listings, who then determine whether the nomination is valid and assesses if it satisfies the Threatened Listing category criteria.
In the Wimmera
Across the Wimmera, small and isolated populations of threatened plants and animals can be found. Habitat loss, land use change, and invasive plants and animals have been the primary threats. In general, there is an intrinsic relationship between the amount of native vegetation and wellbeing of species that rely on it for habitat.
The EPBC Act 1999, encourages the development of recovery plans for nationally threatened species and communities. Regional-based recovery teams implement these plans. Researchers, public land managers (such as DEPI and Parks Victoria,) natural resource managers (such as Wimmera CMA,) and conservation-minded community representatives contribute to these teams. The Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo, Malleefowl, and threatened orchids are some of the species serviced by regional recovery teams based in western Victoria.
Some examples of rare, threatened, or endangered species in the Wimmera include:
Ecological Vegetation Classes (EVC)
It is not only plants or animals that can be threatened, Ecological Vegetation Classes (EVCs) can also be listed,
EVCs are the standard unit for classifying vegetation types in Victoria,. EVCs are described through a combination of plants, lifeforms and ecological characteristics, and through an inferred fidelity to particular environmental attributes.
Each EVC includes a collection of plant communities that occur across a biogeographic range, and although differing in species, have similar habitat and ecological processes operating.
Some threatened EVCs in the Wimmera:
What is the Wimmera CMA doing to help?
Wimmera CMA’s activities include:
- community awareness raising activities
- monitoring to assess how natural resource management projects are influencing biodiversity. An example of this was Wimmera CMA’s bird monitoring program, which collected information on bird populations to provide a general indication of changes in environmental health
- providing financial support to implement projects that provide advice and financial assistance to landholders to protect remnant vegetation and carry out revegetation works on private land to create more and better habitats
- undertaking research to provide the information necessary for making better management decisions
- undertaking works and funding projects to eradicate pest plant and animals (i.e. rabbit warren ripping, blackberry, and poisoning)