The second independent review of the EPBC Act commenced on 29 October 2019. The review will be led by Professor Graeme Samuel AC, supported by a panel of experts. A report will be presented to the Minister for the Environment within 12 months of commencement of the review. Download the ANPC’s submission here [PDF link]
The Australian Native Seed Survey Report has been launched by the Threatened Species Commissioner Dr Sally Box. Read the Media Release here. The report details the full results of the national survey capturing the behaviours and views of a wide range of participants in the native seed sector – which the authors say are not all encouraging. ‘Worryingly, the report highlights the concerns of the sector that future demand for seed will be difficult to meet from the wild’ said Martin Driver from the ANPC. ‘This is due to the high costs of seed collection and the lack of seed from a broad range of the species that are critical for restoration. The recent bushfires have made this situation worse’. Seed production of native seed offers some hope, but currently lacks the capacity to meet demand. ‘Seed production areas (SPAs) are an increasingly important supplier of seed for restoration, landscaping and bush food markets’ said Dr Paul Gibson-Roy from Kalbar Resources. ‘SPAs are locations where we cultivate native species for their seeds, like agricultural crops. They can produce seed in higher quantities and quality that is much easier to collect than in the wild. Their continued development will be critical to meeting seed needs and preserving wild populations’. Read more and download the Report here.
As part of the Healthy Seeds project, an update of the Florabank Guidelines has commenced to ensure practitioners are aware of, have access to, and are using up-to-date science and guidance materials for best-practice native seed management in ecological restoration. Listen to ANPC Project Manager Lucy Commander’s presentation here on the update of the Florabank Guidelines (which was to be presented at the postponed Australasian Seed Science Conference in Canberra in April 2020).
The publication Plant Germplasm Conservation in Australia – strategies and guidelines for developing, managing and utilising ex situ collections (known as the Germplasm Guidelines) is currently being revised with grant funding from The Ian Potter Foundation. The updated Germplasm Guidelines will complement the recent revision of the Guidelines for Translocation of Threatened Plants in Australia (2018) and the current review of the Florabank Guidelines, a component of the Healthy Seeds Project (in prep.). The update is being led by ANPC Project Manager Dr Amelia Martyn Yenson. A steering committee composed of ANPC, CSIRO, Australian Seed Bank Partnership, Australian Grains Genebank, Royal Botanic Garden Sydney, Australian National Botanic Gardens, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, Australian Tree Seed Centre, Botanic Gardens Australia and New Zealand and NSW Dept of Planning, Industry and Environment representatives has been formed to oversee the project. We are currently inviting potential chapter authors and reviewers for the publication. Read more.
Would you like to use your financial/accounting skills to help conserve Australia’s plants that have been through fires, floods, hail and more this summer? Or know someone who would? The ANPC is looking for a volunteer to nominate as Treasurer to assist in our efforts to conserve our amazing biodiversity. This is also a great opportunity to gain Executive Not-for-profit Committee experience. The role of Treasurer is broadly to manage the ANPC’s financial affairs, and attend and present financial reports to the ANPC’s bi-monthly Management Committee meetings and Annual General Meetings. Desirable knowledge, skills and experience: a sound familiarity with financial record keeping and a willingness to learn the basics of Xero financial software. Day to day financial management is undertaken by ANPC office staff. Location in or near Canberra is an advantage but not essential. Click here for more information.
In addition to the enormous human, social, economic and native animal impacts of the recent catastrophic bushfires, the impacts on our unique plants and ecological communities will also be huge. Although most Australian flora have evolved to cope with fire, recovering by re-sprouting or seed germination, the drought combined with severe and too frequent fire will retard recovery. Some plants and ecological communities that have been burnt, including many rainforest species, are sensitive to fire and may struggle to recover. At this stage, while many threatened plants have had populations that were burnt, we don’t know how well they will recover. Encouraging some native flora to bounce back will require targeted funding and actions to conserve and restore habitats and ecological communities, including control of weeds and feral grazers, and ensuring we have or develop ex situ seed banking for as many threatened species as possible. Resilience of many native plants will depend on allowing them enough time to replenish their natural seed banks. We will also need comprehensive monitoring of fire affected landscapes, starting immediately and continuing from after the first rains, for up to two years, to detect which species are returning, and which are not.
The current fires are unprecedented in extent and severity and have burnt over many areas where the plants had not yet recovered from previous fires. In these cases, assessing natural plant recovery may identify the need for cautious and well-planned human intervention. Areas/species likely to require assistance include threatened species, particularly those known from only one or to populations. In these cases, assessing the natural plant recovery, as well as assessing risks to recovery (grazers and weeds) will inform the development of a restoration plan, and identify which native species are not returning. The ANPC’s Guidelines for the Translocation of Threatened Plants in Australia will be useful for planning recovery of threatened plants. Post-fire seed collection should be minimal to allow species to replenish natural seed banks. Once that has happened, any seed collection, storage, propagation and planting should follow the ANPC’s Plant Germplasm Conservation in Australia and the soon to be re-released FloraBank Guidelines.
In the January 2020 issue of ANPC News, we provide some information and links on what you can do to help post-fire recovery of plants and ecological communities, and how you can start sharing your knowledge on post-fire responses. We also provide links to a couple of media items we have published recently, as well as many other bushfire related articles. Hopefully, we can all work together at this difficult time to conserve our plant biodiversity and be better prepared for plant recovery into the future.
In addition, here’s some ANPC Plants and Fire fact sheets I have put together: