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ANPC News - April 2016
Rangelands Paddock Walk held recently near Hay, NSW
Following the success of a Paddock Walk held at Hay in early October last year after a productive wet winter, a second Walk was organised for the end of March at Booroorban, a location approximately 30 km south of Hay, involving site inspections and plant identification with ANPC Project Manager Martin Driver, in collaboration with Riverina Local Land Services. This time the landscape showed the effects of a long hot and dry summer with a four month gap since the last effective rain. Read more here. Following the success of the two Paddock Walks, a third one will take place in the Booroorban area, further focusing on management of the sandhill vegetation communities following a significant rainfall event, hopefully before June 30 this year. Interested people can contact Sally Ware by email or by ph. 0429307627, or Martin Driver by email or by ph. 0400170957. At least three ANPC plant identification/seed collection workshops will be held in the wider Riverina area this year in conjunction with the NSW Environmental Trust, Landcare and LLS. For more information contact Martin Driver.

Inspecting a Quondong tree on the edge of a Nitre Goosefoot swamp during the Rangelands Paddock Walk at Booroorban. Photo: Annabel Lugsdin

Recent Seed Collection Workshops at Broken Hill and Menindee in the Western Region of NSW
The ANPC's Project Manager Martin Driver delivered two workshops on seed collection, storage and use for native vegetation projects at Broken Hill and Sunset Strip over the weekend of 9 and 10 April 2016. The two workshops were supported by Western Local Land Services through funding from The National Landcare Programme. The workshops were facilitated by the Regional Landcare Facilitator for Far West NSW, Susannah Sage, in association with Broken Hill Landcare and Sunset Strip Progress Association Inc – Lake Menindee Landcare, who were interested in learning about ways they can still undertake Landcare activities while they are unable to undertake regular community tree planting days due to water restrictions. Read more here. If you would like to organise or participate in plant identification, seed collection, or other vegetation management workshops tailored to your or your group's needs in your region, please contact the Regional Landcare Facilitator in your area to discuss opportunities or contact Martin Driver at the ANPC by email or phone on 0400170957.

Martin Driver demonstrating simple seed separation techniques at the Broken Hill Seed Collection Workshop. Photo: Susannah Sage

11th Australasian Plant Conservation Conference (APCC11) - 14 to 18 November 2016 at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, Melbourne.
Dr Jen Silcock from the National Environmental Science Programme (NESP) - Threatened Species Recovery Hub will be one of the Plenary Speakers at the conference. Dr Silcock recently started a post-doctoral research position identifying Australia's 100 most imperilled plant species and reviewing plant reintroduction programs across Australia. This work aims to provide a clear picture of plant conservation in Australia and guide directions for future work. The Call for Abstracts and Early Bird Registrations open on Monday 9 May. Click here for more information, including the recently added accommodation options near the Gardens.


Dr Jen Silcock has spent the past decade scouring Australia’s so-called ‘dead heart’ for rare plants and has recently been lured to the city to take up a post-doctoral research position at the University of Queensland. Photo: Jen Silcock

Seeking articles for the June - August 2016 edition of Australasian Plant Conservation (APC)
The theme for the next issue will be online tools and resources for plant identification and conservation. This may include online floras, keys, resources for citizen science and other new or emerging tools such as phone applications. For this issue, we welcome articles, reports, and short reviews and communications. Reviews may include new tools and resources that you have developed or found useful, or even a wish list of tools or resources that would be useful for plant identification or to support plant conservation. The deadline for submissions for the June - August 2016 issue is Friday 13 May 2016. Click here to find out more.

Upcoming webinar: Developing Standards for Ecological Restoration: the how, what and why of an Australian initiative - Thursday, 28 April 10am - 11am
Kingsley Dixon, Tein McDonald, and Justin Jonson of the Society for Ecological Restoration Australasia (SERA) will share their insights into the development of these recently-published standards, followed by a short Q&A session. It is hoped that restoration professionals around the world will learn from this ground-breaking initiative and apply lessons-learned in their home country. Space in the live webinar is limited so please register soon. If you cannot attend during the live webinar, they will be posting a recording of the webinar to their website. Click here to register.

 
NESP Threatened Species Recovery Hub Project 4.3 – Threatened plant reintroduction and relocation
Hungry herbivores, fungal diseases and long hot summers are just a few of the challenges land-managers face when attempting to reintroduce a threatened plant species. On top of these challenges, managers must also find ways to model the likely success of a given population into the future, a difficult task considering the lifespan of many shrubs and trees will usually outlast the lifespan of any given project. The ultimate aim of such reintroductions is to deliver a viable and self-sustaining population into the future. Through this project, Dr David Coates and his team will closely examine the tools and techniques used in the reintroduction or translocation process, to better calculate whether it is likely to be successful for a particular plant species. They will focus on species reintroduced to Western Australia, South Australia and Victoria and review previous projects to identify what has worked in the past, and gathering new data to demonstrate the project scales necessary to ensure the survival of rare and threatened flora. NEWS: As part of this project, the ANPC will soon receive funding to review and update our Guidelines for the Translocation of Threatened Plants in Australia! Stay tuned for further information on this.

Other items of interest:

Bushfire 2016: Connecting Science, People & Practice University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane -  28 to 30 September 2016
Keynote Speakers announced: Professor Ross Bradstock, Director - Centre for Environmental Risk Management of Bushfires, University of Wollongong; Dr Neil Burrows, Senior Principal Research Scientist, WA Department of Parks and Wildlife; Associate Professor Alan York, Head - Fire & Biodiversity Research Program University of Melbourne. Click here for more information or contact the South East Queensland Fire and Biodiversity Consortium by Email or Ph. Dr Sam Lloyd 0438 008668, Craig Welden 0437 726279.


Quondongs and other native sandalwoods field day. An in-depth look into the conservation, cultural significance and commercialisation of native sandalwood species - Tuesday 10 May 2016, 10am - 11.30am
Meet at Ko-Warra Native Grasses, 537 Echuca-Mitiamo Rd. Then 12pm-2.30pm for light lunch and presentation at Moama Bowling Club. Guest speakers: Neville Atkinson - Cultural Heritage Significance; Tim Barden - Ko-Warra Native Grasses, sandalwood demonstration sit visit; Neville Bonney - Quondongs, direct seeding pioneer and author; Ben Boxshall - Spicatum Resources Australia, Santalum Growers of Victoria. Limited spaces. RSVP Friday 6 May to Jim Begley at Goulburn Broken CMA by ph. (03) 57647503 or email.

Edible Wild Native Foods - Knowing, Growing and Eating - Wednesday 11 May, 9.30am - 12pm
Euroa Flour Mill Gallery 17 Kirkland Ave, Euroa. Morning tea provided. Free event.
Informative morning with Neville Bonney, native plant expert and published author. Neville will provide insights into his many years of experience collecting, propagating, growing and eating native plant species. RSVP Monday 9 May to Jim Begley at Goulburn Broken CMA by ph. (03) 57647503 or email.

Proposed listing of the Banksia Woodlands of the Swan Coastal Plain - comments and submissions invited.
The national Threatened Species Scientific Committee is inviting comments and submissions on a proposed listing for a threatened ecological community in Western Australia under the Federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC Act). The Committee is undertaking a scientific assessment on the Banksia Woodlands of the Swan Coastal Plain ecological community which was nominated for listing as a nationally threatened ecological community. A draft description and threats document, together with a draft distribution map, have been prepared and can be downloaded from the Department of the Environment’s nominations website here. As the draft description presents information sometimes in technical detail, a short Listing Assessment Consultation Guide is also available. The Guide outlines in simpler language the key points of the listing process and what it may mean for people in the region, should the ecological community be approved for listing. It also explains how the Banksia Woodlands ecological community listing assessment is being taken into account in the Perth and Peel Strategic Assessment under the EPBC Act, which relates to the Perth and Peel Green Growth Plan for 3.5 million. A series of questions also are available online on which the Committee particularly seeks advice, and these may help frame any comments you may wish to provide. However, feedback to the Committee does not need to be limited to these questions – the Committee welcomes, and will consider, any constructive comments received about the ecological community proposed for listing and its eligibility for listing. The closing date for comment is COB Thursday 12 May 2016.

Save a Species Walk - Help save Australian plant life
Help save 11 threatened plant species from extinction by donating to their seed collection and seedbanking at the Australian PlantBank. Three adventurous teams made up of staff from the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney walked a combined total distance of more than 300km over the course of three days to raise awareness and funds for 11 endangered plant species from New South Wales.

Team 1 setting off on their Save a Species walk from the Blue Mountains. Photo: The Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney facebook page

Saving seeds for the future - ABC Radio National's Blueprint for Living 12 March 2016
Hear Michael Williams interview Christina Walters from the US Dept of Agriculture and Lucy Sutherland from the Australian Seed Bank Partnership, before the National Seed Science Forum, about the importance of genetic material from both crops and wild species for the protection of our food supply into the future.

Picking the snottygobble out of emu poo - ABC Radio National's Off Track 9 April 2016
Hear the facinating story of Katharine Catelotti, Technical Officer with the Australian Plantbank in Sydney, researching innovative ways to germinate the seeds of the endangered Persoonia nutans (Nodding Geebung), including Emu digestion!
  Hear Dr Peter Weston from the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney discuss the intriguing evolution of the Proteaceae.

The ANPC gratefully acknowledges the support of the following Corporate Members:
 
Albury Botanic Gardens, NSW Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust, NSW
Australian National Botanic Gardens, ACT Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, VIC
Botanic Gardens of South Australia, SA Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, TAS
Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research, ACT University of Melbourne, Burnley Campus, VIC
Department of Parks and Wildlife, WA  
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