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Welcome to the April 2015 edition of ANPC News. Help us further promote and improve plant conservation in Australia. You can join the ANPC at any time of the year and receive the relevant backcopies of Australasian Plant Conservation, Australia's top bulletin for those involved or interested in plant conservation. The first two editions of 2015 contain papers from our highly successful and thought-provoking biennial conference held in November last year and are a fascinating read. Your membership fees will help us implement our Orchid Conservation Program and run workshops on topical issues such as seed supply and provenance, amongst many other projects. You will also receive discounts at our conferences, workshops and forums (an exciting forum in Sydney in early 2016 will soon be announced, stay tuned!). Click here for more information and to join the ANPC today.
All the best from the ANPC Team.
ANPC activities and news:
Six FREE Provenance Workshops coming soon!
This series of six half-day workshops across NSW will be delivered in June and July 2015 by plant genetics experts and experienced native plant seed specialists, on the current best understanding of native seed provenance issues for planning and implementing ecological restoration. The workshops, funded by the NSW Environmental Trust, are being organised by the ANPC in conjunction with NSW Local Land Services, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney and the CSIRO. If you work in natural resources management, revegetation/restoration, conservation, are involved in seed collection, nursery production, landcare/bushcare or are just interested in working with our declining native plants, these workshops are for you. The importance of “provenance” is all about knowledge - knowing where plant seed came from, the site and situation it grew in, and the type and form of the plants. This is all important to the usefulness and value of the seed and in conserving the genetic integrity of local native vegetation. Workshop dates and locations will be notified very soon. Register your expression of interest by contacting Martin Driver, ANPC Project Manager by phone on 0400170957 or by email.
ANPC seed collection workshop 2012. (T. Hogbin)
Bring Back the Banksias project
The ANPC has joined forces with an extensive network of agencies, groups and individuals concerned about the conservation of Silver Banksia (Banksia marginata) throughout south-western NSW and across Victoria, which has mostly disappeared from the landscape over most agricultural areas. A collective of projects and groups has been forged under the title of Bring Back the Banksias. Three workshops have been held to date in Hamilton, Bendigo and Lake Bolac with over ninety participants and a huge response from others wanting to be involved in the project as it evolves. The workshops brought people together to identify known sites and populations of Silver Banksia, and participate in developing a network of seed production areas. Funding support is in the very early stages of development and future awareness and support of program ideas are in discussion. Anyone who is interested in the conservation of Silver Banksia who would like to support or join in these efforts should make contact with Martin Driver, ANPC Project Manager phone 0400170957 or email.
Silver Banksia (Banksia marginata). (J. Lynch)
New ANPC Website launched
The ANPC office staff were excited recently when we finally went live with the new and improved ANPC website. We hope you find it easier to use. We are now working on developing the shopping cart so we can go 'on-line' for memberships, publications and workshop registrations, and have just started developing a kids page. A big thank you to everyone who has donated to the ANPC Public Fund over the last eighteen months, and especially Natural Area Consulting Management Services, as this has helped us cover the costs of setting up the website. And an even bigger thank you to the Australian National Botanic Gardens who hosted the previous website on our behalf. To donate to further website development this year, please either use the relevant box on the membership form when you join the ANPC or renew your membership, or download the ANPC Donation Form here.
Major website sponsor
Other items of interest:
AABR Field Tour - Better ways to restore endangered Cumberland Plain Woodland and Grassland - Saturday 18 April, 9.00 – 11.00am
Join NPWS Area Manager Jonathan Sanders for a field tour in Scheyville and Cattai National Parks in north western Sydney. The tour will look at research trials for using fire in the rehabilitation of altered native grasslands and integrated weed control of species such as African Love Grass and African Olive. Bookings essential. Click here for more information.
10th Biennial Bushfire Conference - Fire and Restoration: working with fire for healthy lands - Tuesday 26 - Wednesday 27 May
The Nature Conservation Council of NSW's with the theme of 'Fire and Restoration: working with fire for healthy lands'. It will focus on how fire can be used to rehabilitate degraded landscapes, restore ecological integrity and reinstate resilience into the environment and the community. Click here for more information and to view the conference program.
Draft Review of Policy: Importation of Phytophthora ramorum host propagative material into Australia
P. ramorum is an aggressive fungal disease not yet in Australia. It is well known to affect oak species in the northern hemisphere, but also a wide range of species in other families, including some that are significant in the Australian flora. Stakeholders are invited to provide comments by 29 APRIL 2015. The review was initiated by the Commonwealth following a request from the nursery industry to revise the import conditions for nursery stock from countries where P. ramorum is known to occur. More info and draft policy review document available here (from 'Tendrils' newsletter published by Plant Health Australia, 15 Apr 2015).
Two new Threatened Ecological Communities were recently declared under the federal EPBC Act: 'Cooks River/Castlereagh Ironbark Forest of the Sydney Basin Bioregion’ (endangered) and ‘Castlereagh Scribbly Gum and Agnes Banks Woodlands of the Sydney Basin Bioregion’ (critically endangered).
The Save a Species Walk to help save Australian Plant Life is on again this weekend 17-19 April! Funds raised will go towards seedbanking 15 threatened plant species at the Australian Plantbank in Sydney. Good luck to all three teams as well as the staff in the 1 day walk on Sunday!
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