Boost for native vegetation

By Elizabeth Hart
The final draft of the City of Casey Revegation Strategy, which the council adopted at its meeting last week, attracted 19 submissions.
The strategy identifies 20 sites on private and public land for protection and enhancement, including Cardinia Creek in the east and Dandenong Creek in the west.
It links existing areas of vegetation and directs future plantings to cleared and degraded areas, building on the last remnant vegetation in selected locations.
Farming since white settlement has reduced tree cover across the municipality to seven per cent, leaving about 28 square kilometres of the total 395 square kilometres, council records show.
The replenishment plan will concentrate on those areas that will yield the most gains in biodiversity.
In his recommendation to the council meeting last week, Casey’s Engineering and Environmental Services officer David Richardson said increasing the cover of habitat and connecting remnant patches would enable species to move across the landscape.
Targeting particular areas for revegetation would also prevent erosion, minimise sedimentation in waterways, and combat salinity, the recommendation states.
“Consultation with volunteer organisations such as Landcare and Friends groups was invaluable in identifying areas of significant vegetation on private property,” he said.
“This enabled the consultants to target landholders more likely to be co-operative.”