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Somers,
Victoria Australia, Foreshore Reserve
Flora and Fauna Management
Strategy
Prepared for the Somers Foreshore Reserve
Committee of Management
Written by Lincoln Kern,
Matthew Kennedy, Tracy Neilsen, Rohan Cuming and Malcolm Legg.
Flora and fauna survey work completed by Matt Kennedy, Tracy
Neilsen, Malcolm Legg, Brent Hall, and Rohan Cuming
Practical
Ecology Pty. Ltd.ACN 082911 377 P.O. Box 228, Preston 3072
Ph. (03)9490 1434 Fax (03) 9499 9122
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report presents a survey and assessment of the
environmental values of the Somers Foreshore Reserve and an
investigation of the management issues affecting those
environmental values. This analysis of environmental values and
management issues is then used as the basis for proposing long term
and short term management recommendations.
The first part is a resource document for use by the committee
of management and the wider public, that inventories and summarises
the flora, fauna and ecological values of the Somers Foreshore
reserve. Baseline information about the flora and fauna has been
collected, compiled, analysed and discussed. An overview of the
flora and fauna is presented in the body of the report while the
base data is presented in several appendices. General management
iss es and threats to previously identified ecological values are
also considered leading to a summary of management priorities.
The second part begins with the development of a framework of
management blocks; areas of the Foreshore reserve with common
characteristics and clear boundaries, that facilitate an assessment
of the condition of the reserve and aid the targeting of management
actions. Management recommendations and actions are then reviewed
in several different formats and finally summarised in an
indicative three year management program. Part two then ends with a
proposed monitoring framework.
The third part of the report is a general exploration of
conservation management principles and indigenous habitat
restoration techniques. This section explores techniques for
prioritising weed control works as well as targeting and developing
revegetation and restoration works.
These three major components, incorporated into one overall
report, provide a clear information base collected within a
framework, that allows direct translation to general and
site-specific management recommendations and is the basis for
proposing long term management actions and monitoring
activities.
Overview of the Study Site
The foreshore is a narrow remnant of coastal vegetation
extending throughout the eastern Momington Peninsula (Victoria,
Australia). The coastal dune systems here extend in the region from
Sandy Point to Flinders. The southern parts of the HMAS Cerberus
land to the east exhibit the most extensive and intact examples of
the various sand dune communities found at Somers Foreshore. The
Bafnarnng, Merricks, Pt. Leo, Shoreham and Flinders coast also
exhibit varying degrees of these vegetation types.
The area has a maritime, temperate climate with warm, moist
summers and cool, wet winters. Average yearly rainfall is 800 mm;
the wettest months are May to October, with the driest months
occurring in January and February.
Flora, Vegetation Communities and their Conservation
Significance
A total of 216 species of vascular plants were recorded on the
foreshore reserve during the course of the this study. 100 of
these, around 46%, are considered indigenous to the study site. 116
of these species, around 54%, are considered to be introduced to
the foreshore reserve, including plants that are exotic to
Australia or native to other parts of the continent. This abundance
of introduced species is somewhat expected considering the degraded
nature of the study site.
All remnant vegetation, populations of indigenous plants and
what remains of indigenous vegetation communities on the foreshore
reserve are of local significance at minimum, given the general
depletion and poor condition of vegetation on the Momington
Peninsula as a whole.
No flora species of National or State significance were recorded
but 6 flora species were recorded that are considered to be of
Regional Significance. |
