Revegetation Biodiversity at Eaglerise Farm
Revegetation – Biodiversity – Habitat Creation – Niche Development
When we are planting trees, we consider that we are actually creating habitat. This frame of mind directs us to plant certain species in appropriate places and at appropriate densities and spacings. As these plants grow, some will die back, some will recruit, but all will add to the ecosystem and develop niche potential within the system.
This is the Mullengandra Creek page from “Revegetation Guide for the South West Slopes” edited by Fleur Stelling. It is the guide we use to select the appropriate species for our revegetation projects. We purchase our seedlings from a local nursery, Jayfields Nursery, just up the road, past Holbrook. We actively select local plants to preserve local provenance. It is easy to accept that the Redgums at Corryong, in the upper reaches of the Murray River, will have slightly differing aspects to the Redgums down the river in South Australia. The flowers could be slightly different depth, width, texture, colour etc. The local fauna has evolved alongside these plants and have body shapes to coelesce with the plant parts, mouth shape, tongue, nest preference, colour preference etc. With that in mind, it is easy to realise the importance to revegetate with local plants to ensure correct genetics suitable for the rest of the ecosystem – insects, birds etc.
Eaglerise Farm was a single, undeveloped paddock of 250 acres/100Ha when it was purchased in 2000. It was, quite literally, the back paddock of a farm that was sub-divided. Revegetation commenced in 2001 after preliminary farm designs were evaluated. What we call, “Gully 1” was the first section to be excluded from routine grazing and replanted with appropriate native species.
Tree coverage in 2000
This map highlights the trees that existed when we took over the nurturing of this property in 2000. The yellow shaded area is 125 acres, half the farm, and there were 36 trees.
Many of these old trees have subsequently died. These can be seen as the red trees on the map. We have planted 20,000 trees in the last 20 years. Some of these have struggled to survive the Australian droughts. We have an on-going commitment to revegetate the farm.
If you scroll in and around you can see the impact that the Eaglerise Farm Philosophies have had on the vegetation cover. The revegetated sites are shaded to show perspective. The revegetation areas account for approx 25% of the farm area. The Australian National Organic Standards call for 5% of the farm are to be devoted to natural ecosystems.
Future Ecological Plantings
At the end of 2022, we re-assessed our vegetation management and devised a future plan for ecological plantings. This plan connects and provides enhanced habitat over 38% of the farm. Much of this will only represent a loss in productivity for a relatively short period of time, until trees are established and livestock can safely cell graze below them and the fences are lifted. When combined with our other revegetation projects, we have a total of over 50% of the farm devoted to ecosystem enhancement. As I developed this plan, I realised that I was designing a farm where you are never more than 40-50m from at least one tree! These new projects are divided into 6 classifications.
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- Agroforestry
- Acacia introduction
- Revegetation
- Paddock trees
- Acacia re-introduction, and
- Swales and paddock trees
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We have decided to de-stock our sheep. This has opened up these possibilities of using temporary, single strand, electric fences. Without this, we could not undertake such an extensive plan of habitat enhancement.
Revegetation, Acacia Introduction and Agroforestry sites.
Here we have our future revegetation sites in yellow. These are designed to provide a diverse mixture of local native plants and are designated for very occasional future grazing as weed and harbor management. It takes at least 5-7 years before we allow sheep into these sites. Cattle will be too rough on young plants and therefore, will be excluded from the grazing management.
Some of these sites, such as the one near the front gate, increase the potential of cell grazing. Here, water pipes and outlets will be installed. The water troughs will also provide water for ecosystem animals. This site also enhances the fauna corridor as animals migrate up our driveway and traverse across from out boundary plantings and use this site to leapfrog to our Gully 1 revegetation site and then across the farm.
Other sites will revegetate our early plantings. We have not managed to keep rabbits and occasional sheep getting through the fence, out of these sites. This, coupled with a series of droughts, has reduced the survival of our plantings.
Other sites for revegetation are new sites, some of which will require fencing first. One very important site is the one across the northern end of the vineyard paddock. This will provide a link joining two gullies and, importantly, it will provide protection/windbreak for some existing stag trees. We have found that isolated stags can topple over, but, if surrounded by healthy trees, they can survive much longer. One of these stags has a glider hollow and a feeding diamond – evidence of a once strong glider population.
Other sites will revegetate our early plantings. We have not managed to keep rabbits and occasional sheep getting through the fence, out of these sites. This, coupled with a series of droughts, has reduced the survival of our plantings.
Other sites for revegetation are new sites, some of which will require fencing first. One very important site is the one across the northern end of the vineyard paddock. This will provide a link joining two gullies and, importantly, it will provide protection/windbreak for some existing stag trees. We have found that isolated stags can topple over, but, if surrounded by healthy trees, they can survive much longer. One of these stags has a glider hollow and a feeding diamond – evidence of a once strong glider population.
Acacia Introduction –
The dark blue sites here indicate where we plan to plant out intensive acacias and protect from the cattle with a single electric wire. Our hope is that their seed will migrate down the slope within these remnant trees in the gullies. These are trials, and, if successful, we can quickly duplicate. This has not been feasible until we destocked the sheep.
Agroforestry –
The last strategy here is the dark pink site in the middle of the farm. This is an exciting strategy as it signifies our economic sustainability, succession plan. We are going to develop this site as an agroforestry site that will yield up to 100 high value trees in 40-50 years. We plan to develop this enterprise and we calculate that we need 5 of these sites planted out with 10-year gaps to provide a significant cash injection to the farm every 10-years once they start to be harvested. As they grow and re-grow, they will enhance the total ecosystem.
Paddock Trees
The next strategy is what we call, Paddock Trees, shown in pink. We are trying to increase the quantity of general paddock trees in our areas that are unsuitable for other strategies. We are implementing our 40m rule, where there is nowhere on the farm when you are more than 40m from a tree. As these trees grow, their crowns will reach out to lessen this distance and enhance their ecological value within our grassy woodland ecosystem. These areas are not strict revegetation plantings. Rather, they are ecologically enhanced production areas providing significant wildlife corridors and habitat.
The general idea is to use single electric fence wires to cut off corners or to protrude into paddocks to protect trees until they are strong enough to withstand the cattle grazing/pushing/chewing them. The electric wires will also assist in cell grazing efficiency.
On the western side if the farm, we have a couple of steep grazing paddocks. Here, we’re going to cut off the corner of our triangle paddock with a single wire, run a wire around a rocky outcrop and run another along a fence line. These projects will significantly improve the ecological function of these paddocks and develop linkages down the slope to our gully. This will give a beneficial return for minimal cost.
As we develop our chalet site, it will be an easy task to include some paddock trees as landscape features and ecological links.
Acacia Re-introduction.
Our acacia re-introduction strategy, shown in light blue, is an exciting concept. Some of the farm has had established remnant trees but no understory. We plan to re-introduce acacias into these areas and exclude grazing. The rocky, steep gully sides currently provide minimal grazing productivity, so, it will be very beneficial to isolate these areas and enhance their ecological productivity.
We also plan to include acacias into our vineyard planting pattern to have about 15% acacias within the vines. We have also developed a grassy woodland area with our fruit trees. We plan to include acacias between the fruit trees. These two projects will provide permanent evergreen habitat within deciduous production plantings. This will give permanent niche development for birdlife and also, beneficial, predatory insects for pest management.
Swales and Paddock Trees.
The final exciting design feature involves planting trees along swales in our grazing paddocks, shown in green. The swales will slow the overland flow in a storm event, reduce nutrient loss and direct it into the soil profile. The swales are around 20m apart and the trees will be planted 30m apart along the lower side of the swale. This spacing will be sufficient for birds and gliders to traverse the landscape as the travel between intensive revegetation sites.
The system will involve running electric wires along the swale and circling the trees. We shall then be left with the rudiments of a cell grazing system. We attempted this, using shipping pallets as tree guards, but they proved great for small seedlings and sheep. However, as the trees grew above the pallet, they were prone to browsing by the cattle, and the cattle pushed them around. With no sheep, the electric wire can keep the cattle away from the trees and still allow them to graze under the wire. Sheep can be re-introduced when the trees no longer need protection.
Here you can see detailed information about each of our sites.
You can click on these individual projects to open their detail. These projects will be slowly undertaken as time and funds allow. The proposed fencing jobs are highlighted in blue. It is important to document the vision and reflect on the desired outcomes.
The Total Picture
Here is an exciting map. It shows how the farm will be vegetated when we have completed our current plan combined with our existing revegetation works. There is a considerable area devoted to ecological functions. Remembering there was only 36 trees in the southern half of the farm in 2000.
The wildlife corridors standout and you can appreciate the productive grazing land remains viable.
Lake Allen
Here are before and after photos of our revegetation efforts at Lake Allen in 2017. We plant out seedlings in an organised, random pattern. We plant each seedling in an appropriate site and plant groups of acacias throughout eucalyptus plantings.
The milk cartons act as rabbit guards and wind breaks.