Vegetation: |
Three complmentary landscape scale feral goat and rabbit control programs are operating in the Riverland Biosphere, Murray
Mallee and Burra to Olary areas. These programs require a monitoring framework for evaluating ongoing feral goat control
activities, funded by the Australian Government and delivered by DEWNR and partners. The current baseline impact survey will use existing photopoint/biological/pastoral sites, or establish new sites, to monitor highly palatble plant species over time.
Goat impact assessment methodlogy has been developed in arid land systems (see McDonald and Brandle 2009, and BDBSA survey number 651) and the same method will be applied to the mallee environment. The methodlogy involves measuring size parameters (height, length, width of old and new browse forms), and past and current browse intensity (diameter classes) on multiple individual plants, which can indicate current and past browsing pressure across multiple sites and species. Additional methods will assess current browse and damage at particular sites which are the focus of specific goat management actions, for example, dam closures or new fencing. A standard observational pastoral assessment is completed at each site, recording plant species present within similar habitat within an approximate radius of 200m, Crown Seperation Ratio (CSR), Structural Dominants, evidence of grazing, recruitment or resporuting, assessment of site condition and erosion, and vertebrate presence.
Goat impact assessments will be regularly employed in the future to evaluate feral goat impacts at any time, and can be
targeted around specific management actions. Combined with other components of the landscape goat control projects,
including home range and density information, this project will contribute to a feral goat abundance/vegetation impact model
that underpins adaptive management practice, which will improve our understanding and success in managing feral goats in
these landscapes. |