PARK WATCH Article September 2026 |

Adrian Marshall, Facilitator, Grassy Plains Network takes a wander through the world of grasslands

Here at the Grassy Plains Network, we have a big focus on wandering. Writing submissions, poking government about lack-lustre policy and failures to enforce protection is super-important, but so is wandering. This year we have about thirty upoming wanders coming up. Let me tell you why. There are SO MANY reasons!

1. Looking down

The only way to realise how extraordinary our grasslands are is to wander in one. Grasses make up the structure of a grassland, but the bulk of the diversity is in between the grass tussocks, in the inter-tussock spaces. You can’t see all those lilies, peas, daisies and orchids without looking down.

It’s like snorkelling. From the beach, it’s just water. Put on a mask and pop your head below the water and BOOM! There’s a coral reef. From the roadside a grassland may look like a paddock, from within it’s a wonderland.

2. Raising awareness

A wander is an exercise in awareness. Of learning to see the russet of a sward of Kangaroo Grass, or the twining texture of Running Postman. It’s frog song, the softness of a leaf, the delicious aroma of a Chocolate Lily.

It’s awareness-raising too, as we talk through the issues threatening these wonderlands. The big picture stuff, policy and resourcing, and the local threats.

With awareness comes greater capacity to protect. We need that.

3. Remembering the past

A wander is honouring what has been destroyed, or is about to be. We’re visiting the 0.5% remaining of the vast grassy plains of Victoria. We can only imagine what those were like.

Our first walk this year is to Section G Grassland in Cairnlea. Its destruction for a road has been approved by the planning minister. That road will provide developers the access they need to a second grassland, Jonesfield Corner, now also proposed for destruction.

4. Managing the future

We wander to inspect and assess, to understand how well or poorly a grassland is being managed. We do this because poor management or lack thereof is one of the biggest threats to grasslands. Doing nothing is not an option. They need to be grazed or slashed or burnt regularly, otherwise the weeds take over.

This year we’re going to one grassland that has die-back from a chemical spill. We’re going to places that are the benchmark in management, places that have been ignored, and everything in between. And we always advocate for better management.

5. Networking and conspiring

We wander to network and share knowledge. Everyone gets something out of a wander. Locals can begin to team up, experts argue taxonomy, contractors discover details they were never taught, we hear the history of our conservation efforts, we get to conspire!

6. Community building

Wandering grows our grassy community. Parents, kids, new migrants, scions of settler families, artists, activists, professionals and amateurs, people just wanting to have fun, explorers and idlers. Whoever you are we want you; your wandering helps protect these precious places, and that’s what we do.

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We wander to connect, respect and help protect. To celebrate, show care and build local identity. To share knowledge, play and see something new and something old in a new way.

To wonder at the incredible interconnectedness and understand urban, peri-urban and rural systems. To be counted, to find similarities across cultures and to send the planning minister a postcard (yes, we’ll be doing that!). To document, create possibilities, help prosper and to work.

We wander to apologise, mourn and take strength. To simply be present in nature, pause, to be small and to jump a fence.

33. We wander to stay grassy!