Conservation groups and members of the community have been asking for the area to be protected for more than three decades.
What we know about the Woodlands
Our Wildlife corridor or sand pit? collated DELWP data of threatened species records, vegetation communities and their status, and current planning overlays.
It revealed the corridor from Nyora to Grantville is alive with amazing plant and animal life.
One was the only threatened species-listed fungi Tea-tree Fingers (Hypocreopsis amplectens). Other threatened wildlife include Southern Brown and Long-nosed Bandicoots and Powerful Owls. Significant outlying populations of Bobucks/Mountain Brush Tail Possums and koalas also make their home here.
Our report also found that planning overlays are scarce across the woodlands, even though their significance is very high.
Only one per cent is covered by an Environmental Significance Overlay and only 15 per cent by Significant Landscape Overlay. Meaning the woodlands, particularly on private land, lack even the most basic protection from mining and inappropriate development.
The pathway to better protection
The Victorian Government has designed the Distinctive Areas and Landscapes (DAL) policy draft for the Bass Coast. It proposes a 50-year vision and planning controls to guide land use and development for the region.
The government’s own ecological experts class the Western Port Woodlands as Nationally Significant. Yet the draft entirely overlooked the biodiversity hotspot. Even worse – the entire area is identified for sand extraction.
It does talk about the importance of biolinks and the need for ecological restoration works in other areas, but essentially ignores the whole string of parks, reserves, and remnant vegetation that are already a ‘biolink’.
Where are we now?
We’ve teamed up with South Gippsland Conservation Society and Save Western Port Woodlands as the Western Port Woodlands Alliance.
We’re putting forward the case for better planning controls for the Woodlands to the DAL hearing panel. Together with ecologists, mycologists, botanists and planning experts, we’re pushing for science-led future protection of the Woodlands.
The DAL hearings have begun. We’ll be presenting at the hearings on 12 April.
