Geelong's Grasslands

Natural Temperate Grasslands

Victoria’s grasslands really need our help. They once covered almost a third of the state, but a tiny one per cent remains, much in terrible condition.

Since colonisation nearly all of Victoria’s rich volcanic grasslands have been cropped, ploughed or bulldozed.

Grasslands are home to many threatened plants and animals like the Striped Legless Lizard, Growling Grass Frog and Golden Sun Moth.

Only one Conservation Area is being set aside for grassland-loving Legless Lizards and Golden Sun Moth. But none of other hundreds of hectares of grassland in the growth area is assured any protection.

Instead of erasing lower quality grasslands for “sustainable” housing, we should return it to its former glory.

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Growling Grass Frogs

Growling Grass Frogs (Litoria raniformis) are also known as the Southern Bell Frog, Warty Bell Frog and more affectionately as ‘Growlers’.

Growlers have a low guttural call and are one of the largest frogs in Australia. They sit and wait for their prey of small lizards, fish, insects and other frogs.

Growling Grass Frogs like still or slow moving water with plants growing up from the water and mats of floating and submerged plants.

They are very versatile, living in farm dams, irrigation ditches and classic creeks and rivers. On rainy nights they move between water bodies and have been found 200 metres from water.

A Conservation Areas along Cowies Creek is supposed to protect the Growlers that call it home. The trouble is the proposed boundaries are too tight and won’t give the frogs enough room to move.

Growlers used to be common but their numbers declined suddenly in the 1990s. Today these fascinating frogs are up against serious habitat destruction and degradation.

Growling Grass Frogs are listed as Vulnerable under both federal and state nature laws.

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Striped Legless Lizards

These little lizards, or stripeys, live in and between the grassland tussocks. Striped Legless Lizards (Delma impar) thrive in places that legs get in the way, like cracks in the soil and under rocks.

They don’t travel far (just a few metres), and during the day they hunt for spiders, crickets and other bugs and insects. They go into a deep sleep when it’s cold (called bromate, a kind of hibernation).

Stripeys can grow to 30cm long, wearing a grey-brown coat with a cream belly and stylish stripes along their body. The pattern of scales on the back of their head is unique – like each stripey’s personal fingerprint. They can drop their coat tails if threatened.

We know there are four groups of stripeys in the Northern and Western Geelong growth areas. At the moment, the plan will protect one of those four grassland homes with the fate of the other three uncertain.

They’re listed as Vulnerable under both federal and state nature laws.

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Golden Sun Moths

The mysterious Golden Sun Moth (Synemon plana) spends two to three years underground, feeding on grass roots. Then in late Spring to early Summer they emerge for a couple of days, flying low over the grasslands in search of a mate.

Sun Moths are slight, with a wingspan of three to four cms. They prefer open native grasslands but enjoy some introduced exotic weeds, like Chilean Needle Grass.

The Northern Area is buzzing with Golden Sun Moths. These subtle, shimmering insects call 700 hectares of it home. But here’s the problem: only the best 100 hectares of that gets the protection stamp with the rest cleared because it’s ‘too damaged’.

That’s like demolishing a run-down neighborhood instead of fixing it up. We need to set aside more Sun Moth habitat and help Geelong restore these struggling grasslands – give these elusive golden beauties the space they deserve to flourish.

Golden Sun Moths are listed as Vulnerable under both federal and state nature laws.

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Rivers, creeks and waterways

The GSA sits right next to the Moorabool River and Cowies Creek. We’re worried these waterways will be polluted and damaged, making life hard for the fish, frogs and other water creatures.

The Moorabool is home to rare native fish like the Australian Grayling, and Cowies Creek has Growling Grass Frogs along its length.

There are going to be Conservation Areas along the rivers, but the suggested boundaries are too tight. They’ll create bottlenecks that don’t give wildlife like Growling Grass Frogs enough room to move.

We don’t want to see buildings sprawling across the Moorabool’s natural flood plain because flood plains are meant to flood – that’s their job.

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The truth is that looking after wildlife habitat is not only about frogs, flowers and lizards.

It’s about clean air, drinkable water and soil for our food. It’s about our livelihoods and the community’s health and wellbeing.

10 actions to make the plan better for nature and people

1. Set strong nature targets – we don’t want Striped Legless Lizards or Growling Grass Frog to just “persist” – we want them to thrive. The GSA is clearing habitat, we must make sure what’s left is the best it can be.
2. Look after Striped Legless Lizards now, don’t leave them as “maybe later” areas. Three out of the four groups aren’t guaranteed protection under this plan. That’s a failure to protect a nationally important threatened animal and in beaurocratic speak: “avoid impacts to a Matter of National Environmental Significance“. The federal Threatened Species Scientific Committee says all Striped Legless Lizard populations matter for their recovery.
3. Give nature space to move along Cowies Creek – the proposed 100 metre buffer needs to be wider. If the Conservation Area isn’t expanded, narrow spots will stop Growling Grass Frogs from using it as a wildlife corridor.
4. Include Moorabool River’s floodplain in the Conservation Area, as shown in the Draft Kitjarra-dja-bul Bullarto langi-ut masterplan. The proposed 50 metre buffer is tiny and can’t properly protect the river. Just look at the poor development on the Western bank to see what happens.
5. Focus on restoration – offsetting is only one small tool in the toolbox. No Plains Grassland is protected in the Western Geelong Growth Area. That’s a huge gap. Be bold and expand the area of Golden Sun Moth habitat we protect.
6. Connect the landscapes inside and beyond the growth area – no proof is given for connections that could be important. We want to see smart wildlife corridors that work for all of Geelong.
7. Be open and honest with the community – there’s no promise to make all the development and conservation plans, ecological surveys, offset calculations and other key documents public. The community has a right to know what’s happening.
8. Make sure environmental offsets work – it’s best for nature if they’re local, strategic and coordinated by Geelong City. Offsets should meet two of the following: be large; in a conservation corridor; next to a conservation area; within 25km.
9. Protect future conservation areas now. We need to give private landholders real support and reasons to look after the wildlife and waterways on their land. Without care right now, there could be nothing left to protect.
10. Broaden what the Levy can achieve. It should pay for nature education and community engagement programs needed to make the conservation areas a real success. It should also pay for enough city staff to properly manage and monitor the plan.