Western Port Woodlands project
The Western Port Woodlands (WPW), as it’s been labelled in recent years, is a patchwork of fragmented woodlands and forests on the border of South Gippsland, within Cardinia Shire and Bass Coast Shire. The WPW make up the largest intact area of high-quality remnant vegetation on the Bass Coast, and they are home to an array of threatened species including, but not confined to, the Powerful Owl, Blue-winged Parrot, Lace Monitor, Southern Brown Bandicoot and Southern Toadlet.
Project description
The region is highly political, with many different land uses and managers (both public and private), including Parks Victoria, Bass Coast Shire Council, farmers, sand mining companies and even a car proving ground and golf course in the mix.
Many environmental groups, such as the Victorian National Parks Association, Save the Western Port Woodlands Group, and GTSAG are interested in protecting and expanding habitat within the region to cater for threatened species.
GTSAG is working closely with public and private land managers to monitor fauna and flora within the WPW to broaden our knowledge of the ecological and biodiversity values of some of these sites, in order to protect them. We are developing projects with land managers to expand and connect remnant vegetation through a series of future biolinks to improve resilience of threatened species.
Photo credits: Lowland Forest by Nicky Baird, Southern Brown Bandicoot by Craig Boase, Powerful Owl by Dave Newman.