NATIVE grasses in Australia, like a lot of our bushlands, have largely been lost. However, a recent surge of interest in learning more about their benefits bodes well for their future and for our environment.
A chance meeting with a native grasses expert who just happens to be a newly minted local provided the perfect opportunity for Southwest Environment Alliance (SEA) facilitator Kristy Brewer to help foster that learning.
Dr Ian Chivers was delighted to be invited to share his knowledge, and as a result of that meeting will present a native grasses rehabilitation seminar on Monday, February 20, at the Portland Football Netball Club (Hanlon Park) from 9.30am to 3pm.
Dr Chivers, a native grass specialist and CEO at seed production business Native Seeds Pty Ltd. in far north east Victoria from 1985 to 2017, recently moved to a property on the edge of Portland.
Local Landcare enthusiasts were lucky enough to first meet him and tap into his expertise at an open day event at Cape Bridgewater in late November last year.
The group, comprising about 26 members of Tarragal Landcare, the Cape Bridgewater Action Group and representatives from SEA gathered at the Whites Beach home of Judy and Stan Galewski to see the work the couple have done there to improve the property’s biodiversity.
The environment aficionados also attended a second property featuring a lot of native grasses which the owner was keen to learn more about, as well as what strategies and techniques farmers could use to help sustain these.
“The idea for the open day was to showcase what can be done in a landscaped garden,” Ms Brewer said.
“Often we see people moving to the bushland environment and planting a beautiful garden but not taking into consideration the exotics which always escape; people move to the bush because they love it but can unintentionally have a negative impact.”
But not the Galewskis.
Mr and Mrs Galewski moved to their Whites Beach acreage just six years ago after 35 years at Heathmere.
Living by the sea, specifically at Cape Bridgewater, is a dream come true for Mrs Galewski.
“It is such a beautiful place. We love being near the sea and it is a great community,” she said.
“Our open day was about showing what we’ve done here over the past six years, which includes a huge amount of weed removal – African boxthorn and Italian buckthorn in particular.”
In the spaces created from the weed removal the couple re-established indigenous plants only local to Cape Bridgewater.
These plants were painstakingly collected by Mrs Galewski as seeds and raised and propagated to such an extent that their home now boasts 60 different species.
These include moonah trees, drooping sheoaks and boobiallas, and several types of ground covers.
“One species of ground cover – Swainson’s pea – took me two years just to find and now I’ve got it growing everywhere,” Mrs Galewski said.
She is understandably proud of her efforts.
“Cape Bridgewater has a very unique EVC (ecological vegetation class), which means the plants are very special and are only found here.”
Native grasses
Also on the Galewski property were several native grasses species, some of which Mrs Galewski had not been able to identify, which is where Dr Chivers was able to help.
SEA facilitator Ms Brewer said even though much of our native grassland has been displaced by exotic grasses such as kikuyu or rye, there are still remnants that exist within bushlands and also paddocks, and one of the more common enquiries she gets from landowners is about identifying those.
The native species are a great food source for a lot of different animals, a great habitat for them and a different habitat niche to a forest, Ms Brewer added.
And in a trend which can only be positive for the environment, combining farming with native grasses is becoming very popular, she said.
“(Many people are) really interested in native grasses now and have learnt to identify some but not all, so when we want to take the next step, like bringing back pastures and restoring grasslands, there’s a knowledge gap.
“The idea of Monday’s seminar is to close that gap (so) people can find out if they’ve got native grasses and then learn about how they can give them a better chance of succeeding if they do.”
Native pastures not only support wildlife, such as the different birds and butterflies that feed off or live in the grasses, but are potentially going to do better in the environment than some of the introduced grasses, and without all the fertilisers required in the past, Ms Brewer added.
The grasses not only increase biodiversity, but also require less water and therefore don’t need mass irrigation.
“They’re perfectly suited to grow here.”
Growing and nurturing native grasses “all starts with awareness, which is the whole point of the seminar … some natives can be really difficult to identify”.
“Landcare already incorporates some into its revegetation projects but this seminar will take a broader look at them from the perspective of someone who’s done a lot of this.”
Dr Chivers is looking forward to meeting interested locals at the seminar.
Having lived in the harsh environments of far north east Victoria and also Canberra, he’s loving the milder weather here and the abundance of wildlife he sees on his property: koalas, bandicoots, wallabies, wetland with brolgas, swans, and “of course, the ocean and the Grampians and more”.
He is so passionate about his field that he could, by his own admission, “talk about this stuff underwater”. He’s been doing so for decades, presenting seminars and attending open days throughout his career.
His vision as CEO and chief native grass specialist at Native Seeds Pty Ltd for 32 years was “to unlock the full potential of Australian native grasses” and to see the environment, parklands and domestic gardens flourishing with native grasses. It’s a vision that he’s brought with him to Portland.
The grasses are important for our environment in myriad ways, he said.
“First, they are adapted to the environment, and our animals are adapted to live on them. Australia has particularly old soil – millions of years old – whereas the grasses that we use for most of our agriculture were developed in Europe, with soils only tens of thousands of years old, so there is a vastly different age structure.
“Because of that our soils are depleted. So, (the soils have) lower nutritional content, usually higher acidity, and are missing a lot of typical, classical agricultural things that are required for plant growth.
“Our native grasses grow very well under Australian conditions whereas with introduced stuff you need to continually add fertiliser and lime. So, for one, you’ve got a cost but two, you’ve then got issues of overabundance; sometimes too much fertiliser being applied or not enough and you have to spend a lot of time trying to moderate it and get everything right …If you provide too much it just leaches into the system,” he said.
And while Australia is already producing a lot on native pastures, such as sheep, wool, and beef, a lot of farmers don’t know they are using them or don’t recognise the grasses themselves, he added.
“There’s this term ‘improved pastures’ (which I find) pejorative, which says everything native is ‘bad’ and all the others are ‘improved’. It’s just wrong in lots of senses.
“The native species when grown under similar conditions – and there’s lots of data to show this – produce as much foliage and as much quality as the introduced stuff,” he said.
Attendees at the seminar can look forward to learning so much more from Dr Chivers on Monday. Registrations are essential and need to be made by 5pm today.
Ms Brewer has already had registrations from Port Fairy and Hamilton for this seminar, showing that “the community is very interested in alternative pastures”.
“People are loving their land and want to get the most out of it so it’s important to help them to transition into new practices,” she said.
What: Native grasses rehabilitation seminar
Where: Portland Football Netball Club (Hanlon Park)
When: Monday, February 20 from 9.30am to 3pm
Registrations: facilitator@sealliance.org.au by 5pm today.
This is a free event.
