Native Grasses – Going, Going….

Public attention is firmly focused on bushland habitat destruction and its impact, and this is reflected in the many excellent revegetation programs such as our Linking the Mornington Peninsula Landscape.

Much less attention is given to native grasslands. Yet, over the past 150 y or so, 99.9% of the once extensive Australian native grasslands have disappeared (Sustainable Farms 2024). Put another way, of native grasslands covering the area of the Shire only around 70 ha would remain!

The reasons are many fold: land clearing, invasion by exotic species, grazing methods tuned to exotic grasses, applications of high-phosphate fertiliser…. It is a long list!

Remarkably, such losses have gone almost unnoticed. Imagine the furore that would have arisen if the Peninsula’s once extensive woodlands had shrunk to a patch of just 70 ha!

Native grasslands are as biodiverse as deep woodlands – in southeastern Australia alone, they were home to around 1,100 grass species, together with: hundreds of herbs; fungi; mosses; birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians; and thousands of invertebrates.

They also are just plain pretty.

Native grasslands bring considerable economic and climate amelioration benefits. As summarised by Mitchell (2003), our generally perennial native grasslands provide a range of production, environmental and economic advantages:

• Adapted to local soil and rainfall.
• Improved water infiltration and drought resistance,
• Habitat for wildlife including a wide range of beneficial species, and
• Since many are summer growing, reduction in grass fire potential, and if a fire does occur, rapid recovery,

Grazed correctly, native pastures also provide excellent fodder, and are potentially important genetic resources for developing new pasture and crop varieties.

I can attest from personal experience that replacing exotic grasslands with indigenous ones is a daunting task. But with a bit of persistence good results can be achieved. There also is a growing community of specialist nurseries and seed providers who are widening our once poor levels of understanding and expertise.

And by far the greatest benefit of all? Imagine a house lawn that stays green year round, requires minimal water, and only has to be mowed every few months!

– Article by Greg Holland, image from here.