Pitch Your Project - Doreen's Grassland Restoration

A Pitch Your Project idea was submitted for the restoration of a locally significant grassland called Doreen's Grassland in Altona. This pitch was made by the community in the 2022-23 round of applications. The conservation team are trialing a method called scalping, which has been utilised around Victoria to assist in restoring degraded grassland eco-systems.

Method - Scalping 

What is scalping? Scalping is a method where the topsoil is removed, including the layers which contain most of the weed seed and nutrients. This is undertaken by an excavator with a bucket.

Why scalp? Due to the nature of weeds, once they have established in an area, it is very difficult for native plants to persist and/or flourish. Due to the historical use of fertilizers and changes in soil conditions, weeds have benefited rather than our local indigenous plants. By removing weed seed and reducing nutrients in the soil, we are tipping the balance back into our local wildflowers' advantage.

What do we do after scalping a site? It’s been a long time since our native wildflowers have been in this area, and thus the seed is no longer present in the seed bank of this top-soil. We need to re-seed an area that has been freshly scalped providing the best opportunity for early establishment. We will be using indigenous seed from the Western Basalt Plains' surrounding areas for this.

Doreen's wildflowers 

Doreen's Grassland is named after a local resident who spent time in our local grasslands decades ago. Doreen collected and pressed flowers found in these wildflower meadows. This sketchbook and pressing collection has provided naturalists and our conservation team with a glimpse into the profound diversity of wildflower species once thriving in these areas, such as the Doreen's Grassland site. Species depicted in her pressings and drawings included Chrysocephalum, Pycnosorus , Eryngium and Wahlenbergias which are the species we are looking at reintroducing back into this grassland system once again.
Newspaper article: Wildflowers and native grasses thrive (smh.com.au)

Timeline:

2023 -  We have undertaken a preliminary assessment of current flora and fauna on site for which must be protected.

2024 - Next steps include further weed control and an ecological burn earmarked for this spring/summer season, weather dependant.

2025 - Currently the scalping work itself is currently programmed for autumn 2025 and re-seeding to occur after scalping.