�ݺ�ߣshows by User: rthackway

Transformation Pathways - The recovery and restoration of native vegetation.

rthackway@slideshare.net(rthackway) — Fri, 28 Oct 2022 19:43:38 GMT

Case studies across Australia, including Mulligans Flat and Goorooyarroo, are presented providing insights in plant community resilience, possible system trajectories. Outcomes of each assessment can be used in adaptive management e.g. 1) inform what direct measures of field-based attributes need to be collected to fill gaps in knowledge and 2) to guide potential management interventions to transition a site toward a desired condition state. Each assessment commences with knowledge of local First Nations land management regimes in the early 1800s and is followed by a detailed local scale systematic chronology of land use and land management regimes and a synthesis of relevant ecological data and information on the responses of the plant community over time with observed impacts of on ground regimes and practices. The framework is based on 22 indicators hierarchically organised into ecological function, structural and compositional criteria. Changes in benchmarked values of criteria and indicators over time are used to track the response of a plant community to land management regimes and practices. A transformation index is calculated over time relative to a fully natural reference state. This process enables a competent ecologist to assess status, change and trend of native vegetation (plant community types). A systematic framework is presented for assessing the outcomes of intentional and unintentional land management practices on the condition components of plant communities. The world over – land management regimes and practices are used to maintain or to transform natural ecosystems by modifying, removing and replacing native vegetation. Equally, management regimes and practices are used to rehabilitate and restore native vegetation (plant community types). Decisions to reconnect fragmented landscapes are informed by such information. Response measures in the framework are populated using relevant data and information from expert elicitation, environmental histories, interviews with skilled subject specialists, long term ecological monitoring programs and multi-spatial and multi-temporal remote sensing datasets.

Australia's Protected Areas - Caring for Country

rthackway@slideshare.net(rthackway) — Tue, 07 Sep 2021 23:42:34 GMT

This presentation is overview of the history of Protected Area development in Australia commencing with an outline of how a national bioregionalization framework for both the terrestrial and marine environments was collaboratively conceived and established. Using this framework, the progress of Australia’s national reserve system (marine and terrestrial) is presented along with its practical, political and policy challenges. This journey, since the early 1990s has seen innovative additions to Australia’s protected area system through the development of Indigenous and private protected areas and with growing protection contributions being made by primary production landholders.

What's your property's story? Establishing a baseline for landscape improvement

rthackway@slideshare.net(rthackway) — Thu, 06 May 2021 01:56:06 GMT

Soils for Life workshop was held at “Jillamatong” Braidwood, NSW on 13 November 2013. The presentation outlines a system for assessing change and trend in vegetation condition at the paddock level using the VAST framework. To assess change and trend it is necessary to develop ecological literacy about ecological function. The presentation steps through key components of the VAST framework including collating a chronology about land management practices and regimes and the observed effects these practices had on indicators ecological function. A simple graphical report card is used to assist the land manager see where they have come from, where they are now and to plan strategies for achieving future outcomes by changing land management practices and regimes. Site and paddock-based monitoring of core indicators will assist the and manager to track change and trend.

Knowing more about your land - establishing a knowledge baseline for landscape improvement

rthackway@slideshare.net(rthackway) — Thu, 25 Mar 2021 06:02:14 GMT

Soils for Life workshop was held at “Jillamatong” Braidwood, NSW on 13 November 2013. The presentation outlines a system for assessing change and trend in vegetation condition at the paddock level using the VAST framework. To assess change and trend it is necessary to develop ecological literacy about ecological function. The presentation steps through key components of the VAST framework including collating and collecting a chronology about land management practices and regimes and the observed effects these practices had on indicators ecological function. A simple graphical report card is used to assist the land manager see where they have come from, where they are now and to plan strategies for achieving future outcomes by changing land management practices and regimes. Site and paddock-based monitoring of core indicators will assist the and manager to track change and trend.

Tracking sand dune transformation �before, during and after sand dune mining, Myall Lakes, NSW, a case study

rthackway@slideshare.net(rthackway) — Thu, 25 Mar 2021 05:49:00 GMT

Unmodified landscapes are transformed by the removal of vegetation prior to, during sand mining and through restoration, after mining. Bridge Hill Ridge is presented as a case study for the application of a standardised national system (VAST-2) to account for ecological changes before, during and after mining. Bridge Hill Ridge is a high coastal sand dune, part of the Myall Lakes National Park, NSW. A reference state was defined for the unmodified unmined Blackbutt (Eucalyptus pilularis) and smooth barked apple (Angophora costata) open forest, comprising ten ecological characteristics, integrated with 22 indicators. This information provided the basis for assessing change and trend over time in regard to mining and restoration. Relevant sources of ecological data and information pertaining to the ten ecological characteristics and 22 indicators were compiled and analysed relative to the reference states. Key researchers and land managers who had worked on the site were contacted and interviewed. A field visit was conducted in mid-January 2014 to validate assessment of change and trend, almost 40 years after mine restoration. The effects of land management practices, i.e. mining and restoration, upon the unmodified Eucalypt open forest plant community were assessed relative to the reference state to determine the relative change and trend in the ten ecological characteristics and 22 indicators over time. Reporting standardized indicators helps land managers and other decision makers to understand the nature of change and trend in regard to predicted future states; to make adjustments in rehabilitation activities (e.g. hydrological interventions, control of weeds and feral animals, mitigation of wildfire, and management of people). The benefits of integrated monitoring and reporting using a standardised report card provides a simple tool to inform inform stakeholders of progress towards agreed target/s of vegetation structure, species composition and regenerative capacity (landscape function).

VAST: A Framework for Assessing the Transformation of Native Vegetation

rthackway@slideshare.net(rthackway) — Thu, 31 Jan 2019 03:51:42 GMT

The VAST framework was developed for assessing and reporting on the degree of modification of plant communities modified by land management regimes and production systems. Modification is assessed using criteria and indicators of ecological function, structure and composition. Depending of the need VAST can operate at spatial and temporal scales. The framework is outlined showing how the degradation and restoration of forest/vegetation types relates to deliberate and unintentional land management decisions. A case study of the Cumberland State Forest, Pennant Hills, New South Wales is presented. Users of the framework consider four key issues; 1) Must differentiate severe natural disturbance events from impacts of land management regimes; 2) Must define reference state using the same indicators of ecological function, structure and composition; 3) Must understand stable condition states and multiple benefits (ecosystem services); and 4) Must understand interactions between patterns of rainfall and land management regimes.

Phillip Is, Pacific Ocean: Drivers of landscape degradation and recovery and its effects on bird communities

rthackway@slideshare.net(rthackway) — Fri, 02 Mar 2018 10:12:21 GMT

We present an assessment of the modification of the vegetation condition found on Phillip Island relative to a fully natural pre-European (1750) reference state and the current land and sea birds recorded on the Island. The island became denuded between the late 1700s and mid-1850s. Introductions of pigs, goats and rabbits were made to feed to penal colony of the nearby Norfolk Island. Almost complete loss of vegetation types, extent and condition is attributed to a deliberate land management regime: used to feed the pigs and goats. Pigs and goats became extinct with the loss of vegetation on the Island. Rabbits persisted on the Island until 1988, when they were eradicated. Changes in the extent of vegetation cover has been remarkable from a very low level up to 1900-1980 (estimated <1%); it now covers large areas of the island including valleys and gulleys and cliffs (estimated 50%). Our analyses show that the condition of the largely passively recovered vegetation extent is not of a high condition relative to an assumed reference state (1750) for Pine – Hardwood Subtropical Rainforest. A reconstructed pre-European settlement (original) list of sea birds shows that sea birds diversity on the island have changed little in three recent bird surveys (1978-2015). A reconstructed pre-European settlement (original) list of land birds shows that land birds have obviously changed, with many of the current species not represented in the pre-European list. The current list of land birds, which make up most of the current list of species recorded on Phillip Island have invaded from the nearby Norfolk Island. We conclude that current bird species diversity and distribution on the island is a not a function of the condition of the indigenous native vegetation, assessed relative to a pre-European reference state, but rather it appears to be a response to the lack of mammalian grazing mammals and the present of open to dense shrubby vegetation.

Monitoring and Reporting Landscape Condition on Defence Lands

rthackway@slideshare.net(rthackway) — Fri, 16 Feb 2018 22:20:21 GMT

Defence has an obligation under Commonwealth legislation and under internal Defence policy for the long-term sustainable management of Defence land. A vital part of Defence’s commitment to environmental stewardship is the ongoing monitoring of the biophysical characteristics of the landscape, to establish limitations and the likelihood of degradation under Defence activities. The long-term biophysical management of the environment is critical to support Defence logistics, accommodation and training functions, day to day and in future. Land management actions are set out under a broad range of management constraints, which require ongoing monitoring to inform on future landscape management approaches. The application of landscape condition assessment provides a measurable threshold for land managers to make more informed decisions surrounding their land management practices, and to maintain Defence land that is fit for purpose. Presented at the Defence and Industry Conference 2018, Hyatt Hotel, Canberra 14 February 2018. Jim Nikolareas, Richard Thackway and Chelayne Evans

Framework for assessing and reporting resilience of native vegetation

rthackway@slideshare.net(rthackway) — Wed, 08 Mar 2017 03:56:56 GMT

A framework is presented that is relevant to all terrestrial ecosystems and their modification states. Unpinning the framework is the tool's ability to track change and trends based on assessing effects of land management regimes. Effects of these regimes on criteria & indicators of function, structure and composition are scored using criteria and indicators. Changes in condition, resilience and transformation are assessed relative to fully natural a reference state for each plant community. Assessments are constrained to soil landscape units because this approximates to land manager’s use and management of the landscape. The framework helps decision makers assess and report change at sites and landscapes due to human management and natural drivers.

Development and application of core attributes, A first approximation national report of changes in revegetation extent

rthackway@slideshare.net(rthackway) — Fri, 17 Feb 2017 03:31:33 GMT

Revegetation, including restoration and rehabilitation, is a major public-private strategy to protect natural resources, repair stressed ecosystems and habitats and is essential for maintaining sustainable production and delivery of ecosystem services. Revegetation and rehabilitation activities are funded via public or private investment, or a combination of both, at national, state and regional levels. A capacity to routinely track changes and trends in revegetation type, extent and condition at a national level has lagged behind considerable investments over several decades in on-ground strategic revegetation activities and changes in land management practices. The extent of revegetation may be derived from multiple sources including: regional surveys, remote sensing, catchment-based data and site-based inventory. States and territories use a range of methods to record and report site and landscape scale revegetation extent. Despite the development and endorsement of national standards for the tracking changes in the type, extent and condition of revegetation, these standards have not been systematically or comprehensively adopted at regional, state and national levels. The national standard was used to report on the extent of national revegetation using the best available regional and national scale data and information; the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Agricultural Census and the National Carbon Accounting System (NCAS). This approach provides a first approximation of changes in the extent of revegetation or rehabilitated land in Australia. Systematic and comprehensive monitoring and reporting of revegetation extent at site and landscape scales are critical for consistently evaluating successes of revegetation outcomes. Improved accuracy of reports would be achieved by using the national standard.

Systematic framework to assess restoration actions and outcomes based on measurable success criteria and indicators

rthackway@slideshare.net(rthackway) — Mon, 05 Dec 2016 03:27:44 GMT

A unifying framework is presented for tracking the outcomes of intentional and unintentional land management practices on the condition components of plant communities. The framework is based on 22 indicators hierarchically organised into 10 functional, structural and compositional criteria. Changes in the values of criteria and indicators over time track the response of a plant community to land management practices. This involves a twostep process. First develop a systematic and comprehensive site-based chronology of land management practices over time. Second fully integrate relevant data and information on the responses of the plant community into the chronology of practices, actions and interventions. How, and to what degree, the practices effect the indicators is also recorded, including deliberate and/or inadvertent actions and outcomes. Data and information on the outcomes of actions is compiled from various sources including; direct measures of field-based attributes, estimates of attributes derived from expert elicitation, environmental histories, interviews with skilled subject specials and relevant metrics derived from multi-spatial and multi-temporal remote sensing datasets. Provided a competent ecologist has access to key resources, a preliminary assessment can be completed in three days. Indicators are scored separately using a metric 0-1, based on the response of the plant community’s indicator assessed relative to the indicator in the reference state. Indicator scores are aggregated and weighted separately for three components; functional (55%), structural (27%) and compositional (18%). The reference state is assigned 100%. This framework has been widely applied across major climate zones in Australia to track and explain observed decadal spatial and temporal changes in the condition of plant communities including changes due to restoration activities. Examples will be provided in how applications of this framework also provide insights in plant community resilience, possible system trajectories and future management options.

Managing vegetation for multiple benefit outcomes – Diagnosis and Prognosis

rthackway@slideshare.net(rthackway) — Mon, 26 Sep 2016 05:16:09 GMT

A framework for evaluating changes in extent and condition of woody native vegetation communities in the Murray Darling Basin. An approach for developing scenarios for future landscape transformation to enhance native vegetation communities

A framework for assessing and reporting resilience of native vegetation

rthackway@slideshare.net(rthackway) — Sun, 06 Mar 2016 07:57:19 GMT

Land management practices are used for a wide range of purposes to modify and fragment native vegetation at sites and to transform vegetated landscapes. Land management targets indicators of vegetation structure, species composition and regenerative capacity. A framework is presented enabling the gains and losses of native vegetation to be tracked over time at site and landscape scales.

Application of land management information to improve the tracking of changes and trends in the extent and condition of native vegetation

rthackway@slideshare.net(rthackway) — Thu, 05 Nov 2015 08:38:55 GMT

Most changes over time in the extent and condition of native vegetation types can be accounted by changes in Land use and land management practices (LMP). Obvious changes and trends in the structure, composition and function of native vegetation can be detected using remote sensing. While environmental models are helpful they must access site data on the effects that LMP have on essential environmental variables. More subtle changes in native vegetation extent and condition must be directly measured using ground-based observations of the interactions to attribute cause and effect to natural processes and LMP. Ideally we need an information system which informs the survey, classification and mapping and modelling of LMP at various scales

All is not what it seems - Why integrate land management and ecological literacy over space and time?

rthackway@slideshare.net(rthackway) — Fri, 17 Jul 2015 07:10:12 GMT

The condition of native vegetation types is changed and transformed over time by land use and land management practices. Intensive natural events are illustrated which effect vegetation structure and composition in the short term. Long term interactions between intensive natural events such as firestorms, windstorms and pest animals are presented. The VAST-2 system is used to illustrate several case studies including sand mining, sheep and cattle grazing, pest animals and cropping. This lecture was given to the Fenner School, Australian National University as part of an intensive post graduate course (ENVS 2022/6012, Sustainable Systems: Rural (2015)).

National coordination of consistent NRM data and information to inform land use policies and planning

rthackway@slideshare.net(rthackway) — Fri, 17 Jul 2015 06:07:06 GMT

Land use and planning utilizes varied natural resource datasets obtained from diverse sources; national, state, regional, local and site levels. The Australia Government plays a major role in coordinating the collection, compilation, analysis and publication of nationally consistent environmental datasets. These national compilations have proven critical to supporting informed land use decision making at national, state and regional levels. This Australia Government role, acknowledges that the state and territory governments under the Australian constitution are responsible for day-to-day land use and land management. Coordinating the efficient national collection, compilation and supply of agreed data for different purposes involves developing agreed environmental guidelines and standards as well as legal instruments. The Australian Government and its agencies also perform a major role as a broker in the establishment, development and maintenance of mutual benefit partnerships between collaborating land management and research institutions. Good examples of efficient and effective coordinating arrangements are usually supported through publicly funded NRM programs which enable the data owner /supplier to add value to existing data infrastructure programs to meet an agreed national data standard.

A system for tracking the resilience of native vegetation on Defence lands

rthackway@slideshare.net(rthackway) — Mon, 06 Jul 2015 08:33:35 GMT

Most defence training areas are minimally managed resulting in no obvious effects on the components of vegetation condition; structure, composition and function of plant communities. However deliberate and/or inadvertent management practices can result in changes in vegetation condition. Documenting the contemporary and previous land management practices and their observed effects over time and on the present-day indicators of vegetation condition gives land managers valuable insights for adaptive management. A consistent national system, Vegetation Assets States and Transitions (VAST–2), comprising standardized and benchmarked set of indicators may be used to assess the degree of transformation of the components of vegetation condition associated with management practices over time.

Assessing and reporting resilience of native vegetation using metrics of structure, composition and function

rthackway@slideshare.net(rthackway) — Wed, 22 Apr 2015 17:10:09 GMT

The effects of contemporary and previous land management practices are reflected in the present-day condition of native vegetation. In order to properly manage land for productive use or to restore it to its 'natural' condition, it is important to know the changes that have taken place to the use of the land, and the cumulative effect of those changes. Assessing and reporting the resilience of native vegetation using metrics of structure, composition and function is discussed. The system, VAST-2, has been developed in the Australian context, where land management was relatively unchanged for some tens of thousands of years prior to European settlers who arrived some hundred years hence. This reference state provides a structure in which to compile, interpret and sequence data gathered in the past about changes in management practices and the effects of these practices on the condition of native plant communities. Early settlers and subsequent land managers have modified and fragmented the native vegetation thereby transforming many landscapes.

Thackway national cond

rthackway@slideshare.net(rthackway) — Sun, 31 Aug 2014 18:17:35 GMT

VAST-2 – Condition assessment method. Presentation given to the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN), National Condition Workshop held at the Mt Lofty House, Adelaide on 11-13 June 2014

Assessing and reporting resilience of native vegetation using VAST

rthackway@slideshare.net(rthackway) — Wed, 26 Feb 2014 05:01:00 GMT

The use and management of forested landscapes results in their transformation. Land management practices are used to change key ecological criteria include fire regime, soil hydrology, nutrient status, soil biology, overstorey and understorey vegetation structure and species composition. Two case studies in the Cumberland State Forest, Sydney, NSW are presented showing the transformation of the forest over time.