Beechworth Urban Landcare and Sustainability

by Fleur Stelling

I write in response to your article Charlie – we shall have to agree to disagree! I think it is not a question of natives versus exotics, rather, our challenge is figuring our how best to use both!

This is about how to live safely, sustainably and productively in our challenging Australian environment, with the threat of a changing climate. We can do this by finding places for both exotic and native species, in designs that consider fire danger, and constraints such as lack of water. It is an imperative that we value and use all the species available to us (native and exotic), so we can maximise our future options.

Indigenous plants are of huge value to us, as they are part if the biodiversity which underpins the ecological processes, which make life on earth possible. Such processes include the provision of fresh air, clean water, nutrients and pollination. Australia is one of the world’s most biodiverse countries, home to over one million species, most of which are endemic (occur no where else), including 85% of our flowering plants and 84% of our mammals…we need to value this wonderful and unique flora and fauna! If we do not value our native plants, we shall end up turning this country into another non-descript ‘somewhere else’…it is our local plant communities that lend our places their unique character and feel.

Eucalypts are generally highly flammable and not a good choice for a small garden, but they form the basis of many of our ecosystems – plant communities which are pretty extraordinary in how they have adapted so successfully to poor nutrient soils and dry climates. The view that eucalypts damage our ecosystems is poorly informed. Eucalypts are an intrinsic part of our ecology and have co-evolved with a rich diversity of other species in the upper, middle and understoreys. They play a vital role in the sustaining ecology of this country.

Our challenge is to learn to live in this Australian environment of high fire danger and low nutrient soils. While eucalypts and many other native species are obviously not directly useful to us as food plants, we would be wise to nurture areas of native vegetation and bushland for our broader landscapes to function and be resilient for whatever climate change is in store for us. To give us an inkling of the complex nature of our local bushland and all its diverse ecological workings, consider this: around Beechworth, there are over 250 indigenous plant species, about 20 species of mammals, around 130 bird species and about 20 reptile species.

In every district our wildlife depends on our bushland. By including an element of indigenous revegetation on our properties, we nurture our local ecology. It makes sense to plant these zones further out from our houses where fire hazard may be our primary concern. We can follow permaculture design principles of planting most used food plants (vegetables and herbs) closest to our houses, followed by fruit trees and berries etc. This also makes sense from a fire danger viewpoint.

Indigenous species are a first choice for broadscale land repair by landcarers because:

• They have adapted to our low nutrient soils;
• Provide wonderful habitat for our local wildlife;
• They can recover after being burnt;
• Can cope with local frosts and most other extremes, and
• They help shore up our ailing remnant native vegetation.

Also, most local eucalypts also provide first rate firewood, such as yellow box, red box and red gum. Regarding hardiness, indigenous plants in the heart of their range are very good bets – a future climate may see changes in suitability of indigenous species on the edge of their range, such as Blackwoods in Wooragee. Many exotic species are also hardy – look no further than our grandmothers’ rain-fed gardens for proof of that. We can experiment to find the ones suitable for our places. While exotics can also provide habitat for native birds, they may also provide habitat for birds we may not really want, such as masses of starlings and sparrows in oak trees.

I don’t know of anyone around these parts so mad about natives that they cultivate a bush food garden and survive off bush tucker! I do know a lot of people trying hard to maintain what is left of our local bush and nurture it by revegetating with indigenous species. Chances are these same people are pretty keen on trying to grow a lot of their own food…vegies, fruit, berries, chooks, sheep, goats, cows. To me, this is all part of ‘the good life’.

So, here’s to lots of diversity…a place for our local plants, for other native plants and of course for all the useful exotic species, which together, will perhaps make our ability to adapt to future climate change feasible.