Reference Ecosystems

AABR National Forum 2024 – The R's of Restoration Using the SER Standards to improve restoration project design - Lincoln Kern Lincoln is an ecologist with a keen interest in indigenous biodiversity conservation and environmental issues. He trained in botany and environmental science in the USA, before studying environmental management at Deakin University in Melbourne. After [...]

You will be amazed that such a degraded site could be regenerated at all – but particularly given the controversy at the time that became known as ‘The Battle of the Brush!” This dramatic work helped us break free of dogma and assess the resilience of each site on its own terms. This is the [...]

Damien Cook, ecologist and co-founder of the Wetland Revival Trust (WRT)  outlines the project planning process the WRT are using to implement their goals outlined in the Blueprint for Action which include Ensuring restoration is based on sound science and practical knowledge: Embedding the National Standards for the Practice of Ecological Restoration in their work processes [...]

The guest speaker at this year’s Annual General Meeting is Dr Andy Baker who will be demystifying reference ecosystems, expounding their virtues and answering that question of every bush regenerators lips, Are we getting sub-optimal results by not defining our reference ecosystem? Dr Baker will be discussing the following scenarios Grassland – What happens if we [...]

The second in a series of lunchtime webinars co-hosted by AABR vic and ECA Vic. Tein McDonald (a principal author of the National Restoration Standard) will first highlight ways the Standards’ principals and tools can be applied locally. Lincoln Kern (Consultant / restoration designer) will then highlight how the standards informed the La Trobe University [...]

Heroes of the Big Scrub is an inspiring story of landscape scale restoration. The video showcases the people who understood the processes of rainforest restoration ecology, and have dedicated their life's work to enabling substantial recovery of the Big Scrub against all odds. The video looks at the role of assisted natural regeneration and revegetation [...]

Big Scrub Landcare are now driving an innovative program to ensure that all plantings use genetically diverse planting stock to overcome potential inbreeding and build greater adaptability to climate change within the landscape. Dr Tony Parkes (AO) - retired organic chemist and merchant banker (turned rainforest restorer) - is the Founder and President of Big [...]

Dr Tein McDonald provides the background to the upcoming AABR Video on Heroes of Big Scrub Recovery and sets the scene for Tony Parkes talk on the Big Scrub Landcare's (BSL) Science Saving Rainforest project. Big Scrub was a once a 75,000 ha swathe of subtropical rainforest on the volcanic soils of the north coast [...]

The Guest Speaker at Annual General meeting of the Victorian Branch of The Australian Associaiton of Bush Regenerators was Craig McGrath who shared how as City of Yarra's Biodiversity Officer he is Using the National Restoration Standards in contract management, a Council’s perspective. In 2001, Craig commenced a community engagement role at the City of [...]

Many plants have evolved with disturbances such as fire –It’s what triggers the resilience response within fire-adapted ecosystems, what prompts the plants to resprout and germinate. But immediately after a large disturbance like fire, the ecosystem is vulnerable, and further disturbance can easily destroy regenerating plants. Read More - Links First Aid for [...]