Small but mighty

Far from just scrappy bush, nature conservation reserves are crucial buffers to the impacts of climate change. They provide refuges for native plants and animals to survive and adapt, which helps reduce their extinction risk over time.

As Dr Mark Antos explains, they're the fundamental “stepping stones” or the “bricks and mortar” to the larger parks they connect to or neighbour.

In his role as Manager of Biodiversity Science for Parks Victoria, Mark spends hours leading conservation projects, monitoring and surveys in these reserves.

"They're a microcosm of the larger parks they serve, and because of this, they can be more easily studied and preserved,” says Mark.

“Like a mirror, they reflect any environmental stressors or shifts that are happening in a larger, less accessible park. They provide crucial, early indicators of change that support our long-term conservation planning and projects.”

For their small size, they sure do pack a punch.

“Despite 90 per cent of the nature conservation reserves we manage measuring under 400 hectares in size, they can compare very favourably with larger national parks when it comes to the number of plants and animals they contain per hectare,” says Mark.

“It can take a second for that to sink in – that it’s possible to have such high species richness and diversity in an environment that could take just five minutes to cover by car.”

How is this possible? Well, nature conservation reserves often protect the very fertile and productive habitats that aren't well represented in our larger parks – largely due to clearing for agriculture beyond park boundaries. 

But their small size can also make them more vulnerable to the effects of isolation, edge disturbances and threats from introduced plants and animals, so they need special care.

“This is why human activity in these protected areas must remain at a minimum. Our nature conservation reserves are spaces in nature where nature well and truly comes first,” says Mark.

The building blocks of Victoria’s parks system

Most of our reserves came into being following detailed and objective assessment by the Land Conservation Council (now known as the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council).

The council made recommendations on which areas of public land should be set aside as national parks, recreation areas or remain available for other uses. They often designated the most environmentally sensitive and important sites as nature conservation reserves.

“For grasslands, box-ironbark forests and semi-arid woodlands in particular, nature conservation reserves provide some of the best examples of what Victorian landscapes looked like before colonisation," says Mark.

"Native grasslands are the most depleted ecosystems in the state. The single largest protected grassland occurs at Bael Bael Grassland Nature Conservation Reserve near Kerang. It hosts a range of open country animal species ranging from the tiny Fat-tailed Dunnart through to our largest land mammal, the Red Kangaroo.”

Some reserves exist to protect the only sites in Victoria where special plant species occur naturally. 

“These include Cabbage Tree Creek Flora Reserve, which protects Victoria's only population of the tropical-looking Cabbage Fan Palm. Similarly, the Mottle Range Flora Reserve protects our only Spotted Gum Forest,” says Mark.

"On Millewa-Mallee Country in the extreme northwest of the state, the Yarrara Flora and Fauna Reserve not only protects the best patch of ancient semi-arid woodland in the state, but is also the only place in all of Victoria where the Little Pied Bat occurs. It was first discovered there in 2014.”

In many cases, our nature conservation reserves provide some of the only viable seed left for revegetation of threatened plants. This revegetation commonly occurs in habitats that mimic the original environment and supports our work to create insurance or in-situ populations of rare plant species.

There are also some land systems in Victoria that do not occur in any national park and are only protected in nature conservation reserves.

“This is the case at Bendoc Nature Conservation Reserve in far East Gippsland. Nestled along the New South Wales border, this reserve protects the world's most southern community of the Monaro Tablelands, which are known for their sweeping high elevation tussock grasslands and groves of snow gums,” says Mark.

Although most reserves tend to be small, some are vast.

The Annuello Flora and Fauna Reserve is around 36,000 hectares, making it bigger than Mt Buffalo National Park. It supports some of the most important populations of Mallefow and Regent Parrots in Victoria," says Mark.

Nature conservation reserves can also hold source populations of threatened animals for captive breeding programs, which help bring species “back from the brink”.

“On Gunaikurnai Country, Providence Ponds Flora and Fauna Reserve crosses by the busy Princes Hwy in Gippsland but is home to a population of the endangered Pookila, formerly known as the New Holland Mouse," says Mark. 

"The populations here are so healthy that the site became an important source of wild animals for Zoos Victoria’s captive breeding program to save the species from extinction.”

What can you do to support them?

By law, these special places are protected for long-term nature conservation. They cannot sustain high-traffic recreation.

"While we encourage you to grow your connection with and understanding of nature conservation reserves, please remember that it's a privilege to have access to these spaces,” says Mark.

“When you enter a nature conservation reserve, it's helpful to lean into the experience and think beyond the immediate, natural scenery you've stepped into.”

“That swampy-looking stream might be hiding a family of frogs, turtles and microscopic organisms. Those dead logs scattered across the forest floor are probably brimming with termite and fungi activity, which brings them one step closer to becoming hollows for reptiles, insects and small mammals. The tiny bunch of wildflowers you've spotted might bloom for just three weeks, but produce such high quantities of nectar, that they're essential to the survival of hundreds of local pollinators.”