[BonjGopu]

Hi All,
I am involved in the conservation of a local metropolitan bush land which contains a wetland that is bordered by introduced Typha orientalis and a few patches of Baumia articulata reveg. The adjacent degraded Bush Forever bush land is about 30ha in size and the only of its type for perhaps 30km. Several bush reserves lie within a few km radius.
The location described has an abundance of resident and seasonally visiting bird life, a wide variety of frogs, few crustaceans and as can be expected many native insects. There is a population of long necked turtles remaining, however the population has decreased significantly due to SEVERE predation by foxes.
There is to be discussion at a local government level regarding the benefits/issues with removal of the introduced Typha orientalis and planting of native Baumia articulata in it's place. Once considerable effort was put in to place to remedy the modified ecosystem of Typha, the vista for humans would be improved considerably, however I fear that the removal of the Typha would expose the inhabitants of the previously modified habitat to predation and disturbance by people and dogs. The area is heavily used be people to exercise their unleashed dogs, often within meters of or within water's edge which in places is readily accessible by foot.
The area surrounding the wetland reserve has had a recent history of commercial vegetable gardens and during that time has been subject to land reclamations. Thus the natural perimeter of the lake area is no longer intact and the availabe reed bed is only tens of meters thick. From observation, similar lake areas within 30km that have significantly less land reclamations have a native reed beds of 300-800m in diameter of the deepest water edge.
So I ask for reference to papers or peer reviewed information and the like to assist the debate in both directions regarding the clearing and non-clearing of the Typha in preference of revegetation with Baumia sp. Any additional information or opinions may be of benefit too.
Please take your time to produce your information in this thread. Alternatively, please submit your information to gloptum at geemail dot com.

Thank YOU!!!

[duceswild]

Could it be done in stages, remove small sections of the introduced and replace with the native...so it's not as drastic a change [let the eco system counter and adapt slowly over time]. Then the wildlife would still have places to hide/live whilst the new sections grow.

[Wvq9InTM]

Could it be done in stages, remove small sections of the introduced and replace with the native...so it's not as drastic a change [let the eco system counter and adapt slowly over time]. Then the wildlife would still have places to hide/live whilst the new sections grow.

Exactly. Is the cup half full or half empty?

Now to get down to it..
Cumbungi is listed as Australia wide including Tassie.. Has a long history of Aboriginal usage.
I am interested in what makes it foreign?
http://zipcodezoo.com/Plants/T/Typha_domingensis/

[duceswild]

Did find this pdf on Typha...is rather interesting [gave me an insight into a problem I'd not known existed in regards to them] also includes positives and negatives of keeping or removing

http://www.greeningaustralia.org.au/...2_Cumbungi.pdf

[Wvq9InTM]

Greening Australia is of great interest to me in many ways.. I'll try to stick to the positives.

Cumbungi, from my experience it is pretty much mostly positive, depending on what one expects from available water flow.

With a little attention to water flows, any negatives can easily be counterbalanced.

[BinasiDombrs]

Hi All,
I am involved in the conservation of a local metropolitan bush land which contains a wetland that is bordered by introduced Typha orientalis and a few patches of Baumia articulata reveg.

Curious as to your comment about your T. orientalis being introduced? I always assumed it native pretty much Australia-wide and PlantNET suggests the same.

http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cg...pha~orientalis

Do you mean it's not endemic to your area? There is an introduced species, Typha latifolia, but not over you way.

I guess it's a matter of the rest of us actually knowing your site before commenting too much on removal or revegetation ideas. First question I'd ask is whether there's an actual problem with the habitat overall and what/how much is the Typha contributing to that? If there is a problem, how is the best way to deal with it (can it be dealt with)?

I'm also not sure about the removal of one species to be replaced by another single species, not much diversity there (especially since you mention this being discussed by local government, how committed to environmental matters is this council?).

Like others have said, I'd be doing any removal and replacement in stages so as to disrupt things as little as possible in the short-term. Not sure how large an area you guys are working on, but this project doesn't sound like something you could do overnight. I do note that it's a problem in irrigation channels etc. so I'm sure there should be some studies on control available, stuff affecting agriculture often gets the dollars spent on research.

I look forward to following this thread and hearing more, reckon I could learn something here.

[BinasiDombrs]

Curious as to your comment about your T. orientalis being introduced?

Sorry, my mistake.

===
Typha orientalis C.Presl
Bulrush
Abh.Koenigl.Boehm.Ges.Wiss. Ser.5,6:599 (1851)

Conservation Code: Not threatened
Naturalised Status: Alien to Western Australia

http://florabase.dec.wa.gov.au/browse/profile/99

===

[BinasiDombrs]

Rather major download, 17+MB but might contain some of the info you need

Wetlands of the Swan Coastal Plain, Volume 4. The Effect of Altered Water Regimes on Wetland Plants

http://www.dec.wa.gov.au/component/o...2/Itemid,1364/