West Melton Memorial Park: Grey Box Woodland

Melton West Memorial Park Woodland is a small old growth Grey Box Grassy Woodland remnant (about 1.5 hectares) through which Arnolds Creek flows. It lies within the proposed west Melton Memorial Park. It is located a few hundred metres north of the northern edge of Melton, & a few hundred metres southeast of Melton Gilgai Woodland. It is surrounded on three sides by the proposed cemetery.

 It has about 100 large ancient Grey Box trees, several hundred years old; many with large tree hollows, making them valuable wildlife habitat. Despite the recently ended catastrophic drought, there are possibly 1000 Grey Box saplings, up to a metre tall. The woodland appears to be undertaking its own recovery and regeneration, in the absence of grazing pressure.

The small waterholes in the woodland fill with water after heavy rains, creating ephemeral wetlands, home to various wetland birds & frogs. There are also several old scar trees of possible historical & archaeological significance.

Grey Box (Eucalyptus microcarpa) Grassy Woodlands and Derived Native Grasslands of South-eastern Australia are listed as endangered as per the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC).

Significance of this woodland in the Arnolds Creek Wildlife Corridor

A restored woodland in West Melton Memorial Park would create a valuable link in a bio-corridor along Arnolds Creek. Arnolds Creek forms a valuable corridor through Melton. In not too many years Arnolds Creek will be almost entirely enclosed within Melton. Harkness Woodland is linked by roadside reserve to the Pyrete Forest several kilometres to the north, & by scattered trees to Long Forest Mallee reserve a couple of kilometres to the west. A restored Arnolds Creek is therefore of high importance as a biodiversity corridor through a rapidly developing urban region. Such a corridor would be important to migratory birds, as well as for other wildlife movement.

Arnolds Creek begins as a drainage line within the Melton Gilgai Woodland reserve in Harkness Road. It flows intermittently through the Melton West Memorial Park to the north of Melton, through Melton, to the Melton Reservoir in the south. It connects the woodland areas to the north & north-west of Melton to the Werribee River in the south. The Werribee River in turn is a corridor that links the large Wombat Forest in the Great Dividing Range (via the Lerderdeg River) with Port Philip Bay.

Arnolds Creek forms a valuable corridor through the fastest developing municipality in Australia (according to the latest Australian census). In not too many years Arnolds Creek will be almost entirely enclosed within Melton. Melton Gilgai Woodland is linked by roadside reserve to the Pyrete Forest several kilometres to the north, & by scattered trees to Long Forest Mallee reserve a couple of kilometres to the west.

A restored Arnolds Creek is therefore of high importance as a biodiversity corridor through a rapidly developing urban region. Such a corridor would be important to migratory birds, as well as providing a corridor for wildlife movement.

The nearby Melton Gilgai Woodland (500 metres distant) is home to over 60 bird species, several of these endangered. Melton West Memorial Park Woodland, due to its proximity to Melton Gilgai Woodland, would be valuable refuge to these endangered woodland birds.

 Melton West Memorial Park Woodland is only a few hundred metres from Melton Gilgai Woodland, close enough for wildlife to move between the two woodlands. Melton Gilgai Woodland is in turn connected to nearby Long Forest Mallee by wooded paddocks & to the Pyrete Forest to the north by roadside reserves & lightly wooded paddocks. Although the Melton West Memorial Park Woodland is relatively small its proximity to Melton Gilgai Woodland will ensure wildlife connectivity between the two woodlands, along the Arnolds Creek drainage lines, preventing the Melton West Memorial Park Woodland from being an isolated island. This connectivity to larger areas of woodland makes the cemetery Woodland of considerable environmental & biodiversity significance.

 The nearby Melton Gilgai Woodland is home to over 60 bird species. Several of these are listed as endangered. Cemetery Woodland, due to its proximity to Melton Gilgai Woodland, would also be valuable refuge to these endangered woodland birds.

Several vulnerable bird species have been recorded in Melton Gilgai Wooflan:

• Little Lorikeet
• Diamond Firetail
• Brown Treecreeper

The Swift Parrot has been recorded in the adjacent Melton Gilgai Woodland during annual Swift Parrot surveys. The Swift Parrot is listed as Endangered on the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 & listed as a threatened taxon in Schedule 2 of the Victorian Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988. The swift parrot population is estimated to number less than 2,500 mature individuals

Koalas are common in the nearby Long Forest Mallee. They are sometimes seen in Melton Gilgai Woodland & also downstream along Arnolds creek in local schools (as reported in local newspapers). The Cemetery Woodland could become part of a koala corridor along Arnolds Creek, allowing them to move through the rapidly expanding town of Melton, to the Werribee River.

Cemetery Woodland is only a few hundred metres from the much larger Melton Gilgai Woodland, close enough for wildlife to move between the two woodlands. Melton Gilgai Woodland is in turn connected to nearby Long Forest Mallee by wooded paddocks & to the Pyrete Forest to the north by roadside reserves & lightly wooded paddocks.

Although the Cemetery Woodland is relatively small its proximity to Melton Gilgai Woodland will ensure wildlife connectivity between the two woodlands, along the Arnolds Creek drainage lines, preventing the Cemetery Woodland from being an isolated island.

This connectivity to larger areas of woodland makes the cemetery Woodland of considerable environmental & biodiversity significance

Wildife

 To date (December 2012) over 48 bird species have been recorded in the Cemetery Woodland, including the endangered Brown Treecreeper.

 Black Duck

Wood Duck

Chestnut Teal

Straw-necked Ibis

Sacred Ibis

White-necked Heron

White-faced Heron

Australasian Grebe

Black-tailed Native Hen

Little Pied Cormorant

Black-shouldered Kite

Whistling Kite

Collared Sparrowhawk

Brown Goshawk

Brown Falcon

Kestrel

Crested Pigeon

Galah

Long-billed Corella

White Cockatoo

Yellow-tailed Cockatoo

Eastern Rosella

Red-rumped Parrot

Musk Lorikeet

Purple-crowned Lorikeet

Rainbow Lorikeet

Horsfields Bronze-cuckoo

Fan-tailed Cuckoo

Pallid Cuckoo

Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike

Red wattlebird

White-plumed Honeyeater

White-fronted Chat

Yellow-rumped Thornbill

Dusky Woodswallow

Brown Treecreeper

Zebra  Finch

Goldfinch

Blue Wren

Little Raven

Magpie

Starling

Mynah

Blackbird

Willy Wagtail

Restless Flycatcher

Grey Shrike-thrush

Welcome Swallow

 The Brown Treecreeper is one of the threatened Victorian Temperate Woodland Bird Community as listed (DSE 2003) under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988. Recommended protection includes:

• protection of all woodland in which they are found
• place all populations on public land under secure conservation management
• regenerate and reclaim woodland habitat to full biodiversity
• control firewood collection and reduce grazing densities.

The Melton West Memorial Park remnant Grey Box woodland, Melton Gilgai Woodland & the intervening grassland are home to about 100 Grey Kangaroos.

Photos & information on the woodland & its birdlife can be seen on MEG’s Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Melton-Environment-Group/139259387879