Statewide, less than 0.01per cent of the grassy plains that interspersed the woodlands ecosystem remain. Australia grew rich on the transformation of this ecosystem into its sheep-wheat belt, but is now paying the price of indiscriminate clearing. Spreading salinity, rising water tables and degraded soil structures are well-documented scourges eroding productivity. Even in Victoria the clearing continues. On public land, grazing, road-building and logging for firewood, fence posts and railway sleepers take a further toll as roadside remnants disappear, understoreys are degraded and old, dead or fallen timber on which creatures depend for food and shelter is removed.
Woodlands are comparable with rainforests in terms of biodiversity.
In one box-ironbark remnant near Chiltern in central Victoria, more than 220 bird species have been recorded by the biologist Dr Barry Traill of the Australian Woodlands Conservancy and other scientists. However, woodland birds are rapidly declining in numbers, variety and range due to habitat loss and fragmentation. This is where every old tree left standing starts to count. The Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority, a state agency responsible for integrated land and water management across all levels of government and community, recently released a draft native vegetation management strategy. The pilot document, which is intended as a blueprint for all catchment management authorities, identifies protecting all that remains as its top priority.