Since the mid-1980s, pine plantations have often been established on cleared agricultural land. Expected plantation expansion is 3000 ha per year for the next ten years. This will take place on semi-cleared grazing land with woodland remnants. Box woodlands originally formed relatively continuous vegetation from southern Queensland to Victoria, west of the Great Dividing Range. Woodland communities generally occur on the most fertile soils and as a result have been preferentially cleared for agriculture.
Woodlands are among the most endangered and poorly conserved ecosystems in Australia.
This study aims to determine the value of remnant box woodland and investigate changes that occur when remnants on agricultural land are surrounded by newly established pine plantations. 70 hours of bird surveys yielded 100 species. 2952 trap-nights yielded 25 captures, the most common species being the exotic House Mouse. There was only one record of a native marsupial, the Brown Antechinus. Extensive reptile surveys have yielded ten species of lizards and snakes.