Falls to Hotham Alpine Crossing
Abzeco undertakes the preliminary environmental values assessment for the Falls to Hotham Alpine Crossing.
Abzeco is in the final stages of completing the updated preliminary environmental values report for the proposed Falls to Hotham Alpine Crossing project for Parks Victoria. This project involves identifying and documenting the potential flora and fauna and geoscience values that may be impacted by the project along the proposed track alignment (60+ km) and four planned overnight accommodation nodes.
It also includes identifying and presenting the legislative implications and recommendations for mitigation of impacts. Abzeco formed a team of recognised alpine flora, fauna and geoscience experts from the Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research, Snowline Ecology, Pathways Bushland and Environment, Southeast Botanical, and Environmental GeoSurveys P.L. to undertake this large and complex project. Everyone worked hard in a great collaborative effort to complete the fieldwork quickly due to delays caused by an extended snow season in December 2022.
The team enjoyed the rare opportunity of working with experts from different disciplines who exchanged information and ideas with the Abzeco team and each other to provide valuable insights into the impacts on natural values and recommended mitigation actions.
This is one example of the collaborative working relationships that Abzeco has with a range of industry experts and our capacity to put together and successfully coordinate a large team to undertake major, complex projects and deliver detailed, high-quality reports.
Translocation of Groundsel Plants
Abzeco successfully translocates 108 Large-fruit Groundsel plants.
Abzeco undertook the salvage and translocation of 108 Large-fruit Groundsel Senecio macrocarpus (LfG) in 2017 for the Ballarat Line upgrade to meet permit conditions. This included recipient site preparation, LfG planting, ongoing site management and monitoring over the following five years.
The main focus of site management was intensive monthly weed control and seeding and planting with native indigenous species which was informed by annual monitoring of LfG plant numbers and weed cover.
In winter 2023 an estimated 100+ natural recruits were observed around the translocated LfG plants, indicating a self-sustaining LfG population has been successfully established at the recipient site. A complete count of the recruit numbers is scheduled for the coming spring.
This demonstrates that with the right site preparation, planting methods and best practice site management LfG translocations can be successfully undertaken. This is an important achievement as no LfG translocation projects have been reported in publicly available literature to date.
This demonstrates that with the right site preparation, planting methods and best practice site management LfG translocations can be successfully undertaken. This is an important achievement as no LfG translocation projects have been reported in publicly available literature to date.
Wetland Condition Assessments
Abzeco completes the first round of Index of Wetland Condition Assessments (IWC) of wetlands around Melbourne.
Abzeco consultants and field crew are IWC trained and have completed IWC assessments of over 35 wetlands around Melbourne.
This involved wetland mapping, description and scoring different wetland attributes such as water levels, wetland type (natural or artificial, pond, billabong etc.), conservation status (e.g. does it provide habitat for threatened species), surrounding land use, Ecological Vegetation Communities (EVC) mapping, hydrology, weeds, altered processes, and vegetation structure and health.
This is an example of the wide range of skills and capacity of the Abzeco team to work in sensitive aquatic environments in Victoria and use their training in formal specialist data collection methods.