GRASSLAND: A PROVOCATION

Wootten Road Reserve

Tarneit, Victoria

Glas Landscape Architecture

Prior to the European settlement of Victoria, expansive native grasslands dominated the mostly flat, volcanic plains to the north and east of Melbourne. Despite their incredible ecological biodiversity, until recently Victoria’s native temperate grasslands were not, however, regarded as having any conservation value. As a result, most of these fragile ecosystems have been seriously degraded or destroyed by grazing and development. Alarmingly, only 1 percent of Victoria’s largest grassland, the natural temperate grassland of the Victorian Volcanic Plains, remains intact today, much of it lying within Melbourne’s urban growth area.1

A major factor in the demise of Australia’s grassland ecologies is