Holly is invading the Wombat Forest. The Holly Project aims to help private and public land managers reduce its spread through mapping, stakeholder education and applying management techniques.
Why control holly?
The Wombat Forest is an area identified by the Victorian government as high in biodiversity and a future National Park. English or European Holly (Ilex aquifolium) is at the early stages of invasion in the Wombat Forest, primarily as a garden escapee. Once established, holly transforms bushland and is difficult and expensive to remove.
The natural elevation of the Wombat Forest keeps the area relatively cool and wet. Numerous gullies, creeks and rivers flowing both north and south provide favourable habitat for the spread of holly. Holly berries are attractive to birds and therefore the invasive capability of the weed is very high. Holly trees can sucker and form layers resulting in large, inaccessible prickly thickets. These thickets compete effectively with established native vegetation and eventually replace it. Holly thickets contain large volumes of fine fuel increasing the risk of intense fires.
Nearby towns and settlements, and many small landholdings and roadside reserves adjoining the Wombat Forest are currently host to holly infestations.
Despite holly being recognised as posing an extremely high risk to the environment, it is not yet listed as a declared noxious weed as per the Catchment and Land Protection (CaLP) Act 1994. This has implications for access to funding as most Victorian government programs only address listed plants.
What we’re doing
The Holly Project aims to assist land managers to identify and remove holly infestations in and around the Wombat Forest. We encourage collaboration between local Landcare, residents’ groups and public land managers. We provide information about the threat holly poses to our local biodiversity and seek recognition of holly’s invasiveness through the CaLP Act.
The Holly Project is a consortium of volunteers from local groups including Blackwood & Barrys Reef Landcare, Moorabool Gardens for Wildlife, Hepburn Gardens for Wildlife, Trentham and District Landcare, Friends of Kangaroo Creek and Wombat Forestcare.
This webpage was developed with funding assistance from Moorabool Shire Council. The Holly Project has received funding from Hepburn Shire Council environmental grant and DEECA Victorian Landcare grant.
