Assess the health rating of your bushland patches by answering True or False to the questions in the Native Bush Assessment Form. Use additional sheets to assess more than four patches or paddocks.

Download the Native Bush Assessment form (PDF 66KB).

Determining the rating

Determine the bushland health rating that corresponds to the number of ‘true’ scores you recorded for each ‘patch’ you assessed. Indicate the rating at the bottom of the Native Bush Assessment Form .

14–17 ‘true’ observations = green rating

This is high conservation-quality bushland that is mostly undisturbed and is likely to have a good mix of tree ages, some natural regeneration, and a range of native grasses and herbs or native shrubs. The patch contains a range of habitat for wildlife (ie, litter, logs, shrubs, tree hollows, etc). Some possible suggestions for this patch include:

• Celebrate your success! Take the family there for a picnic, and/or invite your local landcare group to use this native vegetation as an example of good management.
• The primary response is to keep doing most of what you have been doing because the patch is in good condition.
• Look at any ‘false’ scores and see what can be done to turn them into ‘true’, eg, if the patch is not well connected to other remnant vegetation then a connecting corridor would overcome its ‘isolation’.

9–13 ‘true’ observations = orange rating

This is moderately disturbed bushland, with some important habitat elements remaining, but some are likely to be missing. Bushland in this condition can be restored (depending on the ‘false’ scores) by increasing protection from untimely grazing, some natural or assisted regeneration of trees, shrubs, grasses and forbs, and controlling pests and weeds. Some suggestions include:

• Try the zero dollar option first — give the patch a spell from grazing for a year or two and then assess it again before contemplating more significant intervention. It is critical that any such ‘rest’ period contains some wet seasons as major change only occurs after rain.
• Look at the ‘false’ scores and see what can be done to turn them into ‘true’, eg, if the patch has been invaded by weeds, then some control strategy will be needed.
• Particularly examine the grazing management of this patch – much of the degradation in native vegetation patches is caused by grazing and camping – and see how the negative impacts from grazing can be reduced and the positive impacts, eg, weed control, increased.
• Targeted replanting of ‘missing’ species, most likely wattles and understorey species.
• Ensure that the patch is connected to other areas of native bush if it is isolated.

0–8 ‘true’ elements = red rating

This is highly disturbed bushland that has been (or is) in serious decline and that is not sustainable under current management practices. Most likely, the native understorey has been replaced with exotic pasture species or weeds. At the lower scores, the patch of vegetation has probably been extensively used as a sheep camp, building up the fertility, encouraging nitrogen-loving weeds and eliminating native plants. The mature trees may still look healthy, but it’s likely that dead and dying trees are present and there is no natural regeneration of trees or shrubs. Patches of native vegetation in this condition can still be improved, but the lower the score the greater the effort and time needed for recovery. However, even with very low scores, recovering the patch is a simpler task than ‘creating’ a new patch of native vegetation from scratch. This is especially true if the patch contains mature trees that are likely to have nesting hollows. Some suggestions include:

• If not already done, fence the remnant to reduce the grazing pressure and eliminate sheep camping.
• Try the zero dollar option first - give the patch a spell from grazing for a year or two and then assess it again before planning other interventions, if required.
• Revegetate with trees and understorey species. Some of this may be possible through natural regeneration, but in patches of old trees where there has been no understorey for many years, it is likely that additional understorey species (especially wattles) will need to be planted.
• Depending on the weed status, some control is likely to be needed, either through grazing management, chemical intervention, or both (see tools 5.7 and 5.8 ).
• Leave fallen trees and branches in place and suspend firewood collection.
• If rabbits or other pests are present, control will be necessary to allow effective regeneration (see tools 5.10 and 5.11 ), so a compromise with leaving fallen trees and branches may be needed.
• ‘Rehabilitate’ any degraded or eroded areas. Depending on the extent, ‘degraded’ areas may be rehabilitated simply by reduced grazing pressure to allow natural regeneration.
• Restoration of the patch is a higher priority in the short term than connecting the patch to other areas of native bush.