Established in 1965, the Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve is located 45 km east of Melbourne in the Upper Yarra Valley, near the towns of Yellingbo, Launching Place, Yarra Junction, Hoddles Creek, Cockatoo, Emerald, Monbulk and Seville.Pearce, J., Habitat Selection by the White-eared Honeyeater. II. A Case Study at Yellingbo State Nature Reserve, South-east Victoria. Emu, 1996. 96(1): p. 50-54. Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve is a narrow riparian reserve with stream-frontage land along the Woori Yallock, Shepherd, Cockatoo, Macclesfield and Sheep Station Creeks.
The total reserve area at Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve is approximately 590 hectares comprising several separate areas principally along the local creek systems and is surrounded by privately owned properties.Phillips, Kevin Helping to save an icon: the helmeted honeyeater Conservation Bulletin: Trust for Nature (Victoria) 2003 27
As an outstanding protected area for habitat and species protection, the reserve is managed by Parks Victoria which also manages adjoining freehold land along Cockatoo Creek, owned by the Victorian Trust for Nature, as if it were part of the reserve.
Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve is the only place where all Victoria's state terrestrial emblems, helmeted honeyeater, Leadbeater's possum and pink heath, can be found in the one place.A park for today: Yellingbo State Emblems Park, proposal prepared by Woori Yallock Creek Park Alliance (2011). Report can be found at: http://www.johnshill.org.au/pdf/woori_yallock_proposal.pdf
Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve has been assigned the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Category 1A (Strict nature reserve) for Protected Areas. Category 1A protected areas are managed primarily for science.Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve Management Plan. 2004, Parks Victoria: Melbourne.
‘Yellingbo’ means "today" in the Woiwurrung language.
History In 1965, with increasing community concern about declining helmeted honeyeater numbers, and following recommendations from the Victorian Ornithological Research Group and the Bird Observers Club (now BirdLife Australia) some areas, including sections of public land along the Woori Yallock, Cockatoo and Sheep Station Creeks, were reserved as the Yellingbo State Wildlife Reserve by the Victorian Government for wildlife conservation. Subsequently, several adjoining areas were acquired by Government by purchase or donation, increasing the protected area. In 1994 the Victorian Land Conservation Council recommended that most of these, as well as some other areas, should be consolidated as the Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve. Since then, further small parcels of land have been added to the reserve.Menkhorst, P., Background and Implementation Information for the Helmeted Honeyeater Lichenostomus melanops cassidix National Recovery Plan 2008, Victorian Government Department of Sustainability and Environment Melbourne.
Flora, fauna and vegetation Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve protects a diversity of flora and fauna including approximately 285 native flora species and 230 native vertebrate species. Significant species include the Leadbeater's possum, helmeted honeyeater, Epacris impressa (heath), Eastern Mourning Skink Lissolepsis coventryi, Green Scentbark Eucalyptus fulgens, powerful owl Ninox strenua, Growling grass frog Litoria raniformis.
Vegetation
Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve protects areas of Sedge-rich Eucalyptus camphora Swamp Community, the only known occurrence and which is considered to be of national significance. The vegetation of Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve is composed of the following recognisable communities: along Cockatoo Creek pure stands of Eucalyptus camphora exist with an understorey of mainly Carex and Cyperus species; at the edges there are dense shrublands of Leptospermum lanigerum or Melaleuca squarrosa; Eucalyptus camphora, Acacia melanoxylon, Eucalyptus ovata and Eucalyptus obliqua occur on drier terraces along Cockatoo Creek; Eucalyptus viminalis mainly exists along Sheepstation and Woori Yallock Creeks; Eucalyptus radiata, Eucalyptus obliqua and Eucalyptus ignorabilis exist mainly along drier slopes throughout the reserve in sclerophyll forest. The understorey tends to be sparse to patchily dense.
Leadbeater's possum Gymnobelideus leadbeateri
A small geographically isolated population of Leadbeater's possum was discovered in lowland swamp forest at Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve in 1986. This population is the only known extant lowland population, occurring in habitat that is very different to that of the possum's core range in Victorian Central Highlands (montane ash forests). This adds to the conservation importance of the lowland population. The Leadbeater's possum, as the faunal emblem of Victoria, is an iconic Australian species. Since European colonisation the Leadbeater's possum population has suffered a widespread decline and has restricted distribution in its range due to a lack of mature trees with hollows that the possum requires for denning. The Leadbeater's possum is listed as ‘Threatened’ under the Victorian Flora and Flora and Guarantee Act 1988, and ‘Endangered’ under the Commonwealth Environment and Biodiversity Protection Act 1999.Beilharz, L.a.W., D, Observations of ground activity in Leadbeater's possum 'Gymnobelideus leadbeateri' in subalpine snowgum woodland at Mount Baw Baw, Victoria The Victorian Naturalist, Feb 2015. Vol. 132(No. 1): p. 21-22.Hansen, B.D. and A.C. Taylor, Isolated remnant or recent introduction? Estimating the provenance of Yellingbo Leadbeater's possums by genetic analysis and bottleneck simulation. Molecular Ecology, 2008. 17(18): p. 4039-4052.Harley DKP, W.M.a.H.T., The distribution and abundance of Leadbeater's possum Gymnobelideus leadbeateri in lowland swamp forest at Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve. Australian Mammalogy, 2005. 27: p. 7-15.Lindenmayer DB, C.R., Tanton MT, Nix Ha And Smith, AP, The conservation of arboreal marsupials in the montane ash forests of the central highlands of Victoria, south-east Australia: III. The habitat requirements of Leadbeater’s Possum Gymnobelideus leadbeateri and models of the diversity and abundance of arboreal marsupials. Biological Conservation 1991. 56: p. 295-315.Smith, A.a.L., DB, Tree hollow requirements of Leadbeater’s Possum and other possums and gliders in timber production ash forests of the Victorian central highlands. Australian Wildlife Research, 1988. 15: p. 347-362.
Helmeted honeyeater Lichenostomus melanops cassidix
The helmeted honeyeater was first discovered in 1867, and its range has greatly diminished since that date. Clearing of land in the Yarra Valley for agriculture and the draining of the Koo Wee Rup Swamp from the 1880s destroyed most of the habitat of the helmeted honeyeater. Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve provides habitat for the last wild population of Victoria's only endemic bird and its avifaunal emblem.Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research, D.o.S.a.E., Action Statement No. 130: Sedge-rich Eucalyptus camphora Swamp, in Action Statement. 2003, State of Victoria, Department of Sustainability and Environment: East MelbournePearce, J. and P.R. Minchin, Vegetation of the Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve and its relationship to the distribution of the helmeted honeyeater, bell miner and white-eared honeyeater. Wildlife Research, 2001. 28(1): p. 41-52. The helmeted honeyeater is critically endangered (IUCN 2001 criterion B2abii, iii, v), is listed as Threatened in Schedule 2 of Victoria's Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 and classified as Critically Endangered on the Advisory List of Threatened Vertebrate Fauna in Victoria – 2013. It is listed as Endangered under the Commonwealth Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
Environmental issues and threats Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve is under considerable threat from such events as altered hydrology, declining native vegetation, pest animals and plant, and inappropriate fire regimes. Conservation management of the reserve is complex, with half of the original vegetation in patchy distribution.The State of Victoria, D.o.E.a.P.I., Victorian Government Response to Victorian Environmental Assessment Council's Yellingbo Investigation Final Report. 2014: Melbourne. Invasive weeds include blackberry, gorse, Spanish heath, ragwort and St John's wort, and introduced predators such as foxes, Fallow and Samba deer. A major threat to the helmeted honeyeater comes from another native bird, the bell miner (Manorina melanophrys).
The Eucalyptus camphora and Eucalyptus ovata have been declining in health since the 1970s. The decline of health of the native vegetation in Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve is a complicated issue, a key contributor is likely the increased levels of nitrogen that encourage nitrate leaching and weed growth as the reserve is surrounded by intense agriculture.Granger, L., S. Kasel, and M.A. Adams, Tree Decline in Southeastern Australia: Nitrate Reductase Activity and Indications of Unbalanced Nutrition in Eucalyptus ovata (Labill.) and E. camphora (R. T. Baker) Communities at Yellingbo, Victoria. Oecologia, 1994. 98(2): p. 221-228. Dieback may also be caused by changed stream flow through the swamp arising from a loss of floodplain, siltation and water-logging of some areas.
The fragmented quality of Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve adds to the complexity of managing the reserve for conservation. Managers of surrounding private land have an important role in the conservation of biodiversity values of Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve, particularly for providing habitat corridors.Victorian Environmental Assessment Council, Yellingbo Investigation Final Report, 2013: East Melbourne Small reserves such as Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve are important for preserving endemic species of certain taxa but they require intensive management and need to be carefully protected. Threats such as introduced predators or fire can disease can obliterate a species in a single reserve.Soulé, M.E. and D. Simberloff, What do genetics and ecology tell us about the design of nature reserves? Biological Conservation, 1986. 35(1): p. 19-40.Diamond, J.M., et al., Island Biogeography and Conservation: Strategy and Limitations. Science, 1976. 193(4257): p. 1027-1032.Terborgh, J., Preservation of Natural Diversity: The Problem of Extinction Prone Species. BioScience, 1974. 24(12): p. 715-722.East, R., Species-area curves and populations of large mammals in African savanna reserves. Biological Conservation, 1981. 21(2): p. 111-126. Zoos Victoria is pushing for sites other than Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve to be secured as a matter of urgency.
The helmeted honeyeater is vulnerable to catastrophes such as fire, as fire will most likely cause severe damage to breeding territories. Availability of suitable breeding habitat limits the helmeted honeyeater's reproduction ability. Expansion of habitat and limiting the further loss and degradation of present habitat, and supplementary feeding are key actions for effective management of the species.McCarthy, M.A., Extinction dynamics of the helmeted honeyeater: effects of demography, stochasticity, inbreeding and spatial structure. Ecological Modelling, 1996. 85: p. 151-163. The current helmeted honeyeater population is recognised to have low genetic diversity which makes it vulnerable to inbreeding depression, and this lowers its ability to evolve to changing environments.Harrisson, K.A., et al., Scope for genetic rescue of an endangered subspecies though re-establishing natural gene flow with another subspecies. Molecular Ecology, 2016. 25(6): p. 1242-1258.