Native grasses - beautiful and productive.
There is historical evidence to suggest that when Australia was colonised, the landscape consisted of vast grasslands that were managed by the indigenous groups that hunted on country (Pascoe 2018). The grasslands were managed mostly using fire, to ensure continued and predictable availability of kangaroo meat. Many of these grasslands were degraded with the introduction of sheep and the ensuing overgrazing. Perennial native grasses require careful grazing management, but they can produce a productive pasture under the right conditions and are a useful component of biodiverse revegetation projects. Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) have produced a guide for managing native grasslands promoting the combination of native grasses with conventional pasture species (MLA, 2007). Moreover, the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER) have long promoted the use of native grasses in waterways management (Water and Rivers Commission, 2003).
Last years’ native grass walk held in Merredin indicated a renewed interest in livestock producers and revegetation specialist utilising native grass species in their systems. In a well-managed system, mixed native grasslands can be productive. The cost of native grass seed currently makes it incredibly expensive to include these species in seeded pasture systems and there are very few native grass seed suppliers in WA. There is currently some movement in this space though, and we are hoping to see more local availability of seed and seedlings in the future.
Wheatbelt NRM was gifted some native grass seedlings last year to trial in our front of office garden beds. Thank you to Boola Boornap Nursery in Northam for donating the seedlings so that we can share our love of native grasses with everyone who visits our office. Boola Boornap have been experimenting with germinating native grasses to be included in revegetation and livestock forage projects for the last couple of years. You can register your interest in purchasing some native grass seedlings and other native seedlings with Charles at Boola Boornap Nursery
Wheatbelt NRM acknowledge that grass identification is not easy so we are going to showcase a small selection of common or useful native grasses throughout 2025 beginning this month with Kangaroo Grass (Themeda triandra).
Kangaroo grass is a C4 summer active, tufted perennial grass up to 2m high with red-brown/purple flowers showing year round and seed ripening in late summer. In WA it grows on a variety of soil types and a range of moist habitats including claypans, creeks and savannahs (Western Australian Herbarium, 1998–). In the wheatbelt, kangaroo grass may be an occasional or uncommon component of remnant woodland understory and naturally regenerates by rhizomes rather than seed so is not dependent on fire (Shedley, 2007). As a component of forage systems, kangaroo grass has high levels of protein, can tolerate light rotational grazing and is deep rooted with high drought tolerance. As a revegetation tool, kangaroo grass is an excellent soil stabiliser, well suited to fresh waterway restoration (banks and floodways not inundated areas) in the 350-400 mm rainfall zone.
References:
Pascoe, 2014. Dark Emu, Magabala books, Broome, WA.
MLA, 2007. Strategies to boost productivity of native pastures. Meat and Livestock Australia, Sydeny.
Shedley, 2007. Fire and biodiversity guidelines for the Avon Basin. Department of Environment and Conservation, Perth WA.
Water and Rivers Commission, 2003. Water Notes WN31 Revegetating with native greases in the Avon catchment. Water and Rivers Commission, Perth WA.
Western Australian Herbarium (1998–). Florabase—the Western Australian flora. Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions. https://florabase.dbca.wa.gov.au/
(Accessed 13 January 2025).