Peninsula-wide biolinks

What this map shows

1. Linking the Mornington Peninsula Landscape (LMPL) – this project, 2012 – 2023 – see below for details
2. Greens Bush to Arthurs Seat, 2016 – 2023 (outlined in orange)
3. Proposed Peninsula-wide biolinks, 2012 (shaded orange) – see below for details

PENINSULA-WIDE BIOLINKS (shaded orange) In 2012, assisted by Mornington Peninsula Landcare Facilitator Jacqui Salter, representatives from nine Landcare groups on the Mornington Peninsula developed a map of  proposed biolinks covering the entire Peninsula. The proposed biolinks are based on an analysis of  vegetation quality of the Peninsula produced by the Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research. Input was sought from local natural resource management professionals and ecologists to ensure scientific integrity. The seven LMPL biolinks – see below- sit within the context of these Peninsula-wide biolinks. LINKING THE MORNINGTON PENINSULA LANDSCAPE (LMPL) BIOLINKS Balcombe Mooorooduc Biolink Balcombe Moorooduc Biolink properties are in two clusters. The first cluster is on Foxeys and Bulldog Creek Roads in Dromana/Merricks North. This cluster includes one large 62ha poperty with significant areas (30ha) of native bushland. The other two properties in this cluster surround a 19ha property at 61 Bulldog Creek Rd that is almost completely covered in high quality bushland. The Balcombe Moorooduc Biolink Plan includes a program of weed control on the two biolink properties that surround 61 Bulldog Creek Road that will protect the covenanted bushland from encroachment of weeds as well as improve the quality of bushland on the two biolink properties. The second cluster is around Range Rd, Mt Martha. It includes a 46ha property with significant potential for establishment of new areas of bush. Planned biolink works for this property include 9ha of revegetation which on the Mornington Peninsula is a significant area. Four of the five properties in this cluster are on the north side of Range Rd and connect with the southern portion of the Briars, a 230ha conservation park managed by Mornington Peninsula Shire, which includes a 96ha wildlife reserve. Devilbend Hastings Biolink The 9 Devilbend Hastings Biolink properties are in three areas to the west, north and east of Devilbend. Weed control and revegetation planned in this Biolink Plan will improve the health of the streams in the Devilbend Hastings Landcare area, particularly the downstream health of Devilbend Creek and Kings Creeks. Manton & Stony Creeks Biolink Manton & Stony Creek Biolink properties are scattered throughout the Manton & Stony Creeks Landcare area. A cluster of 3 biolink properties at the intersection of Shoreham and Shands Roads connect with 5 properties that are part of a separate Manton & Stony Creeks Landcare (M&SC) project – Stony Creek Communities for Environment. All 7 biolink properties have creek frontage. Works set out in the plan are designed to make significant inroads into bringing areas that are serious sources of weed infestation (in particular, Pittosporum, Blackberry, English Ivy and Karamu) under control. Merricks Coolart Biolink Merricks Coolart Biolink properties are clustered around Buckley’s Nature Conservation Reserve (Buckley’s Reserve) at the intersection of Myers and Balnarring Roads in Merricks North. Buckley’s Reserve is 32 ha of bushland managed by Parks Victoria and is open to the public with walking tracks running through it. Merricks Coolart Catchment Landcare (MCCL) holds regular working bees in Buckley’s Reserve, controlling Blackberry, Pittosporum and other weeds. The plan includes a program that will make significant inroads into bringing areas that are serious sources of weed infestation (particularly Blackberry and Pittosporum) under control. In the mid section of the biolink are three adjacent properties with high quality remnant bushland. One particularly large property has a 12.5 ha of native bushland and two creek tributaries running through it. Dunns Creek Biolink Dunns Creek biolink properties connect Kangerong Nature Conservation Reserve to Bald Hill Nature Conservation Reserve. Beginning in the southeastern corner on the corner of Red Hill-Shoreham Rd, and travelling north west along Dunns Creek Rd, the biolink area encompasses properties on the western side of Dunns Creek Rd and along Gibb Rd. Significant patches of remnant vegetation exist on many of the properties. Tributaries of both Dunns Creek and Bald Hill Creek run through the biolink area. All biolink properties have stream frontage where biodiversity values are higher than in surrounding bushland, depending on weed burden. Red Hill South Biolink Red Hill South biolink properties roughly follow the northern tributary of Waterholes Creek, which flows generally south east, from its origin near Point Leo Rd (opposite Aloha Rd). At about the midpoint of the tributary the biolink extends southwards near the upper reach of Waterholes Creek. The biolink properties include a large proportion of one of the most significant patches of private-land remnant native vegetation in Red Hill South. Being on private land this patch is potentially vulnerable to fragmentation and weed invasion, depending on management actions. The Waterholes Creek tributary runs through 10 of the 14 properties. On the southern edge of the biolink remnant bush on a biolink property is connective with the southern tributary of Waterholes creek, providing a unique opportunity to link the biolink to the vegetated creekline, thus expanding the biolink. Main Creek Biolink Main Creek biolink properties form a corridor from Splitters Creek at the intersection of Main Creek and Old Main Creek Rd, down to Splitters Creek’s junction with Main Creek. The biolink area comprising the 12 properties has connectivity with sites containing major ecological assets, including the Greens Bush section of Mornington Peninsula National Park. A number of the biolink properties also contain significant ecological assets themselves. Splitters Creek runs through 7 of the 12 biolink properties. Sheepwash Creek biolink Sheepwash Creek biolink in the Arthurs Seat-Red Hill-South Dromana area seeks to enhance connectivity of Sheepwash Creek catchment’s areas of native vegetation. These areas form an important wildlife corridor, connecting the western section of Arthurs Seat escarpment with Mornington Peninsula National Park at Greens Bush and Bushrangers Bay/Cape Schanck. There is also potential connectivity of land for wildlife between the northern Arthurs Seat escarpment and Bald Hills and Kangerong Flora and Fauna Reserves, both adjoining McIlroys Road in Red Hill. Watson Creek biolink Watson Creek biolink in the Baxter-Langwarrin South area is designed to be a step in the reconnection of patches of remnant and rehabilitated native vegetation from Grant Rd Somerville (Inghams and Melbourne Water-managed land) to an area of native vegetation on private property in Baxter (on Frankston-Flinders Rd). This is part of a larger vision by Watson Creek Catchment Landcare group to restore connectivity of native vegetation up to Langwarrin Flora and Fauna Reserve in the north to where Watson Creek enters the Yaringa Marine National Park. Southwest Mornington Peninsula (SWMP) biolink The SWMP biolink properties are in the Boneo – Fingal – Rosebud West region, in an area bounded by Purves Rd to the East, Browns Rd to the South, and Jetty Rd to the West. The 10 biolink properties are in the catchment of Drum Drum Alloc Creek which runs through 9 of the properties. Peninsula Gardens Bushland Reserve to the West is a key ecological asset in this region containing high-value remnant vegetation. Peninsula Gardens and surrounding bushland is itself a stepping stone biolink between Greensbush National park and Arthurs Seat State Park. Drum Drum Alloc Creek which runs through this area connects Tootgarook Wetlands (Tootgarook Swamp) and Arthurs Seat State Park via Peninsula Gardens Bushland Reserve. The 381 ha Tootgarook Swamp is the largest example left of a Shallow freshwater marsh in the Port Philip bay region and contains fifteen state, federal, and international protected species of fauna, along with another seven species listed as vulnerable. The swamp is also home to up to 24 bioregional endangered plant communities. **** A 2013 pilot biolink (Devilbend/Western Linkage) containing 5 properties is not shown. A more extensive Devilbend Hastings Biolink Plan was completed in March 2023.