Crowes Lookout

Otway Ranges, Vic (Gadubanud Country)

Tall Forests

8.1%

Protected 

6,183m2
Land protected
48
Bird species protected
7
Threatened species protected

Home to mountainous vistas, tall trees, and fern-rich gullies, lies Crowes Lookout, only 170 kilometres south-west of Melbourne near the scenic town of Lavers Hill in the Otway Ranges. Crowes Lookout is characterised by towering trees of Mountain Grey-gum (Eucalyptus cypellocarpa), Southern Blue-gum (Eucalyptus globulus), and Messmate Stringybark (Eucalyptus obliqua), reaching over 60 metres tall and providing an arboreal ecosystem of micro-bats, gliders, and birds. The king of them all is the Mountain Ash (Eucalyptus regnans), reaching over 90 metres tall and claiming the title of tallest tree species in the world.

The dense undergrowth at Crowes Lookout provides the perfect shelter for the Long-nosed Potoroo (Potorous tridactylus) and the Eastern Rufous Bristlebird (Dasyornis broadbenti). Of particular significance is the Otway Black Snail (Victaphanta compacta), a shiny-black carnivorous snail that lives only in the Otway Ranges.

In joining the Wilderlands project, Crowes Lookout is adding to the overall protection of wet forest ecosystems of the Otway Ranges.

Threatened Species

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The Challenges

  • Maintaining a secure environment for all plant and animal species on the reserve, including the threatened Otway Black Snail, Rufous Bristlebird, and Slender Tree-fern;
  • Maintaining ecosystem function and genetic health of all species;
  • Controlling weed threats to native biodiversity; namely Blackberry, Ragwort, and Spanish Heath, that have infested areas of a cleared timber plantation and to threaten to encroach on highly intact native vegetation downslope;
  • Preserving fragile topsoil and mitigating soil erosion from water run-off in this high rainfall area;
  • Protecting native fauna from feral predators – cats and foxes.

What we're doing

  • Buffering the remnant patches of vegetation through revegetation of native species in areas of the land that have been formerly cleared from agriculture;
  • Native seed collection and nursery propagation for revegetation across former plantation land;
  • Retaining all standing and fallen trees and logs, preserving habitat (shelter and nesting) for an array of animals;
  • Utilising integrated pest management in the control of foxes, Blackberry, Ragwort, Spanish Heath and other weeds present that threaten environmental values;
  • Vigilant monitoring of new and emerging weed species and controlling spread of all existing weeds to prevent spread into densely-vegetated gully systems of the reserve;
  • Coordinating with partners and neighbouring landholders in the control of foxes;
  • Monitoring for the presence of cats;
  • Monitoring for the presence of deer that browse regenerating native plants and cause erosion on steep slopes; coordinating with local hunters to reduce deer numbers, if present.
Project Updates
This map highlights one or more zones of the total project. We create multiple zones in each project to most effectively allocate Biological Diversity Units.
This project is in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

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