As Harry White spent the day walking along a long stretch of the Merri Creek lined with big, old red gums and listening to the trickle of water over rocks, he reflected on the joys of working on Wurundjeri Country.

“We were searching for weeds like Chilean Needle Grass, but as we walked, we spotted some Growling Grass Frogs – which hadn’t been seen in that part of the creek for several years – and a Sacred Kingfisher. It was really special.”

At the time, Harry was a Melbourne University student, fulfilling the work placement requirements of his Masters of Ecosystem Management and Conservation at Melbourne University, under the guidance of MCMC’s Ecological Restoration Program Coordinator Chris Geary.

Harry White, MCMC Ecological Restoration Team and former Melbourne University student.

“We asked Harry if he’d consider taking on a project to map ecological vegetation classes (EVCs) at some of the grasslands we care for along the Merri,” says Chris. “The project had a focus on high-value remnants – basically the urban grasslands and escarpments where we lacked detailed maps.”

Vegetation mapping is a useful monitoring tool, because it helps Chris’s team to understand how a particular landscape responds to activities like weed management. It also helps us to plan what management tools should be used in future.

Harry spent almost 200 hours mapping the areas selected by Chris and recording details of the vegetation at each location. He was surprised to realise that even in areas with a large amount of native vegetation, weed coverage could still be as high as seventy-five per cent.

However, on other sites, Harry was able to see the positive impacts of MCMC’s ecological restoration efforts firsthand.

Inspired by progress

“There was one overcast day, when I was working in a gorge,” Harry recalls. “The area was still pretty degraded, with a lot of weeds on either side – but you could clearly see the progress that’s been made – lots of African Boxthorn and Blackberry has been removed. As I walked, I could picture the landscape before colonisation – it was great to imagine what it could look like again in the future with ongoing work.”

“Harry’s project will help us understand if previous EVC classifications are still appropriate,” says Chris. “– Or whether changes in hydrology due to urban development might have caused an ecological community to transition to a different assemblage of species. That in turn will inform our revegetation efforts.”

Six months later and Harry is now a full-time employee working in Chris’s team, a reflection of the value that Harry brought to the team.

According to Chris, some students who undertake work placements with organisations like MCMC have a purely academic understanding of ecology and need a lot of training in on-ground skills. However, thanks to Harry’s previous experience as a project firefighter, he adapted quickly. After a quick induction on how to use the GPS receiver, and a couple of test plots alongside Chris, he was ready to start tackling the work himself.

“I’ve always liked mapping, so I was really keen on the project,” says Harry. “There was a lot of walking – and some of it was a bit tough, because you’re bush bashing and walking in spots where people wouldn’t normally go. But it allowed me to develop a good appreciation of the different places that MCMC works.”

“I like the way information is shared here, for example around native and non-native flora… there’s no judgment about what you don’t know. That makes for a good learning environment.”

Partnering with universities

Harry may be one of the more recent students to take on a role at MCMC, but he certainly isn’t the first. The relationship between University of Melbourne and MCMC goes back at least eight years, and according to Dr Antanas Spokevicius, a Senior Lecturer in Forest Ecosystem Science who also helps co-ordinate work placements for students, it has been an enormously positive partnership.

“We’ve had students doing placements with MCMC for five of the last eight years, and they’re a great, supportive organisation to work with,” says Dr Spokevicius. “The partnership benefits everyone, because there are some wonderful students coming through who are very motivated and talented, so when they move into an internship role, they blow people away. At the same time, having good mentors within industry is key to helping the students grow and develop.”

Now a full-time member of MCMC’s Ecological Restoration team, Harry’s role encompasses a much broader range of activities than just vegetation mapping. But the work he did during his placement remains an important contribution to the significant collection of ecological data held by the organisation.

“EVC mapping, when combined with other spatial data, is crucial for creating effective management plans and ensuring site-specific knowledge isn’t lost when staff move on,” says Chris Geary. “It helps maintain a detailed, accessible record so that site leaders have the information they need to manage areas confidently. It’s about having a body of knowledge that the team can draw upon – now and into the future.”