BAL Assessment Rye Mornington Peninsula

Pockets of Moonahs in undeveloped blocks in the back streets of Rye present an opportunity to conserve these small remnants of these magnificent gnarly twisted trees. Homes to possums and birds and slow growing there is less than 3% of the original population of Moonahs left. Yes their small lance shape leaves full of Maleluca oil and their flaky bark makes them however very flammable and they have the ability like all Malelucas to burn very hot giving off a high level of radiant heat. When we look at the fire risk we need to put it into the context of the combined layers of fuel.

Moonah Woodlands are usually very shady as they love to grow in gullyies and form a dense canopy cover which often results in a low grassy under story. When weeds invade beneath the Moonahs such as Polygala the fuel load of the site increase as does the ability for the finer fuels to ignite. So can there be a balance between conservation and fire protection? The removal of woody weeds such as polygala (milkwort) bone seed and pittosporume, itltioan buckthorn and gorse present an opportunity to reduce the fuel load and fire potential whilst enhancing the biodiversity value of a remnant one patch at a time.