The threatened woodlands and wetlands
The route through which the government plans to build the Frankston bypass is a critically important habitat corridor.
The 20 odd kilometre swathe cut into the landscape from Carrum Downs will destroy an extraordinarily rare patch of Herb Rich Grassy Wetland. The Department of Sustainability and Environment says it can’t be replaced. The road will plough through 60% of the Belvedere Reserve in Seaford, the Pobblebonk/Willow Reserve and the Wittenberg Reserves in Langwarrin, destroy a pristine remnant at the heritage listed Westerfield property and bisect precious farmland the length of the Moorooduc Plain.
Over the years, successive governments have allowed so much habitat to be cleared in and around Frankston that the few small areas of remnant bush that remain are now crucial to the ongoing viability of fauna and flora - and even then only with a sustained management effort.
The largest areas such as the Pines Flora and Fauna Conservation Reserve are especially important because smaller areas are prone to degrading 'edge effects' such as noise, light, nutrient, and predator intrusion, and weed invasion, which impact hundreds of metres into bush from surrounding cleared and urban land. Not only will the planned roadway destroy large areas of habitat, but this destructive edge effect will dominate what remains.
The bushland areas described in this section are a continuous series of interconnected sites that enable species to move through Frankston. The construction of the bypass will destroy this interconnectedness and will thereby destroy the viability of many of the animal and plant species.
Listen to an an Interview with Dr Roger Jones by Jim Kerin explaining the importance of the Pines Reserve and the rest of the habitat corridor.
Help us save this priceless landscape and species that are our Australian heritage.
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