We have some of the most breathtaking landscapes in Australia – from rugged untouched coastline on the Bellarine Peninsula, to wildflower-infused grassland on the volcanic plain, to majestic open forest in the Brisbane Ranges.

Biodiversity

Our coastlines, waterways, wetlands, bush and grasslands all provide important habitat for native plants and animals, and are places of rich biodiversity.

Our natural environment has been subject to extensive clearing for agriculture and urban expansion since European settlement. Remaining areas are also under threat from further clearing for development, climate change, and pest plants and animals, such as rabbits.

Rabbits are a 'key threatening process" to protected native flora, fauna and vegetation communities under the Federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act 1999 and the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988.

Agriculture

The gross value of agriculture production in our region was $495 million in 2017–18, with poultry, sheep and lambs, and wool contributing 56 percent of this figure (Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment 2020). The damage to agriculture from rabbits has been increasing over the past two decades as immunity levels to the Calicivirus (or Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease) in the rabbit population has been slowly rising (DEDJTR 2018).

Population growth

The Greater Geelong region is currently experiencing strong population growth and our population is predicted to exceed 393,000 by 2041 (Forecast.id, 2019).

This growth will increase the size of the urban-rural interface – known as peri-urban areas – and will expose more people to the harmful impacts of rabbits. It will also put pressure on our existing areas of biodiversity as rabbits are forced to look for new areas to inhabit.

Rabbits in our landscape

Natural landscapes in our region are many and varied.

These landscapes vary not only in form, but also in soil type and underlying geology – from poorly draining basalt clays on the volcanic plains around Little River, to the deeper, often sandier soils formed by alluvial processes that are usually found on the Bellarine, or near waterways.

Rabbit populations tend to establish warren systems in deep loams and/or sandy soils as they are easy to dig and free draining. We will therefore prioritise these areas for control measures in an aim to reduce rabbit dispersal across the landscape.The type of City-managed land we manage where rabbits can be an issue include:

• waterways – Hovells Creek, Waurn Ponds Creek, Barwon River, Moorabool River, Lake Lorne and McLeod’s Waterholes
• roadsides and trails – the Bellarine Rail Trail, Ted Wilson Trail, Knights Road, Creswell Road and Manifold Road
• reserves – Haines Reserve, Drysdale Pony Club and Mount Duneed Recreation Reserve.