Native plant conservation bank

BALLARAT is one of six regional botanic gardens joining a pilot Care for the Rare project run by the Botanic Gardens of Australian and New Zealand’s Victorian Branch.

The project looks at the role of the gardens in native plant conservation.

Members of the Victorian committee of BGANZ’s held an executive meeting in Ballarat recently to visit the site and determine which species would best suit the gardens.

Mr Chris Russell, chair of BGANZ, said Care of the Rare is about protecting plants at risk of extinction from land clearing, climate change and habitat destruction.

“There is a growing list of plants in Victoria that are facing extinction,” Mr Russell said.

“BGANZ is doing an assessment of the Ballarat Botanical gardens to identify opportunities for this conservation collection and will then develop a draft conservation collection plan.”

There will be a follow up visit to work with the facilities curators to see how the implementation of the plan works.

“The plan is a safe guard from plants being lost in the wild,” Mr Russell said.

City of Ballarat Deputy Major Cr Jim Rinaldi said the project will protect what we have so that future generations can view and enjoy the native plants.

“It is so important that we take care and preserve what we have in our Botanic Gardens,” said Cr Rinaldi.