People are driving off-road through sensitive habitat at Shoreline's Richmond Beach Saltwater Park, potentially ruining extensive work undertaken by volunteers.
An essential factor in assessing the success of woodland restorations is understanding whether gene flow and connectivity between restored and remnant populations has been re-established. Without pollinator services, isolated populations can further subdivide and face concerns of inbreeding depression, which is not the target of restoration projects. Within the ‘Central Valley’ of the Warrumbungle National Park, a series of restoration plantings were performed between the 1980s and 1990s to restore the previously abundant Box-Gum Grassy Woodlands, in particular White Box Gum trees (Eucalyptus albens). Extensive land clearing meant that these populations became extremely fragmented within the agricultural matrix, with only a few remaining extant remnant trees. This restoration was discovered to use locally sourced genetic material for plantations within the park, which is known to cause issues with inbreeding depression and lower genetic variability. Extending upon previous studies,