Is it possible to restore degraded grasslands back to high quality grassland ecosystems? Do you have any examples illustrating how this can be done/has been done?

It is possible to restore degraded sites back to high quality grasslands, as long as the main plant species are there, sometimes called the ‘keystone’ species. Through clever management, usually involving fire, conditions can be created that favour the native species over the weeds. The seeds of many plant species can last for many many years in the soil, just waiting for the right conditions to arrive. In cases where there aren’t seeds or plants of the original grasslands, these can be added to the site through some clever tricks. People have been researching the best way of doing this over the past decade or so, and have had some wonderful success. It’s all about keeping on top of the weeds and keeping the vegetation relatively open. There are a few places that are growing grassland species like a crop, to harvest the seeds so that there’s enough to add to large-scale reconstructions of grasslands. The more we attempt these sorts of projects, the better we’ll get at restoring grasslands. Places like Organ Pipes State Park, Derrimut and Laverton grassland reserves and a few other smaller reserves are examples of places where the quality of the grassland has actually been improving over time through very careful management.