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Topic Grassland management
Question What is the impact of urban development on native grasslands?
Expert Dr John Morgan
Dr John Morgan is a research scientist in the Department of Botany at La Trobe University, Bundoora. John has worked for many years in the grassy ecosystems of southern Australia, concentrating on understanding the long-term changes that occur in species composition in the context of land-use change, ecological management and plant invasions, relating his findings to conservation and biodiversity.
Hard to know yet. It might be very positive if it means there are more people engaged with grasslands, but this will mean thinking about conservation in a very different way. Instead of locking people out of grasslands, we need to get them to use and engage with them. What is the bigger evil; preventing people from knowing about what lies on their doorstep, or the chance that they will inadvertently destroy the grassland through misuse? I think the former will be the death-knell of urban grasslands.
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