Disclosures & limitations.

Field Data Collection - The Method prescribes a blend of site survey and transect survey approaches for data collection. The site survey was performed to Victoria’s Habitat Hectare (HH) standard, providing survey breadth and assessment of macro-scale Native Vegetation features. The site survey data is complemented with data from rigid transects that provide a repeatable survey of finer scale Native Vegetation attributes. There are advantages and limitations in each approach (especially regarding feature resolution and spatial fuzziness), and to mitigate the limitations the combination allows for a balanced approach to condition scoring.  However, scoring is likely to be conservative, as indicators such as species diversity were drawn from the constrained view of a transect.

Control to minimise identified limitation - The retention of companion HH site level survey allows more meaningful and accurate measurement of indicators that occur at more macro scales or that are dispersed across a patch. The fixed transects approach adds to survey repeatability and statistical robustness of the application method.

Significant outcomes.

Disclosures & limitations.

Some constraints and considerations associated with base year sampling have been identified

• Most, but not all the farmland was surveyed owing to constraints from weather (ground conditions) and the nature of cropping paddock activity.

• With the intention to survey as much of the farmland as possible, for both agronomic and condition accounting reasons, sampling in 2021 was over an extended duration (March to November).

• The benchmark condition and scoring ranges for condition indicators for this account are likely to refine and evolve in the next annual iterations of the account. This will occur with additional research and analysis, in a circumstance where true and representative reference condition soils are unlikely ever to be found.

• Condition is based on a suite of physical characteristics of the soil. A direct measure of soil biological health is not currently incorporated into the applied method and so remains an aspect not reflected in scoring.

Control to minimise identified limitation - Routine annual monitoring over a multi-year cyclical sampling window will allow a more systematic and temporally consistent approach to sampling.

Significant outcomes.

Disclosures & limitations.

Data Collection - It is expected that there will be a high level of variability in the data within and between repeat annual bird surveys owing to many dynamic environmental factors, expressing both spatially and temporally and at different scales.

Control to minimise identified limitation - Diligence will be required to build an extended record of data, to discern meaningful trends in condition.