Service Spotlight: Giving nature a helping hand

Surf Coast Shire is renowned for its beautiful environment, and Gabrielle O’Shea counts herself lucky to spend her days working in many of our unique natural locations.

As a Biodiversity Officer, Gabrielle helps maintain, monitor and care for more than 30 Council-managed nature reserves, which together total just over 200 hectares in size.

From the Barwon River and its ancient River Red Gums to coastal reserves filled with grasstrees and waterbirds, each reserve makes an important contribution to local biodiversity.

It's why Gabrielle finds it impossible to nominate a favourite reserve.

“They’ve all got great qualities, and that’s why they’ve been set aside – they’re all special,” she says.

Tour the reserves across the shire and you’d find rare migratory birds such as Latham’s Snipe, critically endangered plant communities  such as Grassy Eucalypt Woodland, and a varying array of native animals, fungi, frogs, wildflowers and microbats.

Gabrielle aims to protect and improve the health of our reserves through revegetation – often in close partnership with community volunteers – along with weed and rabbit control.

“Historical land use influences what we see today and how we manage each reserve,” she says.

“Around townships, a lot of the reserves were formerly private land that has come over to council management in areas that have been developed.

“They have a history of disturbance, so we are trying to manage that – which will usually be in the form of weed invasion or bare areas that we’re trying to revegetate.”

She points to Spring Creek Nature Reserve in Torquay as a recent success story.

“As the town has expanded, Council has taken on responsibility for more and more parts of the land beside the creek, so the reserve now extends all the way to Duffields Road,” Gabrielle said.

“Initially there were small patches of vegetation hanging on, but we’ve worked with community groups and over time gradually replanted.

“Upstream of the Great Ocean Road it’s gone from paddocks that were used for agriculture to a well vegetated bio-link with great habitat for water birds.”

Gabrielle has a wealth of experience working in natural resource management in Benalla, Mildura and Armidale. She has been with Surf Coast Shire for the past 14 years.

She says more frequent severe weather events are presenting increasing challenges. The recent drought has put reserves such as Ocean Acres and Bellbrae under heavy pressure.

“The soil moisture levels have been at near record lows and that’s resulted in widespread loss of canopy in the Messmate trees in those reserves,” Gabrielle says.

“Some of those trees won’t recover, and it’s heartbreaking to see.”

But other parts of the job provide genuine delight, such as confirmation of the presence of rare native species.

“Recently there’s been a focus on the Swamp Antechinus, and the Broad-Toothed Rat in the Aireys Inlet-Fairhaven area,” Gabrielle says.

“It’s hard to detect them because they’re nocturnal, but it’s great to know they’re there.

“We’re finding out a lot more about them from a combination of university researchers and local groups such as the Geelong Field Naturalists, who have been taking on some of the sampling.”

It's not lost on Gabrielle that she gets to work in environments where many people choose to spend their free time.

“People get a lot of enjoyment, satisfaction and peace out of being in nature,” she says.

“It’s a varied and interesting job, and you get to see changes and positive outcomes over time.

“I believe in small things adding up to big things, and acting locally makes a difference – so I feel really lucky to do what I do.”

View our interactive map for information about all Council-managed nature reserves in the shire.