A population of rare native yam daisies has been discovered on a travelling stock reserve (TSR) near Hay, with work underway from Riverina Local Land Services to protect the native plant.\u00a0 These yam daisies, known as Micoseris walteri<\/em>, produce edible tuberous roots and yellow flower heads, which look similar to dandelion.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n The discovery was made on a TSR north of Hay by Booligal\nPrimary School Principal, Lindy Stewart who is an avid naturalist and\nphotographer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Riverina Local Land Services Senior Land Services Officer Sally Ware said following this incredible discovery, work has commenced to further investigate and protect the population.\u00a0\u201cWe have quickly collaborated with a range of leading botanists, university scientists and ecologists and are collecting samples as required,\u201d Ms Ware said. \u201cWe are also undertaking photographic work and using drone technology to view sites and ensure the yam daises are not under threat. Livestock movements on the TSR are also being diverted away from identified sites and temporary exclusion fencing may be needed to best protect the plants.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Anecdotal records from the 19th century suggest there were once large stretches of yam daises in grass and shrublands on the Riverina plains.\u00a0However, it\u2019s believed little recognition of the plant and historic movements of large amounts of stock in the area would have contributed to their decline in the wild as they are very palatable plants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Emma Johnston, a proud Wiradjuri woman from Hay, is currently studying Ecosystem and Land management as a school-based trainee with Hay Plains Landcare. Ms Johnston said she is excited the yams are creating more\ndiscussion around local native species and their Aboriginal use. \u201cI am excited by the yam discovery and keen to learn more\nabout my culture and the important food that was harvested by my ancestors. Wet\nseasons must have been more common than they are today,\u201d Ms Johnston said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Riverina Local Land Services TSR Team Leader Peter Beal said today TSRs play an important role in biodiversity conservation, agricultural production and Aboriginal cultural heritage.\u00a0\u201cIn NSW, TSRs cover more than two million hectares of land and they\u2019re instrumental in connecting otherwise isolated patches of remnant vegetation, which provides opportunities for many native plants to survive and thrive,\u201d Mr Beal said.\u00a0\u201cAt Local Land Services, we are committed to managing our TSR network in a way that strikes the balance between biodiversity conservation, livestock production, Indigenous conservation, recreation and community priorities. This discovery is a great example of that balance in action and by continuing to work collaborative with our wide range of TSR users, we can ensure they will be preserved for generations to come.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n This article was provided by Jade Auldist. Jade is the Regional Agriculture Landcare Facilitator (RALF) for the Riverina region. Her role supports farmers, industry and community groups (including Landcare Groups) to adopt new and innovative sustainable agriculture practices. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A word from the RALF (October 2022) A population of rare native yam daisies has been discovered on a travelling stock reserve (TSR) near Hay, with work underway from Riverina Local Land Services to protect the native plant.\u00a0 These yam daisies, known as Micoseris walteri, produce edible tuberous roots and yellow flower heads, which look…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":6734,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","iawp_total_views":17,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81],"tags":[307],"class_list":["post-6733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-ralf","pmpro-has-access","category-81","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mli.org.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mli.org.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mli.org.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mli.org.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mli.org.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6733"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mli.org.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6733\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6736,"href":"https:\/\/mli.org.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6733\/revisions\/6736"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mli.org.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mli.org.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mli.org.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mli.org.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}