Banner Image: Eucalyptus grandis (Flooded Gum), Myall Lakes National Park, Bulahdelah, NSW
Government clients include:
Review of the Conservation Status of 10 Plant Species in NSW
The NSW Office of Environment & Heritage has contracted me to undertake a review of the conservation status of 10 plant species that are endemic to NSW. The requires compiling and analysing data in accordance with the Common Assessment Method used by OEH and the Commonwealth Department of Environment & Energy. This method is based on an internationally adopted method developed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Some of the subject species are listed under the State or Commonwealth legislation but have been assessed by a recent IUCN review as warranting detailed evaluation and likely ‘uplisting’ i.e. raising their conservation and legal status. Some are not listed under legislation but have been identified as apparently rare and threatened. One is a long-standing listed entity that may not be a legitimate species, and is probably an unstable hybrid. If this is confirmed, it would be removed from both NSW and Commonwealth law.
IMAGE: Grevillea juniperina ssp. juniperina at the proposed Colebee Nature Reserve (offset for clearing of vegetation for M7). Assessment of this and other species undertaken for OEH in 2017.
Preparation of Statutory Expert Reports for 4 Threatened Plant Species
The NSW Department of Environment & Planning (DPE) engaged me to prepare Expert Reports for Acacia bynoeana, A. pubescens, Melaleuca deanei and Persoonia nutans as part of the assessment of ecological effects and offsetting obligations for large urbanisation projects in western and southwestern Sydney. I am now an OEH-certified Expert for those species https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/biodiversity/experts.htm and will be seeking that status for a significant number of additional plants and ecological communities.
These reports are a new requirement of the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act and are required to ‘fill the gap’ where conventional surveys under the Biodiversity Assessment Method cannot be conducted. In this instance, large areas proposed for rezoning to urban use could not be accessed by consultants working for DPE due to land owners not providing entry. Where survey data cannot be collected due to lack of access or because of other significant constraints, the BAM allows the use of an Expert Report to determine the likely presence of the species or ecological community, and the likely impacts of the proposal on it.
The reports entailed modelling potential habitat for these species and predicting which Plant Community Types they may occur in, and the probability of their being present and to what extent. This produces ‘species polygons’ (maps of potential presence) that are used to generate biodiversity offset calculations. The information can also drive the planning process, and in this case, most areas of remnant vegetation, other than those in low condition, were excluded from urbanisation. Only relatively small areas are proposed for clearing to accommodate major infrastructure such as main roads.
The reports will be reviewed by NSW OEH, and later publicly exhibited as part of the Cumberland Plain Conservation Plan.
IMAGE: Acacia pubescens, Aylmerton
IMAGE: Melaleuca deanei, Maroota
Review of Threatened Ecological Communities in NSW in the Context of Mapping
NSW Office of Environment & Heritage retained me to review TECs (BC and EPBC Act) in the context of whether and how they can be mapped. This project is linked to the need for OEH to map at least the Critically Endangered TECs as part of the public Biodiversity Values Map. The report is confidential but was intended for release to the NSW and Commonwealth Scientific Committees to assist them in refining existing TEC definitions, and improving new listings that make mapping of these communities more feasible. Two existing and problematic TECs have since been subject to Preliminary Determinations that redefine them, and that should ultimately make them easier to interpret and map.
IMAGE: Montane Peatlands & Swamps TEC, NSW Southern Tablelands
Fine-scale Vegetation Mapping of Wingecarribee Shire
The project is a joint venture between OEH’s Native Vegetation Information Science unit and Council; and was designed and commenced prior to my involvement. I took on the job when the project was in difficulty.
The project is a test case for new and refined methods of mapping vegetation types at the local government scale. Analysis of draft map reliability during 2017 resulted in very high scores – higher than previously generated using OEH’s methodology and methods. OEH recognised that this was in part achieved through extensive local knowledge and through ‘going the extra mile’ to get good results out of what was initially an inadequate project design.
In the process of conducting extensive sampling and traverses, I documented new populations of several rare and threatened species of flora and fauna; extended the known ranges of several plant species and two threatened ecological communities; documented a previously unknown vegetation type for the LGA; detected one species previously unknown to science, and another that represents at least a new variant of a known species.
The map was released to Council and government agencies for review in mid 2017. The digital map and associated data are expected for public release in early 2020.
Threatened Flora Research, Monitoring and Fire Ecology Recommendations (Gordons Wattle, Acacia gordonii), Save Our Species Program
In 2016, OEH funded a review of database records, fieldwork to check on known populations, establishment of monitoring plots / plant community sampling, and advice for proposed ecological burning of this species in Blue Mountains National Park.
Monitoring will include pre-and-post-fire plots to track the species’ response to prescribed burning that is intended to optimise the population near Faulconbridge Point. The species is known to be disadvantaged by prolonged absence of fire and is facilitated by fire that removes competing shrubs and trees and reinstates its preferred open habitat.
Faulconbridge Point habitat was burnt in May 2018 as part of a wider hazard reduction fire to protect homes in the Faulconbridge / Linden area. I was able to supervise the ecological component of the fire from the air and was one of the photographers documenting this event. The burnt sites will be resampled in May 2019.
The 2019 phase of this project includes a review of records and aerial identification of habitat for the species in southern Wollemi National Park. Further monitoring plots will be installed if population densities are sufficiently high.
IMAGE: Acacia gordonii habitat, Faulconbridge, Blue Mountains National Park, ecological burning using aerial incendiaries. Photo, Kestrel Andrews
Threatened Flora Research and Monitoring (Bossiaea oligosperma), Save Our Species Program
OEH funded a review of database records; fieldwork; reporting and the establishment of monitoring plots for this species in its disjunct northern occurrence (Nattai to Yerranderie). Numerous old and spatially inaccurate records were reviewed and corrected to show where this species has actually been found. One small occurrence was unable to be found; another was found further south than previously known, but the main Nattai River population was unable to be accessed due to flood debris and its remote location. The Yerranderie occurrence was resolved to a single ridge over which it extends for approximately two kilometres. Vegetation sampling was conducted to describe the plant community in which the species occurs, and to establish 6 monitoring sites that will be revisited to track the health of the population.
During fieldwork, several other rare and threatened species were detected, including a new and significantly more western occurrence of the endangered shrub, Pomaderris brunnea, and a new south-western occurrence of the vulnerable small shrub, Epacris purpurascens var. purpurascens.
IMAGE: Bossiaea oligosperma, Nattai National Park
Threatened Flora Research and Recommendations (Triplarina nowraenesis), Save Our Species Program
IMAGE: Plot-based monitoring for Triplarina nowraensis, Illaroo Nature Reserve, Nowra
OEH funded a literature and database review, substantial fieldwork, and preparation of new management advice for Nowra Heath Myrtle. The research documented new or extended populations of this and associated rare or threatened species across several NPWS reserves and a proposed reserve in the lower Shoalhaven area. New information relating to the species’ conservation status and management was provided to OEH and disseminated to field management staff and the threatened flora database. Information about population sizes was provided to fill a large gap in database records, most of which don’t record the size of the population at the recorded location. For this species, a ‘record’ can be a single plant or several thousand across hundreds or thousands of square metres.
Survey and Monitoring of Rare and Threatened Flora in Forestry Corporation Estate
Forestry Corporation of NSW have engaged Ecological Surveys & Planning to undertake a series of flora surveys targeting rare or threatened plants in Penrose, Wingello and Belanglo State Forests. Some of these species are also subject to plot-based monitoring, including trialling different management of bushfire Asset Protection Zones around pine plantations and the bushland interface. Significant conservation benefits have been generated to date, though there remains room for further improvements.
OEH has also funded research into an additional threatened plant species in Penrose State Forest, and there is potential for collaboration between these agencies to significantly improve conservation outcomes in APZs and adjoining bushland. I hope to conduct further surveys to document the extent of threatened flora in these surprisingly high-conservation-value areas.
IMAGE: Commersonia prostrata, Threatened flora monitoring in Forestry Corporation estate
Vegetation Map Validation and Refinement (Kiama & Shellharbour LGAs)
IMAGE: Saddleback Mountain, Kiama LGA
NSW OEH funded fieldwork to refine its vegetation maps of these areas and that will be used for ecological planning and assessment. Targets included areas that were known or likely to be threatened ecological communities, and/or that had not been clearly identified. Numerous changes were made, including identifying unmapped remnant vegetation; clarifying which areas were bushland and which were weeds; changing the vegetation community assigned to some remnants; and adjusting polygon boundaries. Seven additional NVIS-compliant quadrats were sampled in target communities, and a new population of a threatened plant species was detected.
Threatened Flora Research and Monitoring
NSW OEH has funded a staged project through Blue Mountains City Council to establish monitoring sites and to undertake additional fieldwork for the threatened plant species, Callistemon megalongensis, C. purpurascens (both new species found during our earlier vegetation mapping in this area), Persoonia acerosa and Pultenaea glabra. Searches for Persoonia acerosa relocated some known occurrences and recorded some new sitings. A long-standing mystery about the validity of records of Pultenaea glabra from Mounts Wilson and Irvine was resolved when I confirmed that those records were errors and relate to an undescribed species that is now common in those areas after the 2013 wildfire. I have named the new species Pultenaea ‘monticola’ (meaning, mountain dwelling). It is currently part of a wider genetic assessment by the NSW Herbarium, and will likely be formally described in the near future.
IMAGE: Pultenaea glabra, Lawson, Blue Mountains
