Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub Endangered Ecological Community Recovery Plan
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Approved Recovery Plan Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub Endangered Ecological Community Recovery Plan February 2004 Department of Environment and Conservation (NSW) © Department of Environment and Conservation (NSW), 2004. This work is copyright, however material presented in this plan may be copied for personal use or published for educational purposes, providing that any extracts are fully acknowledged. Apart from this and any other use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced without prior written permission from the DEC. The NPWS is part of the Department of Environment and Conservation Department of Environment and Conservation (NSW) 43 Bridge Street (PO Box 1967) Hurstville NSW 2220 Ph: (02) 9585 6444 www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au Requests for information or comments regarding this recovery plan should be directed to:- The Director-General, Department of Environment and Conservation (NSW) c/- Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub Recovery Program Coordinator Conservation Programs and Planning, Metropolitan Region Environment Protection and Regulation Division Department of Environment and Conservation PO Box 1967 HURSTVILLE NSW 2220 Ph: (02) 9585 6678 Cover photo: P.H. Glass, Jennifer St. La Perouse This plan should be cited as the following NSW Department of Environment and Conservation (2004) Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub Endangered Ecological Community Recovery Plan. NSW Department of Environment and Conservation, Hurstville. ISBN 0 7313 6763 4 Recovery Plan for the Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub endangered ecological community Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub Recovery Plan Executive Summary This document constitutes the formal Commonwealth and New South Wales Recovery Plan for the Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub endangered ecological community. It identifies the actions to be taken to ensure the long-term viability of Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub in nature and the parties who will carry these out. Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub (ESBS) is listed as endangered on Schedule 1 Part 3 of the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 and as endangered under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. It is a sclerophyllous heath/scrub community that once occupied approximately 5,300 hectares between North Head and Botany Bay in the Sydney Basin Bioregion. Today, only 146 hectares of ESBS remains in small, isolated remnants on a range of tenures including private, Local, State and Commonwealth Government land. ESBS occurs on disjunct patches of nutrient poor, aeolian dune sand and may contain small patches of woodland, low forest or limited wetter areas, depending on site topography and hydrology. Commonly recorded species of the community include Banksia aemula, Banksia ericifolia, Banksia serrata, Eriostemon australasius, Lepidosperma laterale, Leptospermum laevigatum, Monotoca elliptica, Pteridium esculentum, Ricinocarpos pinifolius and Xanthorrhoea resinifera. A major threat to ESBS is the further loss and fragmentation of habitat as a consequence of clearing and development. Other known threats include: altered nutrient flows and hydrological regimes; weed invasion; inappropriate fire regimes; mowing, slashing and the inappropriate use of herbicides; grazing by horses and rabbits; over shading; infection by Phytophthora cinnamomi; erosion and physical damage from surface water run-off, bicycles, motor vehicles, horses, rabbits and excessive pedestrian use; inappropriate plantings; factors affecting pollination and seed dispersal processes; seed and wildflower collection; and the dumping of rubbish (including construction materials and green waste). This recovery plan describes our current understanding of ESBS, documents the management actions undertaken to date, and outlines a recovery program over the next five years. To provide for the future recovery of ESBS, this plan advocates a recovery program that: • maps, assesses and monitors the condition of all ESBS remnants; • ensures that ESBS remnants are not destroyed and that an increased level of legislative protection is provided over land that provides habitat for ESBS; • favours in-situ protection and the management of threats at ESBS sites; • raises public awareness of ESBS and encourages active community participation in its conservation; and • examines the ecological aspects of ESBS which will inform management decisions regarding the long- term conservation of the community. It is intended that this recovery plan will be implemented over a five-year period. Recovery actions will largely be implemented using existing resources of various NSW government agencies and community groups. The total cost to implement the plan is $98,000 over five years, however this does not include the cost of preparing and implementing plans of management. Tony Fleming Bob Debus MP A/Director-General Minister for the Environment Recovery Plan for the Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub endangered ecological community Acknowledgments This recovery plan was prepared through joint funding from the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (which is now part of the NSW Department of Environment and Conservation) and Environment Australia (Commonwealth Endangered Species Project No. 20761). The NSW Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) would like to thank the following people and organisations for their assistance during the preparation of the plan: Paul Ibbetson, Bronwyn Conyers and Dionne Coburn (DEC); Daniel Hirschfeld, Tina Digby and Tony Watson (Randwick Council); Michael Buckley (Waverley Council); Dannielle Kirton (Botany Council); Woollahra Council and Manly Council; Michael Mathias, Sonya Dare, Anthony Fitzsimmons and Andrew Freeman (Department of Defence); Robyn Sim and Nick Stroinovsky (Sydney Water Corporation); Nicole Wilmot (Eastern Beaches/Botany Bay CMC); Associate Professor Paul Adam (University of NSW); Judith Peters and Nicola Bryden (Centennial Park and Moore Park Trust); Ken Turner (previously Department of Land and Water Conservation); Energy Australia, Enerserve and Telstra; and the Commonwealth Department of Finance and Administration. Suzanne O’Neil and Martin Bremner (DEC) are acknowledged for editing the draft and final versions of the plan respectively. The DEC would also like to acknowledge the members of the local Randwick community who have been, and continue to be, actively involved in the conservation of ESBS. Recovery Plan for the Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub endangered ecological community Table of Contents 1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................... 1 2 Legislative Context.......................................................................................................................................... 1 2.1 LEGAL STATUS ......................................................................................................................................... 1 2.2 RECOVERY PLAN PREPARATION................................................................................................................ 1 2.3 RECOVERY PLAN IMPLEMENTATION ......................................................................................................... 1 2.4 CRITICAL HABITAT .................................................................................................................................. 2 2.5 KEY THREATENING PROCESSES................................................................................................................ 2 2.6 ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT ............................................................................................................... 3 3 Conservation Status......................................................................................................................................... 3 4 Distribution and habitat................................................................................................................................... 3 4.1 HISTORICAL DISTRIBUTION....................................................................................................................... 3 4.2 CURRENT DISTRIBUTION........................................................................................................................... 4 4.3 HABITAT .................................................................................................................................................. 4 4.3.1 Landform and geology ........................................................................................................................... 4 4.3.2 Climate ................................................................................................................................................... 4 4.4 TENURE AND ZONING ............................................................................................................................... 4 5 Description ...................................................................................................................................................... 4 5.1 SCIENTIFIC DESCRIPTION .......................................................................................................................... 4 5.2 DISTINGUISHING THE ESBS COMMUNITY................................................................................................. 7 6 Ecological Processes ......................................................................................................................................