Conservation Advice for the Karst Springs and Associated Alkaline Fens of the Naracoorte Coastal Plain Bioregion

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Conservation Advice for the Karst Springs and Associated Alkaline Fens of the Naracoorte Coastal Plain Bioregion The Threatened Species Scientific Committee provided their advice to the Minister on 31 July 2020. The Minister approved this Conservation Advice on 3 December 2020 and agreed that no recovery plan is required at this time. Conservation Advice1 for the Karst springs and associated alkaline fens of the Naracoorte Coastal Plain Bioregion This document combines the approved conservation advice and listing assessment for the threatened ecological community. It provides a foundation for conservation action and further planning. Karst springs and alkaline fens, Ewen Ponds © Copyright, Anthony Hoffman Conservation Status The Karst springs and associated alkaline fens of the Naracoorte Coastal Bioregion is listed in the Endangered category of the threatened ecological communities list under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). The ecological community was assessed by the Threatened Species Scientific Committee, who found it to be eligible for listing as Endangered and recommended that a recovery plan is not required at this time. The Committee’s assessment and recommendations are at Section 6. The Committee’s assessment of the eligibility against each of the listing criteria is: Criterion 1: Vulnerable Criterion 2: Endangered Criterion 3: Insufficient data Criterion 4: Endangered Criterion 5: Insufficient data Criterion 6: Insufficient data The main factors that make the threatened ecological community eligible for listing in the Endangered category are its historic losses to drainage, clearing and resulting fragmentation, and ongoing threats to its integrity and function, particularly from hydrological changes. The Karst springs and associated alkaline fens of the Naracoorte Coastal Plain Bioregion occurs within country (the traditional lands) of the Boandik and the Gunditjmara peoples. 1 The Conservation Advice is a statutory document as per section 266B of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. CONTENTS 1 Conservation objective ......................................................................................................................... 3 2 Description of the ecological community and the area it inhabits ........................................................ 3 2.1 Description .................................................................................................................................... 3 2.2 Cultural and community significance .......................................................................................... 15 3 Threats ............................................................................................................................................... 15 3.1 Threat table ................................................................................................................................. 15 3.2 Key threatening processes .......................................................................................................... 23 4 Existing protection .............................................................................................................................. 24 4.1 Existing protection in reserves .................................................................................................... 24 4.2 Existing protection under national law ........................................................................................ 25 4.3 Existing protection under state laws ........................................................................................... 25 4.4 Existing management plans ........................................................................................................ 27 5 Conservation of the ecological community ......................................................................................... 29 5.1 Identification of the ecological community .................................................................................. 29 5.2 Regulated areas of the ecological community ............................................................................ 32 5.3 Principles and standards for conservation .................................................................................. 35 5.4 Priority conservation and research actions ................................................................................. 36 6 Listing assessment and recovery plan recommendation ................................................................... 48 6.1 Eligibility for listing against the EPBC Act criteria ....................................................................... 48 6.2 Recovery plan recommendation ................................................................................................. 67 7 Appendix A - Species lists .................................................................................................................. 68 7.1 Flora ............................................................................................................................................ 68 7.2 Fauna .......................................................................................................................................... 73 8 Appendix B - Relationship to other vegetation classification and mapping systems ......................... 85 8.1 Relationship to the National Vegetation Information System (NVIS) .......................................... 85 8.2 Relationship to South Australian vegetation classifications ........................................................ 85 8.3 Relationship to Victorian vegetation classifications .................................................................... 86 9 Appendix C - Indigenous people, cultural values and the Karst springs and alkaline fens ecological community ................................................................................................................................................... 87 9.1 Traditional custodians ................................................................................................................. 87 9.2 Species of Indigenous cultural value and the traditional use of resources from the ecological community ............................................................................................................................................... 87 10 References ......................................................................................................................................... 93 Karst spring and associated alkaline fens of the Naracoorte Coastal Plain Bioregion Conservation Advice Page 2 of 104 1 CONSERVATION OBJECTIVE To mitigate the risk of extinction of the Karst Springs and associated alkaline fens of the Naracoorte Coastal Plain Bioregion ecological community, and help recover its biodiversity and function, through protecting it from significant impacts as a Matter of National Environmental Significance under national environmental law, and by guiding implementation of management and recovery, consistent with the recommended priority conservation and research actions set out in this advice. This Conservation Advice contains information relevant to the objective by: • describing the ecological community and where it can be found (section 2); • identifying the key threats to the ecological community (section 3); • summarising the existing protections for the ecological community (section 4); • outlining information to guide its identification and conservation, including the key diagnostic features, condition thresholds and classes, and additional information to identify the ecological community, and the priority conservation and research actions to stop its decline, support its recovery and recognise the importance of involving current landholders and Indigenous people in its maintenance (section 5); and • presenting evidence to explain why the ecological community merits listing as nationally threatened under national environment law (section 6). 2 DESCRIPTION OF THE ECOLOGICAL COMMUNITY AND THE AREA IT INHABITS 2.1 Description The ecological community described in this conservation advice includes plants, animals and other organisms associated with a type of groundwater dependant ecosystem that occurs in association with the Tertiary limestone Gambier Karst Province of the Otway Basin on low lying areas near the coast in eastern South Australia and western Victoria. Its primary defining features are the underlying limestone geology, predominantly karst fed (alkaline) springs, soaks, pools or streams and associated fringing fens which include herblands, peatlands, sedgelands and/or shrubland vegetation. This section describes the natural and largely undisturbed state of the ecological community, with more information to assist in identifying occurrences of the ecological community in Section 5.1. However, as a result of past disturbance, not all occurrences of the ecological community still exist in their natural and undisturbed state (further outlined in Section 2.1.7.5). Section 5.2. provides information to identify patches that retain sufficient conservation values to be considered a matter of national environmental significance. 2.1.1 Name The name of the ecological community is the ‘Karst2 Springs and Associated Alkaline Fens of the Naracoorte Coastal Plain Bioregion’, hereafter referred to as ‘Karst springs and alkaline fens’, or ‘the ecological community’. The ecological community was originally placed on the 2015 Finalised Priority Assessment List as the ‘Karst rising springs of south east South
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