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Conserving Reptiles and Frogs in the Forests of New South Wales

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Conserving Reptiles and Frogs in the Forests of New South Wales Please do not remove this page Conserving reptiles and frogs in the forests of New South Wales Newell, David A; Goldingay, Ross L https://researchportal.scu.edu.au/discovery/delivery/61SCU_INST:ResearchRepository/1266904610002368?l#1367373090002368 Newell, D. A., & Goldingay, R. L. (2004). Conserving reptiles and frogs in the forests of New South Wales. In Conservation of Australia’s forest fauna (pp. 270–296). Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales. https://researchportal.scu.edu.au/discovery/fulldisplay/alma991012820501502368/61SCU_INST:Research Repository Southern Cross University Research Portal: https://researchportal.scu.edu.au/discovery/search?vid=61SCU_INST:ResearchRepository [email protected] Open Downloaded On 2021/09/25 04:13:03 +1000 Please do not remove this page Conserving reptiles and frogs in the forests of New South Wales David Newell and Ross Goldingay* School of Environmental Science & Management, Southern Cross University, Lismore, 2480 NSW *Email: [email protected] The forests of New South Wales (NSW) contain a diverse fauna of frogs and reptiles (herpetofauna) with approximately 139 species occurring in forests and around 59 species that are forest-dependent. Prior to 1991, this fauna group received scant attention in research or forest management. However, legislative and policy changes in the early 1990s have largely reversed this situation. This review documents the changes in forest management that now require closer attention be given to the requirements of forest herpetofauna. We also provide an overview of research that contributes to a greater understanding of the management requirements of forest-dependent species. The introduction of the Endangered Fauna (Interim Protection) Act 1991 in NSW led to the need for comprehensive surveys of all forest vertebrate wildlife and detailed consideration of potential impacts on forest species listed as endangered by this Act. This process was replaced in 1995 by Comprehensive Regional Assessments (CRAs) in States with timber industries under the National Forest Policy Statement. Herpetofauna featured prominently in this process overall, though poorly in the south- east (Eden) region of NSW. The CRA process culminated in the identification of areas to comprise a Comprehensive, Adequate and Representative system of reserves. Workshops with fauna experts were conducted to select habitat areas for reservation that aimed to conserve viable populations of priority species. Herpetofauna in two of four regional areas fared poorly compared to birds and mammals. In order to achieve Ecologically Sustainable Forest Management, as required under the National Forest Policy, forest management within areas remaining as production forest must establish conservation protocols that aim to minimise potential impacts on threatened species. Although such management is a substantial improvement on the situation pre-1991, its effectiveness rests with how appropriate individual protocols may be. This cannot be determined currently so we strongly urge research and monitoring to resolve this issue. Research on forest-dependent herpetofauna has been slow to respond to the challenge of providing insights to management but has gathered pace in the last six years. Only a small number of species have been targeted to any degree. It is inappropriate to assume that if species are now largely confined to protected areas that they are adequately conserved. Many forest reserves are now more likely to be subject to wildfire because of the change in forest management practices and the resources available to manage fire. An increase in the recreational use of the new reserves may also have an impact on the quality of some key habitats if not managed appropriately. Because the ecology of herpetofauna is intimately associated with temperature profiles, many species may be vulnerable to predicted climate change. We believe there is a need for a substantial increase in research so that forest-dependent herpetofauna can be adequately conserved in NSW. ABSTRACT Key words: Regional Forest Agreement, forest herpetofauna, ecologically sustainable forest management Introduction Reptiles and frogs (herpetofauna) comprise close to half of these groups, confirming how little research had been Australia’s terrestrial vertebrate fauna. There are currently conducted. This situation had arisen despite many species around 1050 species recognised (Cogger 2000) and this of herpetofauna being dependent on forest habitats and figure continues to grow as new species are identified. In thus occupying habitats that are vulnerable to disturbance New South Wales, the herpetofauna constitutes a third associated with logging and wildfire. of the State’s vertebrate diversity (Lunney and Ayers During the last 20 years, forest management has undergone 1993) and 26% of the State’s threatened vertebrates a vast transition in terms of environmental monitoring and (based on current listings). However, it appears that most regulation. This is perhaps exemplified by the situation in ecological research in the last 20 years on forest fauna NSW. In the early 1980s, assessments of forestry impacts has been conducted on birds and mammals. Indeed, were focused almost exclusively on south-east NSW due to the monograph “Conservation of Australia’s Forest the intensive woodchip operation that occurred there and Fauna” (Lunney 1991) contained no chapter that dealt the conversion of broad areas of native forest to plantations specifically with the conservation of the herpetofauna. of exotic pine (Recher et al. 1980). The Environmental Three chapters in this book made passing reference to Impact Statements (EISs) for the licensing of the woodchip Pp 270 - 296 in the Conservation of Australia’s Forest Fauna (second edition) 2004, edited by Daniel Lunney. Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, Mosman, NSW, Australia. Forest Fauna.indd 270 16/09/2004, 7:39 PM operations devoted little attention to forest reptiles (Lunney Forest-dependent species et al. 1991) and frogs received even less attention. This For this review, we have identified the forest and woodland pattern continued throughout the 1980s with minimal (hereafter forest) dwelling reptile and frog species that occur attention on assessing forestry impacts on herpetofauna within NSW (Appendix 1). This compilation was based (Lunney and Barker 1986; Lunney et al. 1991; Webb 1991; on Cogger (2000) and Swan et al. (2004) for reptiles and Kavanagh and Webb 1998). Barker et al. (1996), Cogger (2000) and Anstis (2002) for The routine inclusion of herpetofauna in forest assessments frogs. Additional information on frog habitats was found began in 1992 as a consequence of the introduction for some species in Ehmann (1997). Given the paucity of the Endangered Fauna (Interim Protection) Act 1991 of knowledge for much of the herpetofauna in NSW, and the Timber Industry (Interim Protection) Act 1992, determining the extent of forest dependency in this group which required that EISs be prepared for most forestry is difficult. We include species that are described as being management areas and that Fauna Impact Statements found predominantly in forest habitats, or environments (FISs) also be prepared for each area. This required that we consider to be mostly restricted to forest patches surveys of all major vertebrate fauna groups and specific (e.g. ‘mountain streams’). For example, the habitat consideration of potential impacts on species listed as descriptors used for the red-crowned toadlet Pseudophryne endangered. A full list of endangered fauna species in australis include “non-perennial creeks in sandstone areas NSW was prepared in 1992 and this included reptiles and and sandstone ridges” (Cogger 2000) and “damp situations frogs (Lunney et al. 1996). Reptiles were not included on on Hawkesbury sandstones” (Barker et al. 1995). No fauna lists in NSW until the revision of the National Parks information is provided on vegetation types. Thumm and and Wildlife Act in 1974 and frogs were largely unprotected Mahony (1997) indicate that the species occurs in coastal before the Endangered Fauna (Interim Protection) Act 1991 heath, low open woodland and open forest. The species (Lunney and Ayers 1993). has been included as forest-dependent, because there are Before the last forestry EISs had been finalised in NSW, a new few data available to enable a more precise determination. process of forest assessment was begun. These assessments, Species that occur predominantly in forests but are known as Comprehensive Regional Assessments (CRAs), described as able to cope with human disturbance, such as began in 1995 and were a fundamental element of the the blue-tongue lizard Tiliqua scincoides, are recognized as National Forest Policy (Tribe 1998; Davey et al. 2002). They forest-dwelling but not as forest-dependent. included assessment of environmental, cultural, social and We consider this as an appropriate starting point until economic values. The CRAs were the basis for the state and more detailed information becomes available. Thus, there federal governments achieving Regional Forest Agreements are 47 frog and 92 reptile species that are found in forested in designated areas. environments in NSW and 24 frog and 35 reptile species Research on Australian frogs increased substantially that are considered to be forest-dependent. during the 1990s, with the recognition that amphibian We have not considered turtles in our review, because declines were occurring on a global scale (Blaustein
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