YATTEYATTAH NATURE RESERVE PLAN OF MANAGEMENT NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service September 2002 This plan of management was adopted by the Minister for the Environment on 26th September 2002. Acknowledgments This plan of management was prepared by staff of South Coast Region and the Conservation Management Unit with the assistance of specialists in Southern Directorate and Head Office. Members of the former Nowra District Advisory Committee, neighbours and interested community members contributed to the plan. Cover photo of Yatteyattah Nature Reserve by Michael Van Ewijk. NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service Crown Copyright 2002: Use permitted with appropriate acknowledgment ISBN 0 7313 6954 8 FOREWORD Yatteyattah Nature Reserve is located on the South Coast of NSW between Nowra and Milton, 2.5 km west of Conjola Lake. It was gazetted in 1996 and has an area of 19 ha. The reserve protects the main southern occurrence of subtropical rainforest, the southern limit of Ficus-Streblus-Dendrocnide-Cassine dry rainforest sub-alliance and several native plant species that are regionally rare or at their southern limit. It also includes areas of forest red gum Eucalyptus tereticornis and thin-leaved stringybark E. eugenioides, both of which are poorly represented in conservation reserves. The reserve contains one of the most southerly roosting and maternity sites for the grey- headed flying-fox Pteropus poliocephalus. It provides habitat for several uncommon birds including the threatened powerful owl Ninox strenua and is an important food source for nomadic fruit-eating birds, some of which are at their southern limit of distribution. Because of its small size and significance, management emphasis in the reserve will be on maintenance of its ecological integrity and habitat values. Weed control and monitoring, regeneration of previously disturbed areas and fauna surveys will be the main management programs in the foreseeable future. Public use of the reserve will be allowed for educational purposes but limits may be placed on numbers, group sizes and visits to the flying-fox camp. The impacts of public use will be monitored. This plan of management contains the scheme of operations for Yatteyattah Nature Reserve. In accordance with section 76 of the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974, this plan of management is hereby adopted. BOB DEBUS MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT CONTENTS page 1. INTRODUCTION 1 2. MANAGEMENT CONTEXT 2 2.1 NATURE RESERVES IN NEW SOUTH WALES 2 2.2 YATTEYATTAH NATURE RESERVE 2 2.2.1 Location, Gazettal and Regional Setting 2 2.2.2 Importance of Yatteyattah Nature Reserve 2 3. OBJECTIVES OF MANAGEMENT 5 3.1 GENERAL OBJECTIVES FOR NATURE RESERVES 5 3.2 SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES FOR YATTEYATTAH NATURE RESERVE 5 3.3 OVERALL STRATEGY 5 4. POLICIES AND FRAMEWORK FOR MANAGEMENT 7 4.1 NATURE CONSERVATION 7 4.1.1 Landform, Geology, Soils and Water Quality 7 4.1.2 Native Vegetation and Introduced Plants 8 4.1.3 Native and Introduced Animals 11 4.1.4 Fire Management 12 4.2 CULTURAL HERITAGE 13 4.2.1 Aboriginal Sites 14 4.2.2 Non-Aboriginal Historic Places 15 4.3 USE OF THE AREA 16 4.3.1 Promotion and Visitor Opportunities 16 4.3.2 Research 17 4.3.3 Management Operations 18 5. PLAN IMPLEMENTATION 20 REFERENCES 21 SUMMARY MAP 4 1 1. INTRODUCTION The National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974, requires that a plan of management be prepared for each nature reserve. A plan of management is a legal document that outlines how the area will be managed in the years ahead. The procedures for the adoption of a plan of management for a nature reserve are specified in the Act: * The Director-General is required to refer the plan to the National Parks and Wildlife Advisory Council for its consideration and advice. * The Director-General is required to submit the plan to the Minister, together with any comments or suggestions of the Advisory Council. * The Minister may adopt the plan without alteration or with such alterations as the Minister may think fit, or may refer it back to the Director-General and Council for further consideration. Once a plan has been adopted by the Minister, no operations may be undertaken within the nature reserve except in accordance with the plan. Although not a requirement under the Act, this plan of management was placed on public exhibition for three months from 3rd August until 12th November 2001. The exhibition of the plan of management attracted 10 submissions which raised 9 issues. All comments received were referred to the Advisory Council with the plan when their consideration and advice to the Minister. The planning process leading to the development of this plan involved the collection and use of a large amount of information, which for reasons of document size, has not been included in the plan. For additional information or enquiries on any aspect of the plan or Yatteyattah Nature Reserve, contact the Service's South Coast Region Office at 55 Graham Street, Nowra or by phone on (02) 4423 2170. 2 2. MANAGEMENT CONTEXT 2.1 NATURE RESERVES IN NEW SOUTH WALES Nature reserves in New South Wales arose out of faunal reserves. Faunal reserves were first established under the Fauna Protection Act 1948. Under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1967, faunal reserves were reclassified as nature reserves. The 1967 Act was subsequently replaced by the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974. Under the National Parks and Wildlife Act, nature reserves are areas of special scientific interest containing wildlife or natural environments or natural phenomena. The purposes of nature reserves are defined in the Act as: "(a) the care, propagation, preservation and conservation of wildlife; (b) the care, preservation and conservation of natural environments and natural phenomena; (c) the study of wildlife, natural environments and natural phenomena; and (d) the promotion of the appreciation and enjoyment of wildlife, natural environments and natural phenomena. Nature reserves are valuable refuge areas, where natural processes, phenomena and wildlife can be studied. They differ from national parks which include as a major objective the provision of appropriate recreation opportunities. 2.2 YATTEYATTAH NATURE RESERVE 2.2.1 Location, Gazettal and Regional Setting Yatteyattah Nature Reserve is located on the South Coast of NSW, 8 km north of Milton and 2.5 km west of Conjola Lake (see summary map). It was gazetted in 1996 and has an area of 19 ha. The reserve was formerly an area of Crown land reserved as Yatteyattah Recreation Reserve. The reserve is surrounded largely by agricultural land (some of which supports remnant rainforest) but there are extensive areas of national park and state forest nearby. The district is a popular holiday location, with visitor facilities in Morton and Cudmirrah National Parks and nearby towns such as Sussex Inlet, Lake Conjola, Milton and Ulladulla. 2.2.2 Importance of Yatteyattah Nature Reserve Yatteyattah Nature Reserve protects a small patch of lowland subtropical and dry rainforest, remnant from the formerly more extensive areas of rainforest on volcanic soils in the Milton area. The subtropical rainforest is classified by Floyd 1990 as suballiance Doryphora-Daphnandra-Dendrocnide-Ficus-Toona and is the main, relatively undisturbed southern occurrence. Areas further south are less well developed and have fewer species. The dry rainforest at Yatteyattah is suballiance Ficus- Streblus-Dendrocnide-Cassine, which is at its southern limit. The rainforest of the reserve differs markedly from nearby areas of warm temperate rainforest on the escarpment and closer to the coast. It is a southerly outlier of subtropical rainforest - the nearest being 70 km to the north at Cambewarra Mountain - 3 and is one of the most diverse rainforest areas in the south of the state. The area is unusual for its lack of the weed lantana Lantana camara, and the nature reserve generally has few areas of introduced species. The Milton area is one of three critical areas in southern NSW where there are dramatic changes in the floristic diversity of rainforest (Mills, 1997). Nineteen plant species reach their southern limit in or near the reserve, in the rainforest or tall open forest. Those which are found in the nature reserve are red cedar Toona ciliata, pitted bluegrass Bothriochloa decipens, binung Christella dentata, Cyperus enervis, graceful sedge C. gracilis, C. laevis, C. tetraphyllus, pygmy panic Panicum pygmaeum, deciduous fig Ficus superba var. henneana, whalebone tree Streblus brunonianus, cockspur thorn Maclura cochinchinenis, pigeon berry ash Elaeocarpus kirtonii, round-leaf vine Legnephora moorei and pollia Pollia crispata. Regionally rare species found in the reserve (Mills, 1988) are twin-flowered aneilema Aneilema biflorum, little gem sarcochilus Sarcochilus hilli, deeringia Deeringia amaranthoides and bangalow palm Archontophoenix cunninghamiana. Small areas of forest red gum Eucalyptus tereticornis and thin-leaved stringybark E. eugenoides occur in the reserve. These species have been extensively cleared elsewhere and are poorly represented in reserves. The reserve contains one of the most southerly roosting and maternity sites for a camp of the grey-headed flying-fox Pteropus poliocephalus (listed as vulnerable under the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995). The grey-headed flying-fox is an important pollinator and seed disperser. Some trees are specifically pollinated by flying-foxes. The reserve provides habitat for the threatened powerful owl Ninox strenua and several bird species that are uncommon or near their southern limit, including the emerald dove Chalcophaps indica, scarlet honeyeater Myzomela sanguinolenta, white-headed pigeon Columba leucomela, channel-billed cuckoo Scythrops novaehollandiae, green catbird Ailuroedus crassirostris and figbird Sphecotheres viridis. The latter four species are nomadic fruit-eating birds. Rainforest areas are highly fragmented on the south coast and remnants such as Yatteyattah are an important food source for these and other fruit-eating birds.