Case Study of Status and Change in the Rangelands of the Gascoyne – Murchison Region
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Case study of status and change in the rangelands of the Gascoyne – Murchison region Report to the Australian Collaborative Rangeland Information System (ACRIS) Management Committee 1998 1998 1998 1994 1998 1999 2003 2003 2003 2000 2002 2002 Ian Watson, Jeff Richardson, Philip Thomas and Damian Shepherd http://www.deh.gov.au/land/management/rangelands/acris/index.html ISBN 0642551847 Copyright and Disclaimers © Commonwealth of Australia 2006 Information contained in this publication may be copied or reproduced for study, research, information or educational purposes, subject to inclusion of an acknowledgment of the source. The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Australian Government or the Minister for the Environment and Heritage. While reasonable efforts have been made to ensure that the contents of this publication are factually correct, the Australian Government does not accept responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the contents, and shall not be liable for any loss or damage that may be occasioned directly or indirectly through the use of, or reliance on, the contents of this publication. Acknowledgements A large number of people helped the authors compile this report. Gary Bastin, the ACRIS Coordinator, provided much insight, encouragement and advice on what was useful at the national scale. Gary also did a fantastic job of synthesising the mass of disparate information to come out of the pilot project reports and other data sources into a coherent national report. Members of the ACRIS management committee (past and present) provided good ideas, support and encouragement for the set of ACRIS pilot projects. Mark Stafford Smith, Annemarie Watt and Blair Wood kept the states focused on the task without unduly restricting us, while the representatives of the other states and the Northern Territory gladly shared their ideas and their draft work in a spirit of cooperation rather than competition. Many people in Western Australia willingly supplied data that were used in the report or answered various queries including Tony Brandis, Annabelle Bushell, Peter Curry, Val English, Alec Holm, Angas Hopkins, Margaret Langley, Peter Mawson, Ben Norton, Chris Olsen, Peter Orell, Hugh Pringle, Rosemary Reese, Deon Utber, Sandra van Vreeswyk and Andrew Woolnough. Josh Smith calculated which rainfall station was closest to which WARMS site. John Carter and the Aussie GRASS team generously provided modelled outputs of vegetation biomass used to help determine seasonal context. Fiona Daly provided helpful comments on a draft of the report. Wayne Fletcher and Kerry Skinner collected most of the WARMS data used. Page 2 Contents List of attachments..................................................................................................... 4 List of figures............................................................................................................. 4 List of tables .............................................................................................................. 6 List of Western Australian Rangeland Monitoring System (WARMS) photos ........ 8 Executive Summary................................................................................................... 9 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 10 How this report is organised.................................................................................... 11 Change in vegetation critical to stock productivity................................................. 12 Change in native plant (and animal) species ........................................................... 13 Change in landscape function.................................................................................. 16 Capacity for change................................................................................................. 17 Change in cover....................................................................................................... 20 WARMS site photos................................................................................................ 21 Attachment 1 – Description of the region ................................................... 1-1 to 1-4 Attachment 2 – The Western Australian Rangeland Monitoring System (WARMS) – background, species categories and seasonal groupings ........................ 2-1 to 2-10 Attachment 3 – WARMS shrubland sites – vegetation data ..................... 3-1 to 3-21 Attachment 4 – WARMS grassland sites – vegetation data........................ 4-1 to 4-5 Attachment 5 – WARMS – Landscape Function Analysis ......................... 5-1 to 5-7 Attachment 6 – Capacity for change ........................................................... 6-1 to 6-9 Attachment 7 – Conservation estate, off-reserve conservation and exclusions……… ..................................................................................................................... 7-1 to 7-7 Attachment 8 – Lease sales and change in land values ............................... 8-1 to 8-4 Attachment 9 – Biodiversity assets in the pilot region.............................. 9-1 to 9-36 Attachment 10 – Distance to water.......................................................... 10-1 to 10-7 Attachment 11 – References.................................................................... 11-1 to 11-5 Page 3 List of Attachments Attachment 1 Description of the region. Attachment 2 The Western Australian Rangeland Monitoring System (WARMS) – background, species categories and seasonal groupings. Attachment 3 WARMS shrubland sites – vegetation data Attachment 4 WARMS grassland sites – vegetation data Attachment 5 WARMS – Landscape Function Analysis Attachment 6 Capacity for change Attachment 7 Conservation estate, off-reserve conservation and exclusions Attachment 8 Lease sales and change in land values Attachment 9 Biodiversity assets in the pilot region Attachment 10 Distance to water Attachment 11 References List of Figures Attachment 1 – Figures Figure 1.1 The Gascoyne-Murchison pilot project region. 1-1 Figure 1.2 The pilot project region; land use, tenure and the conservation 1-2 estate. Figure 1.3 Average annual rainfall 1-3 Figure 1.4 Average annual rainfall variability 1-4 Attachment 2 – Figures Figure 2.1 Seasonal categories for WARMS sites used in the ACRIS pilot 2-8 project report Figure 2.2 Area of the Southern Rangelands and Pilbara declared for 2-9 Exceptional Circumstances (EC) assistance. Figure 2.3 Locations of the 700 reassessed WARMS sites grouped into 2-10 Exceptional Circumstances seasonal categories. Attachment 3 – Figures Figure 3.1 Occurrence ratio for all species with at least five populations at 3-3 either Date 1 or Date 2. Figure 3.2 Occurrence ratio for species aggregated across sites and grouped 3-3 by response category. Figure 3.3 Occurrence ratio for species aggregated across sites and grouped 3-4 by turnover rate category. Figure 3.4 Species richness for each site. 3-6 Page 4 Figure 3.5 Population growth rate for each site. 3-7 Figure 3.6 Population growth rate for each species. 3-8 Figure 3.7 Population growth rate for species aggregated across sites and 3-9 grouped by response category. Figure 3.8 Population growth rates for aggregations of turnover rate 3-9 categories by site. Figure 3.9 Distribution of recruitment rate for species in different Turnover 3-15 Rate Categories Figure 3.10 Change in total canopy area of each site between Date 1 and Date 3-17 2. Attachment 4 – Figures Figure 4.1 Change in frequency of all perennial species between installation 4-3 (T1) and the second and third reassessments, T2 and T3. Figure 4.2 Change in frequency of all perennial grass species between 4-3 installation (T1) and the second and third reassessments, T2 and T3. Figure 4.3 Frequency of occurrence of perennial species on WARMS 4-4 grassland sites. Figure 4.4 Species richness for each site 4-5 Attachment 5 – Figures Figure 5.1 Patch, interpatch organisation as assessed along the central 5-2 transect. Figure 5.2 Soil surface attributes assessed in quadrats along the central 5-3 transect and combined into indicators of landscape function. Figure 5.3 Change in resource capture index. 5-4 Figure 5.4 Proportional landscape function for the three indices. 5-5 Attachment 6 – Figures Figure 6.1 Livestock numbers within the Shires of Carnarvon, Cue, Mount 6-4 Magnet, Murchison, Upper Gascoyne and Yalgoo. Figure 6.2 Livestock reductions in the Carnarvon, Cue, Mount Magnet, 6-5 Murchison, Upper Gascoyne and Yalgoo Shires. Figure 6.3 Change in livestock enterprise type between 1984, 1994 and 2004 6-6 Attachment 7 – Figures Figure 7.1 The location of land acquired by the Department of Conservation 7-3 and Land Management for conservation purposes as part of the Gascoyne-Murchison Strategy Figure 7.2 Vegetation diversity index for the ACRIS pilot project region 7-6 Attachment 8 – Figures Figure 8.1 Summary of lease sales in the Gascoyne-Murchison pilot region 8-3 between 1997 and 2004. Page 5 Figure 8.2 The relationship between average lease productivity and the prices 8-4 paid. Attachment 10 – Figures Figure 10.1 Sample of the 1:10 mile infrastructure map produced by the 10-4 Department of Lands and Surveys following World War II. Figure 10.2 Distance from permanent water circa 1950 for a sample of the 10-5 pilot region. Figure 10.3 Distance from permanent water circa 1990 for a sample of the 10-5