Warragamba Special Area Vegetation Report Part A
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The Native Vegetation of the Warragamba Special Area Part A: Technical Report Central Conservation Programs and Planning Division NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service August 2003 The Native Vegetation of the Warragamba Special Area Part A: Technical Report August 2003 Published by: NPWS (2003) The Native Vegetation of the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service Warragamba Special Area. NSW National Parks 59-61 Goulburn Street, Sydney, NSW 2000 and Wildlife Service, Sydney. PO Box A290, Sydney South, NSW 1232 Report pollution and environmental incidents Acknowledgements Environment Line: 131 555 (NSW only) or [email protected] Thank you to the following people who kindly See also www.environment.nsw.gov.au/pollution provided comments on the draft reports and Phone: (02) 9995 5000 (switchboard) maps: Chris Chafer (SCA), Doug Benson (Royal Phone: 131 555 (environment information and Botanic Gardens, Sydney), Stephen Bell, Roger publications requests) Lembit, David Thomas, Mark Tozer (NPWS) and Phone: 1300 361 967 (national parks, climate David Keith (NPWS). change and energy efficiency information and publications requests) Thank you to Sydney Catchment Authority staff, Fax: (02) 9995 5999 especially Loretta Gallen, Brian Waldron, Dennis TTY: (02) 9211 4723 Ashton, and Glen Capararo for providing Email: [email protected] ongoing logistical support, field assistance and Website: www.environment.nsw.gov.au knowledge of the catchment. Thank you to private property owners who ISBN 0731367944 provided access to their properties for field NPWS Publishing No. NPWS 2003/0141 survey. August 2003 Thank you to Danielle Doughty and Linda © Copyright National Parks and Wildlife Service Henderson of the Department of Land and on behalf of State of NSW. Photographs are Water Conservation for sharing their knowledge copyright National Parks and Wildlife Service or of soils in the Special Area. the individual photographer. With the exception of photographs, the National Parks and Wildlife Service and State of NSW are pleased to allow this material to be reproduced in whole or in part for educational and non-commercial use, provided the meaning is unchanged and its source, publisher and authorship are acknowledged. Specific permission is required for the reproduction of photographs. National Parks and Wildlife Service has compiled The Native Vegetation of the Warragamba Special Area in good faith, exercising all due care and attention. National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) does not accept responsibility for any inaccurate or incomplete information supplied by third parties. No representation is made about the accuracy, completeness or suitability of the information in this publication for any particular purpose. NPWS shall not be liable for any damage which may occur to any person or organisation taking action or not on the basis of this publication. Readers should seek appropriate advice when applying the information to their specific needs. Map data is not guaranteed to be free from error or omission. NPWS and its employees disclaim liability for any act done on the information in the map and any consequences of such acts or omissions. This report should be referenced as follows: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report describes the distribution and composition of the native vegetation of the Warragamba Special Area. The purpose of the project has been to provide detailed information that addresses the type, extent, condition and conservation status of native vegetation communities. The provision of this information meets a core objective of the Special Areas Strategic Plan of Management (SASPoM) that relates to information shortfalls in biodiversity information. The information and associated data layers can now be directly integrated into the Sydney Catchment Authority (SCA) Environmental reporting indicators set out in Objectives 5 and 8 of the SCA Environmental Plan (2000-2005) and can be used for fire management planning and conservation assessments. A comprehensive field survey was carried out across all tenures within the Warragamba Special Area. Over 630 sites that record all vascular plants and vegetation, soil and disturbance information have been accurately recorded and entered into an electronic database. This data was used with existing data available in the Special Area to classify vegetation communities using numerical analytical techniques. Some 78 vegetation communities have been identified, with detailed profiles provided in the report that describe the composition and structure of the vegetation, example locations, conservation status and summarise disturbance within the community. Sample photographs are also provided. Detailed Aerial Photograph Interpretation (API) using 1:25000 photography (1994) has been completed across the Special Area. This program has collected data on geology, canopy species, disturbance features, understorey characteristics and interpretation reliability. It accurately delineates the extent of vegetation cover within the Special Area. This data underpins the mapping of the vegetation communities. The Warragamba Special Area is one of outstanding botanical diversity. Over 1400 native species were recorded from 984 sites, an extraordinary figure given its area of 260000 hectares. It supports perhaps the highest diversity of Eucalypt species in the world for an area of this size with 75 species recorded within the Special Area. This represents 75 percent of all Eucalypt species included within Blue Mountains World Heritage Area. The Bindook Highlands represents a phenomenal example of Eucalypt speciation with 28 species found within 10000 hectares. In addition there are 26 species found within the Special Area that are listed on the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act (1995), of which many new locations were uncovered during this project. A further 35 species are included as Rare or Threatened Australian Plants (RoTAPS). Five Endangered Ecological Communities (EEC) listed under the NSW TSC Act are found within the Special Area and an additional eighteen vegetation communities are considered to have regional conservation significance given their distribution and reservation status. At least 37 percent of the Special Area displays evidence of moderate to high levels of disturbance. These areas are concentrated within the flat and fertile lands of the Wollondilly, Coxs, Burragorang and Kedumba Valleys as well as the Oakdale Plateau and Werriberri Catchment. Around 190 exotic plant species were recorded with the most prolific species forming infestations in or near areas of greatest disturbance. Prominent species include Serrated Tussock (Nassella trichotoma), Lantana (Lantana camara), Crofton Weed (Ageratina adenophora), Prickly Pear (Opuntia spp.) and Blackberry (Rubus spp.). A technical report (Part A) has been produced to detail methods and results. Part B of this report presents vegetation community profiles. Digital data layers for use in ARCView GIS are available. These data layers describe the distribution of vegetation communities as well as a large number of landscape features. All site data is now stored in an electronic format for ease of use. Data can now be widely applied to a multiplicity of uses ranging from environmental reporting, fire management planning, conservation assessments, land acquisition and field operations. The Native Vegetation of the Warragamba Special Area. Part A: Technical Report i Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .........................................................................................................................................I 1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 BACKGROUND ................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 APPROACH .......................................................................................................................................... 1 1.3 STUDY AREA....................................................................................................................................... 2 1.3.1 Location ................................................................................................................................... 2 1.3.2 Environmental Setting.............................................................................................................. 2 1.3.3 Regional Context.................................................................................................................... 12 1.4 PROJECT TEAM................................................................................................................................. 12 2 METHODS........................................................................................................................................................ 15 2.1 REVIEW OF EXISITING INFORMATION ....................................................................................... 15 2.2 EXISTING SITE DATA ...................................................................................................................... 15 2.3 SURVEY STRATIFICATION AND SITE SELECTION ................................................................... 16 2.4 FIELD SAMPLING ............................................................................................................................. 17 2.5 SITE NOMENCLATURE ..................................................................................................................