BOX GUM GRASSY WOODLAND Photographer: Greg Steenbeeke INTRODUCTION All part of a Community Unfortunately large areas of this community have been Ecological communities are groups of plants, animals and other cleared across our catchment and remaining fragments are listed as organisms that naturally occur together. The structure and critically endangered. The woodland and its waterways provide an composition are determined by environmental factors such as essential home to many of our catchments’ most threatened species. climate, landscape position, soil, aspect and altitude. Box Gum Grassy Woodland is listed as a threatened ecological While a particular ecological community will vary in structure and community under both the Australian Government’s Environment composition across its range, there are common elements that Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) and the clearly identify one ecological community as distinct from another. NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 (TSC Act). Activities which affect the condition or extent of Box Gum Grassy Woodland Ecological communities also exist in different condition ‘states’, may require consent or approval. each with defining characteristics. States range from high quality to degraded with several in between. Where does the community occur? Box-Gum Woodland is found Management affects the state of a community and depending on on the tablelands and western the type of management action, can cause a community to make a slopes of NSW. The community ‘transition’ to a better or worse state. occurs within the NSW North Box Gum Grassy Woodland Coast, New England Tableland, Box Gum Grassy Woodland is the name given to the threatened Nandewar, Brigalow Belt South, ecological community White Box - Yellow Box - Blakely’s Red Gum Sydney Basin, South Eastern Grassy Woodland and Derived Native Grasslands. This woodland Highlands and South Western occurs on fertile soils and is characterised by a dominant eucalyptus Slopes Bioregions. overstorey (White Box, Yellow Box and Blakely’s Red Gum) and a grassy understorey. Managing and enhancing biodiversity on your land helps build a resilient landscape that balances production and conservation Description Identification Box Gum Grassy Woodland has a canopy of widely spaced trees dominated by eucalypts (usually Eucalyptus albens, E. melliodora and/or E. blakelyi) with a ground layer dominated by tussock grasses and a high diversity of herbs. Sparse shrubs may also be present. In the Nandewar bioregion, the community may be dominated by E. moluccana or E. microcarpa. This community can occur in one of three states: 1. With an overstorey of trees but no substantial native understorey, 2. With a native understorey, but no trees, or 3. With both trees and a substantially native understorey. For the purposes of the EPBC Act, the presence of a substantially native understorey (with or without trees) is required for a community to be defined as Box Gum Grassy Woodland. Where the understorey does not consist of predominantly native plants, it is considered to be degraded and no longer a viable part of the ecological community. A patch with predominantly native understorey will have mostly native perennial grasses, with at least 12 non-grass, native species such as lilies, orchids and other wildflowers. At least one understorey species must be an important indicator of condition (for example Kangaroo grass). Patches with trees must be greater than 2 hectares, but without trees a patch can be greater than 0.1 hectare. Derived Grasslands Derived grasslands would have originally had a canopy of the dominant Box Gum Grassy Woodland tree species and a species-rich understorey of native grasses, herbs and forbs. In some cases most or all of the trees have been removed, but the intact grassy understorey still remains. These areas are still valued as habitat. As a rule of thumb, if you have an area dominated by perennial native grasses with scattered wildflowers, with or without a canopy of the listed trees, it could be Box Gum Grassy Woodland. Seek further advice from Local Land Services before making significant impacts. What is not Box Gum Grassy Woodland? • Forest or woodland that has a predominantly shrubby understorey (greater than 30%). • Forest or woodland with the canopy dominated by different eucalypt species (such as E. viminalis). • A woodland with native trees, but predominantly exotic species in the understorey. Photographer: Greg Steenbeeke Profile drawing of Box Gum Grassy Woodlands community Plants of Box Gum Grassy Woodlands 1 2 DOMINANT CANOPY SPECIES GROUNDCOVER SPECIES Absent from derived (previously cleared) grasslands Aristida spp. Wiregrass Arthropodium spp. Vanilla lily Angophora floribunda Rough-barked apple Asperula conferta Common woodruff Eucalyptus albens White box Austrodanthonia spp. Wallaby grass Eucalyptus blakelyi Blakely’s red gum Austrostipa spp. Spear grasses Eucalyptus melliodora Yellow box Bothriochloa spp. Red grasses Eucalyptus microcarpa Inland grey box Bulbine spp. Bulbine lily Eucalyptus moluccana Grey box Carex inversa Knob sedge ASSOCIATED CANOPY SPECIES Convolvulus erubescens Blushing bindweed Cymbopogon refractus Barbed wire grass Vary according to landscape position, rainfall and soil type Desmodium spp. Trefoil Dianella revoluta Blue flax lily Brachychiton populneus Kurrajong Dichanthium sericeum Queensland blue grass Callitris glaucophylla White cypress pine Dichondra repens Kidney weed Eucalyptus bridgesiana Apple box Digitaria brownii Cotton panic grass Eucalyptus caliginosa Broad-leaved stringybark Echinopogon ovatus Forest hedgehog grass Eucalyptus chloroclada Dirty gum Eremophila debilis Amulla Eucalyptus conica Fuzzy box Evolvulus alsinoides Dwarf morning-glory Eucalyptus macrorrhyncha Red stringybark Glycine spp. Glycine, native clover Eucalyptus melanophloia Silver-leaved ironbark Goodenia spp. Goodenia Eucalyptus pilligaensis Pilliga box Lespedeza juncea Chinese lespedeza Eucalyptus viminalis Manna gum Melichrus urceolatus Urn heath Microlaena stipoides Microlaena, weeping grass MID-STOREY SPECIES Microseris lanceolata Yam daisy Paspalidium constrictum Knottybutt grass Usually patchy Poa sieberiana Snow grass Acacia buxifolia Box-leaf wattle Themeda australis Kangaroo grass Acacia decora Western silver wattle Thesium australe* Austral toadflax Acacia implexa Hickory wattle *Listed as threatened under State and/or Commonwealth legislation Acacia leucoclada subsp. leucoclada Northern silver wattle Alstonia constricta Quinine bush Bursaria spinosa Blackthorn Cassinia spp. Clematis microphylla Small-leaved clematis 4 Exocarpos cupressiformis Native cherry Geijera parviflora Wilga Lissanthe strigosa Peach heath Lomandra spp. Mat-rush Myoporum montanum Western boobialla Notelaea microcarpa Native olive Olearia elliptica Sticky daisybush Rubus parvifolius Native raspberry PHOTO KEY: 1 Rough-barked apple – Greg Steenbeeke 2 Blue flax lily – Greg Steenbeeke 3 Yam daisy – Greg Steenbeeke 4 Urn heath – Greg Steenbeeke 5 Kangaroo grass – Greg Steenbeeke 5 3 Animals of Box Gum Grassy Woodlands BIRDS Parrots Aerial feeding birds Brown-headed honeyeater ▲ Red-winged parrot Dusky woodswallow ▲ Black chinned honeyeater ● Australian king-parrot White-breasted woodswallow ▲ White-naped honeyeater ▲ Turquoise parrot ● White-browed woodswallow ▲ Scarlet honeyeater ▲ Pale-headed rosella Masked woodswallow ▲ Striped honeyeater ▲ Eastern rosella Black-faced woodswallow ▲ Regent honeyeater ● Crimson rosella Little woodswallow ▲ Eastern yellow robin ▲ Superb parrot ● White-backed swallow Hooded robin ● Australian (Mallee) ringneck ▲ Welcome swallow Jacky winter Red-rumped parrot Fairy martin Scarlet robin ● ▲ Scaly-breasted lorikeet Tree martin ▲ Red-capped robin ▲ Rainbow lorikeet Fork-tailed swift ■ Flame robin ● ▲ Musk lorikeet White-throated needletail ■ Rose robin ▲ 1 Little lorikeet ● Satin flycatcher ■ Golden whistler ▲ Swift parrot ● Restless flycatcher Rufous whistler Blue bonnet Leaden flycatcher ▲ Eastern shrike-tit ▲ Grey fantail Cicadabird ▲ Cockatoos Willie wagtail White-winged triller ▲ Cockatiel Dollarbird Small bush birds Sulphur-crested cockatoo Rainbow bee-eater ■ Little corella Inland thornbill Galah Medium to large bush birds Yellow-rumped thornbill Black-faced cuckoo shrike Striated thornbill Ground feeding and low nesting birds White-bellied cuckoo shrike Yellow thornbill Emu ▲ Laughing kookaburra Buff-rumped thornbill Bush stone-curlew ● Sacred kingfisher Spotted pardalote Australian brush-turkey ● Azure kingfisher ▲ Striated pardalote Pheasant coucal ▲ Red-backed kingfisher ▲ Silvereye Spotted quail thrush ▲ Pied butcherbird Southern whiteface Golden-headed cisticola ▲ Grey butcherbird Western gerygone 2 King quail Australian raven White-throated gerygone Stubble quail Torresian crow Speckled warbler ● Brown quail Australian magpie White-browed scrubwren Painted button-quail ▲ Pied currawong Weebill 3 Red-chested button-quail ▲ Magpie-lark Mistletoebird Little button-quail ▲ Olive-backed oriole ▲ Varied sittella ● ▲ Banded lapwing ▲ Grey shrike-thrush Birds of Prey Masked lapwing Fan-tailed cuckoo Australian reed-warbler ■ Brush cuckoo Collared sparrowhawk ▲ Tawny grassbird ▲ Horsfield’s bronze-cuckoo ▲ Brown goshawk Little grassbird ▲ Shining bronze-cuckoo ▲ Wedge-tailed eagle Brown songlark Pallid cuckoo Pacific baza ▲ ● ▲ Rufous songlark Black-eared cuckoo ▲ Spotted harrier Singing bushlark Common koel Black-shouldered kite ■ Richard’s (Australian) Pipit Channel-billed