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An Extraordinary Natural Legacy

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An Extraordinary Natural Legacy An Extraordinary Natural Legacy An assessment and recommendations for the proposed expansion of Western Australia’s conservation reserve system March 2019 Centre for Conservation Geography Citation: Lucinda Douglass1, 2, Carol Booth1, Simon Kennedy1 and Joel Turner1 (2019) An extraordinary natural legacy: An assessment and recommendations for the proposed expansion of Western Australia’s conservation reserve system. Commissioned by The Pew Charitable Trusts. Centre for Conservation Geography. 1Centre for Conservation Geography 2University of Queensland Copyright: © Centre for Conservation Geography Designer: Iannello Design Printer: UniPrint The Centre for Conservation Geography (conservationgeography.org) is a research group established in 2011 to provide expert technical support and advice to government and non- government decision-makers and stakeholders. The centre’s primary focus is providing world’s-best-practice decision support to planning for nature conservation. Based in Australia, we are a multidisciplinary team with expertise in marine and terrestrial protected area planning. Our skills include scientific research, evidence-based policy development, biogeography including GIS analyses and mapping, and science communications and advocacy. We can support conservation decision-making across the world’s ecoregions, and currently have projects in Australia, Canada and Antarctica. Contact: [email protected] Acknowledgement of country: The authors acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the lands that are the focus of this report and their continuing connection to these lands. We pay respect to them and their cultures, and to their elders past and present. We acknowledge the inextricable link between natural values and Aboriginal heritage values and that the knowledge of Traditional Owners will be vital for maintaining both. Other acknowledgements: The Centre for Conservation Geography and the report’s authors thank the many people who helped make this report possible. We are grateful to the staff of the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions for their time and the provision of data, and to the staff of the Environmental Defenders Office for legal advice. Thank you to the many scientists whose research papers and other guidance revealed the nature of these proposed parks, including David Blood, Tony Brandis and Peter Kendrick, and to the many photographers who generously supplied their images to bring the information in this report alive. Finally, thank you to The Pew Charitable Trusts for the opportunity to conduct this analysis and to David Mackenzie in particular for his help and support. Cover photo: ‘An ancient landscape’ by Hugh Brown. Image taken in the vicinity of ex Hamersley, one of the focus areas of this report. An Extraordinary Natural Legacy An assessment and recommendations for the proposed expansion of Western Australia’s conservation reserve system Lucinda Douglass, Carol Booth, Simon Kennedy and Joel Turner Centre for Conservation Geography March 2019 iii Proposed expansion of Western Australia’s conservation reserve system Karratha 0 150 300 Km Exmouth Pilbara Biodiversity Hotspot Newman Ningaloo - Exmouth Gulf Carnarvon Kennedy Range Country Mid West Mulga Country Shark Bay World Heritage to Wooleen Murchison Salt Lake Tallering Mt. Magnet Circuit Botanical Geraldton Trail Location map Kalgoorlie Perth Norseman Property groups State marine parks & reserves Main road Coordinate System: GCS GDA 1994 Data Sources: Geoscience Austration; Dept State parks & reserves Unallocated Crown land* Lakes & rivers Biodiveristy, Conservation and Attractions WA; * Outside the proposed parks The proposed parks whose natural values are assessed in this report, and the boundaries of each property ‘cluster’ which form the basis of this publication’s chapters. Kalbarri National Park iv CONTENTS Preface vii 1. Introduction 1 2. Methods and approach 27 3. Shark Bay World Heritage to Wooleen 39 4. Ningaloo to Exmouth Gulf 77 5. Kennedy Range Country 99 6. Pilbara Biodiversity Hotspot 121 7. Murchison Salt Lake Circuit 161 8. Tallering Botanical Trail 189 9. Mid West Mulga Country 219 10. Combined significance of the proposed parks 261 11. References 274 v vi The extraordinary new parks proposed for Western Australia Two decades ago, in a visionary endeavor to expand the state’s parks network and diversify regional economies, the Western Australian government started a program to buy selected leasehold properties, mainly in the Gascoyne and Murchison bioregions. Their intention was to create a more comprehensive, The old infertile soils and low sporadic rainfall mean it adequate and representative reserve system and protect can be tough for plants and animals to make a living rare and unique biodiversity. The parks would also across much of this country. But innovative adaptation provide new recreational and tourism opportunities in and specialisation across eons of geological stability regions with few or no existing reserves. have produced impressive diversity. These properties include centres of diversity or endemism for stygofauna, But the process was never completed and these lizards, wattles and other plants. They are also rich in properties have remained ever since as unallocated cultural heritage. Crown land. What can’t be quantified or represented on maps are It was our privilege to be commissioned by The Pew the powerful stories such values represent – the billions Charitable Trusts to assess the natural values of some of years of geological sculpting, the millions of years of 60 of these properties, across 5 million hectares, and biological evolution, and the tens of thousands of years make recommendations about an appropriate future of human occupation. for them. This is the first publication to do so in a comprehensive way. Unfortunately, the properties also abound in threatened and at-risk species and ecological communities, which Western Australia is well known as a biological means they need attentive conservation management treasure trove, rich in unique species and ecological to retain and recover their values. communities. Nonetheless, as we delved into databases and scientific publications, we found ourselves amazed If, as recommended in this report, these properties are by the outstanding nature of these potential new parks. protected as conservation reserves, Western Australians will be very fortunate in the future to be able to visit Some of their values are already well appreciated – these ecological and cultural treasures. the world heritage biodiversity and scenic values of properties at Shark Bay, for example, and wetlands such as Fortescue Marsh and Thundelarra lignum swamp listed by the Australian government as nationally important. But other values are poorly known or have only Lucinda Douglass recently been appreciated. Discovered only 20 years ago beneath the sandy plains of many Murchison properties are groundwater calcrete ‘islands’ harboring communities of unique species of water beetles, crustaceans, mites and other invertebrates that never see the light of day. And aboveground, on ancient Carol Booth ironstone ranges with skeletal soils are unique plant communities, often with species found only on those ranges. That’s what you get in landscapes as ancient as those of the Yilgarn and Pilbara cratons. The magnificent Gregory’s Gap is part of the proposed ‘Wanna’ Conservation Park, which lies on the northern edge of the poorly protected Gascoyne bioregion. Photo: David Blood (DEC) vii viii Introduction1 1.1 A far-sighted state project 2 1.2 Milestones in the creation of Western Australia’s reserve system 4 1.3 The benefits and achievements of Western Australia’s reserve system 13 1.4 The extraordinary nature of Western Australia 17 1.5 The proposed new parks 23 1.6 About this report 25 The proposed parks would boost protection of world heritage values at Shark Bay by adding new conservation reserves and connecting existing reserves. This is the entrance to Big Lagoon, Francois Peron National Park. Photo: Anton Blume. Introduction 1 1.1 A far-sighted state project With their distant horizons and ancient geology, Western karri trees of the South West, they provide sanctuary for Australia’s national parks and reserves encourage long- some of the world’s most distinctive, diverse, rare and sighted perspectives: beautiful plants and animals, landscapes and seascapes. Deep into the past – landscapes that have been in Building Western Australia’s reserve system is an the making for more than 3 billion years, wildlife with ongoing project, with the first park, the 2000-hectare Gondwanan roots, and the everyday and spiritual John Forrest National Park, declared almost 120 years insignia of the oldest living cultures on Earth. ago, and the 3-million-hectare Great Kimberley Marine Park declared just 2 years ago. Over time, the goals And far into the future – sites that will provide for the reserve system have grown due to a realisation ongoing generations of Western Australians with of their many economic, cultural and environmental experiences that nourish and excite, build regional benefits. Initially, they were mainly for recreation. Now, economies, and maintain Western Australia’s unique they are intended to fulfill many objectives – protect natural and cultural heritage. representative portions of each ecosystem and provide Creating national parks and reserves has turned out to sanctuary for threatened species, conserve the cultural be one of the most far-sighted
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