Plan of Management Oolambeyan National Park
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Plan of Management Oolambeyan National Park Oolambeyan National Park Plan of Management NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service March 2014 © 2016 State of NSW and the Office of Environment and Heritage With the exception of photographs, the State of NSW and the Office of Environment and Heritage 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. Office of Environment and Heritage has compiled this publication in good faith, exercising all due care and attention. No representation is made about the accuracy, completeness or suitability of the information in this publication for any particular purpose. OEH 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. All content in this publication is owned by OEH and is protected by Crown Copyright. It is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) , subject to the exemptions contained in the licence. The legal code for the licence is available at Creative Commons . OEH asserts the right to be attributed as author of the original material in the following manner: © State of New South Wales and Office of Environment and Heritage 2016. This plan of management was adopted by the Minister for the Environment on 18 March 2014 Acknowledgements NPWS acknowledges that Oolambeyan National Park is in the traditional country of the Wiradjuri people. This plan of management was prepared by staff of the Mid West Area, Western Rivers Region of the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), part of the Office of Environment and Heritage, with valuable assistance from members of the Oolambeyan National Park Biodiversity Working Group. For additional information or any inquiries about this park or this plan of management, contact the NPWS Griffith Area Office at 200 Yambil St, PO Box 1049, Griffith NSW 2680 or by telephone on 02 6966 8100. Front cover image: Oolambeyan National Park, grassland habitat of the plains-wanderer. Photo: D Parker/NPWS Published by: Office of Environment and Heritage 59–61 Goulburn Street, Sydney NSW 2000 PO Box A290, Sydney South NSW 1232 Phone: (02) 9995 5000 (switchboard) Phone: 131 555 (environment information and publications requests) Phone: 1300 361 967 (national parks, climate change and energy efficiency information and publications requests) Fax: (02) 9995 5999 TTY: (02) 9211 4723 Email: [email protected] Website: www.environment.nsw.gov.au Report pollution and environmental incidents Environment Line: 131 555 (NSW only) or [email protected] See also www.environment.nsw.gov.au/pollution ISBN 978-1-76039-277-2 OEH 2016/97 April 2016 Printed on recycled paper ii Foreword Oolambeyan National Park was established in 2002 and covers 21,851 hectares. It is situated on the Hay Plains in the Riverina Bioregion. This bioregion is one of the least protected bioregions in New South Wales. The park lies within the area known to be the stronghold of the nationally threatened plains- wanderer. This plan facilitates protection of habitat for this species by allowing controlled sheep grazing of native grasslands. Acquisition of the park and the management regime being applied for the plains-wanderer fulfil key components of the draft national plains-wanderer Recovery Plan. Oolambeyan National Park also protects areas of endangered ecological communities including Weeping Myall Woodlands and Sandhill Pine Woodland. Other significant values contained within the park include an additional eleven threatened animal species, two threatened plant species, historic heritage associated with a former merino stud and diverse Aboriginal heritage. The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 requires that a plan of management be prepared for each national park. A draft plan of management for Oolambeyan National Park was placed on public exhibition from 28 January 2013 to 29 April 2013. The submissions received were carefully considered before adopting this plan. The plan contains a number of actions to achieve NSW 2021 goals to increase opportunities for people to look after their own neighbourhoods and environments; fostering opportunity and partnership with Aboriginal people; and enhancing cultural, creative, sporting and recreation opportunities. It also provides for a range of actions to protect our natural environment. In addition to the controlled sheep grazing of native grasslands, these include weed and pest control, targeted surveys for and ongoing monitoring of threatened species, and protection of endangered ecological communities. This plan of management establishes the scheme of operations for Oolambeyan National Park. In accordance with section 73B of the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974, this plan of management is hereby adopted. Robyn Parker MP Minister for the Environment iii iv Contents 1. LOCATION, GAZETTAL AND REGIONAL CONTEXT ..................................................... 1 2. MANAGEMENT CONTEXT .............................................................................................. 2 2.1 Legislative and policy framework ................................................................................... 2 2.2 Management purposes and principles ........................................................................... 2 2.3 Statement of significance ............................................................................................... 2 2.4 Specific management directions .................................................................................... 3 3. VALUES ........................................................................................................................... 4 3.1 Geology, landform and hydrology .................................................................................. 4 3.2 Native plants .................................................................................................................. 5 3.3 Native animals ............................................................................................................... 8 3.4 Aboriginal heritage ....................................................................................................... 11 3.5 Historic heritage ........................................................................................................... 12 3.6 Recreation and education ............................................................................................ 13 4. THREATS ....................................................................................................................... 16 4.1 Pests ........................................................................................................................... 16 4.2 Fire .............................................................................................................................. 18 4.3 Climate change ............................................................................................................ 20 5. MANAGEMENT OPERATIONS AND OTHER USES ..................................................... 21 6. IMPLEMENTATION ........................................................................................................ 23 7. REFERENCES ................................................................................................................ 27 List of tables Table 1: Threatened animal species recorded at Oolambeyan National Park. ........................ 9 Table 2: List of management responses ............................................................................... 23 List of maps Map 1: Location and whole park view of Oolambeyan National Park ..................................... vi Map 2: Oolambeyan National Park built heritage precinct ..................................................... 29 v Map 1: Location and whole park view of Oolambeyan National Park vi 1. Location, gazettal and regional context Oolambeyan National Park is 21,851 hectares in size and is located in the Western Riverina region of New South Wales, 600 kilometres west of Sydney. The nearest towns are Carrathool approximately 35 kilometres to the north, and Hay approximately 85 kilometres to the north-west (refer Map 1). The former pastoral station ‘Oolambeyan’ was purchased in October 2001 with joint State and Commonwealth funding and was gazetted on 25 October 2002 for the primary purposes of contributing to the comprehensiveness of the National Reserve System within the IBRA Riverina Bioregion by: protecting the full diversity of ecosystems and natural and cultural features not currently represented in the existing reserve system protecting critical habitat for the nationally threatened plains-wanderer (Pedionomus torquatus). The Riverina Bioregion is one of the least protected bioregions in the state and is characterised by intensive irrigated cropping for rice, cotton, wheat and other grains, as well as supporting sheep and cattle grazing. At the time of gazettal only 0.6 percent of the bioregion was represented in conservation reserves, and native grasslands, the characteristic ecosystem and key habitat area for the plains-wanderer, were unrepresented. As at 2012, the area protected in conservation reserves in the Riverina Bioregion stands at 3.42 percent. Oolambeyan National Park (also referred to as ‘the park’