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Supplementary Material Ecological Consequences of Land Clearing And 10.1071/PC17001_AC CSIRO 2017 Pacific Conservation Biology 23(3), 219–230 Supplementary Material Ecological consequences of land clearing and policy reform in Queensland April E. ResideA,D, Jutta BeherA, Anita J. CosgroveB, Megan C. EvansB,C, Leonie SeabrookB, Jennifer L. SilcockA, Amelia S. WengerB and Martine MaronA,B ACentre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Qld 4072, Australia. BCentre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Qld 4072, Australia. CFenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University, Acton, ACT 2601, Australia. DCorresponding author. Email: [email protected] Contents Table S1. List of environmental programs funded by State and Federal Governments that are potentially undermined by ongoing broad-scale land clearing in Queensland, and calculated costs for issues exacerbated by land clearing Table S2. Percentage area of preclearing Regional Ecosystems in 1999 dominated by woody vegetation, percentage area of remnant Regional Ecosystems in 1999 dominated by woody vegetation, area of woody vegetation cleared since 1999, and area of woody vegetation cleared for pasture since 1999 in Queensland Text S1. Methodology for Table S2 and Fig. 3 Fig. S1. Regional ecosystem maps used to calculate the change in woody vegetation in Queensland. Table S3. List of threatened terrestrial fauna species in Queensland under the Nature Conservation Act 1992 (Queensland) grouped by threatening process Page 1 of 11 Table S1. List of environmental programs funded by State and Federal Governments that are potentially undermined by ongoing broad-scale land clearing in Queensland, and calculated costs for issues exacerbated by land clearing Program name or general cost based Source of Program Overall Spending Comment Source on studies funding time spending per year frame Agri-environmental schemes: Australian 1990– $6.51 Hajkowicz, S. (2009). The evolution of Australia’s natural resource National Landcare Program, Natural Government 2008 billion management programs: towards improved targeting and evaluation of Heritage Trust 1 and 2, National investments. Land Use Policy 26, 471–478. Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality, Caring for our Country Emissions Reduction Fund Australian 2015–16 $2.5 Spent through http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/feb/29/exclusive- Government billion four auctions in land-clearing-surge-in-qld-set-to-wipe-out-direct-action-gains-report two years; average price per ton CO2 is $10.69 20 Million Trees Australian 4 years $525.4 Australian Government (2016). 20 Million Trees. Available at: Government million http://www.nrm.gov.au/national/20-million-trees. Australian Government (2016). Field capture. Available at: https://fieldcapture.ala.org.au/home/projectExplorer. Reef Rescue Australian 5 years $200 http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/ Government million Parliamentar y_Library/pubs/rp/BudgetReview201415/Environment Reef Trust Australian 4 years $39.9 http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/ Government million Parliamentar y_Library/pubs/rp/BudgetReview201415/Environment Saving the Great Barrier Reef Queensland 5 years $100 https://www.treasury.qld.gov.au/publications-resources/state- policy Government million budget/2015-16/budget-papers/documents/bp5-ehp-2015-16.pdf Climate Change Adaptation Queensland 2015–16 $5 https://www.treasury.qld.gov.au/publications-resources/state- initiatives Government million budget/2015-16/budget-papers/documents/bp5-ehp-2015-16.pdf NatureAssist Queensland 2015–17 $5 https://www.treasury.qld.gov.au/publications-resources/state- Government million budget/2015-16/budget-papers/documents/bp5-ehp-2015-16.pdf Page 2 of 11 Emissions Reduction Fund Estimated 3 years $670 Woodland carbon http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/feb/29/exclusive- cost million sinks that are land-clearing-surge-in-qld-set-to-wipe-out-direct-action-gains-report; created by http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/documents/committees/AEC/2016/1 government 1-VegetationMangt/11-trns-ph18May2016.pdf payments to farmers will be cancelled out within three years of current clearing rates Emissions Reduction Fund Estimated $257 Cost for http://www.cleanenergyregulator.gov.au/ERF/Auctions-results cost million countering only emissions since 2009–10 clearing under current rate with average cost per tonne carbon being $13 Estimated actual cost for Estimated 10 years $5–10 Brodie J. and Pearson. R.G. (2016). Ecosystem health of the Great counteracting declines in cost billion Barrier Reef: time for effective management action based on evidence. waterquality Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 183, 438–451. General cost/various Estimated $7 million Current cost of Marsden Jacob Associates (2011). The future of our bay. Report to cost sedimentation to Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management. water storage capacity and treatment in SE Qld General cost/various Estimated $32 2031 cost of Marsden Jacob Associates (2011). The future of our bay. Report to cost million sedimentation to Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management. water storage capacity and treatment in SE Qld if not addressed Value of soil Estimated $14.3 Unpublished data. SEQ Catchments in Value of 477 670 cost million tonnes soil eroded https://martinemaron.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/q_vma-science- at a single farm subm_final_29apr16.pdf Page 3 of 11 during 2011 Brisbane flood Tropical rainforest replanting Estimated Only partial Catterall, C. P. and Harrison, D. A. (2006). Rainforest restoration $20 000– cost success after 2–3 activities in Australia’s tropics and subtropics. Rainforest CRC, Cairns. 30 000, decades Available at: http://www.jcu.edu.au/rainforest/reports.htm. up to Catterall, C. P., Freeman, A. N. D, Kanowski, J., and Freebody, K. $50 000 (2012). Can active restoration of tropical rainforest rescue ha–1 biodiversity? A case with bird community indicators. Biological Conservation 146, 53–61. Shoo, L. P., Freebody, K., Kanowski, J., and Catterall, C. P. (2016). Slow recovery of tropical old-field rainforest regrowth and the value and limitations of active restoration. Conservation Biology 30, 121– 132. Woodland replanting Estimated Schirmer, J., and Field, J. (2000). The cost of revegetation. Final $20 000 cost ha–1 report. ANU Forestry and Greening Australia. Munro, N., Fischer, J., Wood, J., and Lindemayer, D. B. (2009). Revegetation in agricultural areas: the development of structural complexity and floristic diversity. Ecological Applications 19, 1197– 1210. Stabilising riverbanks after Estimated https://martinemaron.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/q_vma-science- $16 000– deforestation cost $5 subm_final_29apr16.pdf million km–2 Page 4 of 11 Table S2. Percentage area of preclearing Regional Ecosystems in 1999 dominated by woody vegetation, percentage area of remnant Regional Ecosystems in 1999 dominated by woody vegetation, area of woody vegetation cleared since 1999, and area of woody vegetation cleared for pasture since 1999 in Queensland See Text S1 for details of the methodology used to obtain these figures Bioregion Bioregion area Preclearing woody Remnant woody Woody vegetation Woody vegetation cleared for vegetation vegetation in 1999 cleared since 1999 pasture since 1999 (ha) (ha) % (ha) % (ha) % (ha) % Brigalow Belt 95.1 42.0 13.4 12.6 36 528 106 34 722 327 15 329 574 2 052 767 1 932 184 Channel Country 24.1 31.6 0.3 0.1 23 217 288 5 589 799 7 346 631 21 029 10 931 Central Queensland Coast 92.7 62.9 11.3 2.3 1 484 277 1 375 604 933 704 105 133 21 223 Cape York Peninsula 88.6 87.5 0.3 0.2 12 305 219 10 905 299 10 764 794 28 026 20 052 Desert Uplands 93.7 80.5 5.9 5.8 6 941 095 6 501 762 5 588 124 331 822 326 551 Einasleigh Uplands 95.9 93.8 0.4 0.3 11 625 726 11 153 550 10 904 959 46 076 36 180 Gulf Plains 76.5 84.9 0.2 0.2 21 910 942 16 762 750 18 599 574 46 161 39 050 Mitchell Grass Downs 39.3 42.5 2.7 2.7 24 162 329 9 489 754 10 280 791 274 015 273 181 Mulga Lands 91.9 73.3 12.1 12.0 18 605 811 17 090 880 13 641 521 1 644 019 1 636 907 New England Tableland 99.9 33.5 11.7 11.1 774 795 773 799 259 256 30 285 28 663 North-west Highlands 95.7 95.7 7163 0.1 5376 0.1 7 343 635 7 029 718 7 031 204 South East Queensland 95.1 38.5 9.8 4.9 6 248 417 5 942 497 2 404 362 234 797 116 664 Wet Tropics 94.7 71.6 1.1 7706 0.5 1 992 899 1 886 345 1 426 549 15 780 Page 5 of 11 Text S1. Methodology for Table S2 and Fig. 3 The pre-clearing extent of woody vegetation was taken from Version 9 of the regional ecosystem mapping released in 2013. The extent of remnant woody vegetation was established from remnant Regional Ecosystem mapping for 1999 Version 3 published in 2001 (https://www.qld.gov.au/environment/plants-animals/plants/herbarium/mapping-ecosystems/) as this coincided with the introduction of the Vegetation Management Act 1999 and the start of the SLATs monitoring of the tree clearing. Gaps existed in the 1999 data for parts of Cape York, north-west and south-west Queensland (see Fig. S1). Data for these unmapped areas were taken from the first regional ecosystem maps that provided coverage (Version 7 for Cape York and Version 9 for north-west and south-west Queensland). Where remnant regional ecosystems were not mapped in detail, preclearing data were used. Since these areas occurred only in western Queensland (see black box on Fig. S1), there is a high likelihood that clearing has been minimal.
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