DRAFT CONSERVATION ADVICE for the COASTAL SWAMP SCLEROPHYLL FORESTS of SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA March 2021- for Consultation
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DRAFT CONSERVATION ADVICE FOR THE COASTAL SWAMP SCLEROPHYLL FORESTS OF SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA March 2021- For consultation Coastal Swamp Sclerophyll Forests of South-eastern Australia © Louise Armstrong The Coastal Swamp Sclerophyll Forests of South-eastern Australia ecological community is under assessment for potential listing on the threatened ecological communities list under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). The proposed national ecological community corresponds in part with the Swamp Sclerophyll Floodplain Forest of NSW listed under NSW legislation, with several Regional Ecosystems (REs) in Queensland and the Swamp Scrub Ecological Vegetation Class (EVC) in Victoria. The draft assessment and recommendations are at Section 6. The Threatened Species Scientific Committee seeks input on whether the ecological community merits listing as Endangered. The draft assessment of the eligibility against each of the listing criteria is: Criterion 1: Vulnerable Criterion 2: Vulnerable to Endangered Criterion 3: Insufficient data Criterion 4: Endangered Criterion 5: Insufficient data Criterion 6: Insufficient data The main factors in the draft assessment that make the ecological community eligible for listing in the Endangered category are its loss of integrity through increased fragmentation and degradation of remnants due to changes in hydrology, land clearing, weed invasion, disease, invasive fauna, and inappropriate grazing and fire management regimes. The proposed Coastal Swamp Sclerophyll Forests of South-eastern Australia ecological community occurs on country (the traditional lands) of the Gureng, Bajtala, Gubbi, Yuggera, Bundjalung, Gumbaynggirr, Dainggatti, Biripi, Worimi, Wonnarua, Awabakal, Darkinjung, Kurin- gai, Eora, Dharug, Tharawal/D’harawal, Yuin, Bidwell and the Kurnai peoples. This draft document has been prepared in preliminary consultation with experts from NSW, Queensland and Victoria, including a definition and threats workshop in Port Stephens NSW in November 2019. Comments are now sought from the public on the definition and associated distribution, as well as on the threats and proposed conservation category. CONTENTS 1 CONSERVATION OBJECTIVE ...................................................................................................... 3 2 Description of the ecological community and the area it inhabits .................................................. 3 2.1 Description .............................................................................................................................. 3 2.2 Significance of the ecological community to First Nations peoples ...................................... 10 3 Threats ......................................................................................................................................... 11 3.1 Threats table ......................................................................................................................... 11 3.2 Key threatening processes .................................................................................................... 17 4 Existing protection ........................................................................................................................ 18 4.1 Existing protection in reserves .............................................................................................. 18 4.2 Existing protection under state laws ..................................................................................... 18 4.3 Existing management plans .................................................................................................. 19 5 Conservation of the ecological community ................................................................................... 22 5.1 Identification of the ecological community ............................................................................ 22 5.2 Regulated areas of the ecological community ...................................................................... 25 5.3 Principles and standards for conservation ............................................................................ 30 5.4 Priority conservation and research actions ........................................................................... 31 6 Listing assessment and recovery plan recommendation ............................................................. 41 6.1 Eligibility for listing against the EPBC Act criteria ................................................................. 41 6.2 Recovery plan recommendation ........................................................................................... 51 Appendix A - Species lists ..................................................................................................................... 52 A1 Characteristic and Frequently Occurring Vascular Plants .................................................... 52 A2 Fauna .................................................................................................................................... 59 Appendix B - Weeds ............................................................................................................................. 63 Appendix C - Relationship to other vegetation classification and mapping systems ............................ 64 C1 Queensland vegetation classifications .................................................................................. 64 C2 Victorian vegetation classification ......................................................................................... 64 C3 NSW vegetation classifications ............................................................................................. 65 Appendix D – Consultation with First Nations Peoples ......................................................................... 70 D1. Cultural Heritage Protection .................................................................................................. 70 D2. First Nations associated with Coastal Swamp Sclerophyll Forests ...................................... 71 References ............................................................................................................................................ 73 2 1 CONSERVATION OBJECTIVE To mitigate the risk of extinction of the Coastal Swamp Sclerophyll Forests of South-eastern Australia and help recover its biodiversity and function through protecting it from significant impacts as a Matter of National Environmental Significance under national environmental law, and by guiding implementation of management and recovery, consistent with the recommended priority conservation and research actions set out in this advice. This Conservation Advice contains information relevant to the objective by: • describing the ecological community and where it can be found (Section 2); • identifying the key threats to the ecological community (Section 3); • summarising the existing protections for the ecological community (Section 4); • outlining information to guide its identification and conservation, including the key diagnostic features, condition thresholds and classes, and additional information to identify the ecological community, and the priority conservation and research actions to stop its decline, support its recovery and recognise the importance of involving landholders and Indigenous people in its maintenance (Section 5); and • presenting evidence to explain why the ecological community merits listing as nationally threatened (Section 6). 2 DESCRIPTION OF THE ECOLOGICAL COMMUNITY AND THE AREA IT INHABITS 2.1 Description The ecological community described in this document includes the plants, animals and other organisms typically associated with palustrine wetlands1, generally swamp forests2, found in the temperate to subtropical regions of Australia’s east-coast and, which typically has a layered canopy, dominated by melaleucas and/or Eucalyptus robusta (Department of Environment and Sustainability 2007; Sheringham et al. 2008; Bell and Driscoll 2016; DELWP 2016; DPI 2016; Miles 2006; Qld Government 2019). The ecological community occurs between the Great Dividing Range and the coast from near Gladstone in Queensland, through New South Wales to the Gippsland Plain east of the Strzelecki Ranges in Victoria. This section describes the natural and largely undisturbed state of the ecological community, with more information to assist in identifying it in Section 5. However, as a result of past and ongoing disturbance, many patches of the ecological community no longer exist in a natural and undisturbed state. Section 5 also provides information to identify which areas retain sufficient conservation values for the ecological community to be considered a matter of national environmental significance as well as information for determining the habitat areas most critical for survival. 2.1.1 Name The ecological community was originally nominated under the name “Melaleuca dominated Temperate Swamp Sclerophyll Forests on Coastal Floodplains of Eastern Australia”. 1 Palustrine wetlands are vegetated, non-riverine or non-channel systems, which include billabongs, swamps, bogs, springs, soaks etc. and have more than 30% emergent vegetation. wetlandinfo.des.qld.gov.au/wetlands/ecology/aquatic-ecosystems-natural/palustrine/ 2NSW OEH Profile: Coastal Swamp Forests www.environment.nsw.gov.au/threatenedspeciesapp/VegClass.aspx?vegClassName=Coastal+Swamp+Forests 3 The current name of the ecological community is the “Coastal Swamp