Bushfire recovery where it matters most

Impacts and actions in Key Biodiversity Areas affected by the 2019/20 Bushfire Crisis

September 2020 Stephanie Todd and Golo Maurer

standing together to stop Table of Contents

Executive Summary 2 Introduction 3 KBA Bushfire Recovery Actions 5 Methodology 8 Effect of 2019/20 Bushfire Crisis on KBAs their Trigger and Priority Species 10 11 1. Palmgrove KBA 11 2. KBA 12 14 3. KBA 14 4. KBA 15 5. New England KBA 17 6. Werrikimbe KBA 19 7. Greater Blue Mountains KBA 20 8. Capertee Valley KBA 22 9. Fitzroy Falls and associated hydrobasin KBA 24 10. Jerrawangala KBA 25 11. Ulladulla to Merimbula KBA 26 and NSW 27 12. KBA 27 13. Nadgee to Mallacoota Inlet KBA 29 South 31 14. Kangaroo Island KBA 31 Western Australia 33 15. Gillingarra KBA 33 16. Araluen-Wungong KBA 34 17. North Dandalup KBA 35 18. Stirling Range KBA 36 References 37 Acknowledgements 38 Appendix 39

Front cover image: Swamp Edge, Blue Mountains KBA, image by Paul Vale

standing together to stop extinctions 1 Executive Summary

This report examines the 18 Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) which had 15% or more of their habitat burnt by the unprecedented Bushfire Crisis that occured in 2019/20. It provides a sobering account of the state of the areas that matter most for plants, - and especially - in Australia. The report’s main aim is to guide meaningful actions to facilitate the recovery of these KBAs. We present the likely extent and severity of the burnt areas across each of the KBAs in their entirety, as well as the impacts on regular sites for standardised bird monitoring (Birdata Shared Sites). We specifically highlight impacts on the bird Trigger species for KBAs and other bird species of national concern within KBAs, as estimated by remote sensing/GIS. The report’s fire mapping is based on National Indicative Aggregated Fire Extent Dataset v20200324 (NIAFED) and NSW Government Google Earth Engine Burnt Area Map (GEEBAM) v3.1, as available in April 2020. The assessment of the effect on birds is based on bird surveys collected by BirdLife Australia volunteers, KBA Guardians and other sources; and BirdLife Australia’s spatial analysis of population scale impacts on bird species and (G. Ehmke pers. comm.).

For all its doom and gloom, the report highlights the need for a differentiated look at the on-ground situation, targeted surveys that quickly inform conservation actions and a continuation of the spirit of collaboration and support across the community highlighted so dramatically during the fire crisis. It is thanks to the work of many volunteers and KBA Guardians that we can state the most important finding of this report: ‘All that is burnt is not lost to the birds’.

Dedication This report is dedicated to the brave women and men who risked - and some- times gave - their lives fighting the 2019/20 fires to protect their communities and the environment they cherish.

Citation Todd, S. and Maurer, G. (2020). Bushfire recovery where it matters most. Impacts and actions in Key Biodiversity Areas affected by the 2019/20 Bushfire Crisis. BirdLife Australia, Melbourne.

ISBN: 978-1-875122-01-1

Cumberland trail, Australian Alps KBA, image by Les Main

standing together to stop extinctions 2 Introduction

The 2019/20 bushfire season was devastating for Australia’s wildlife and unprecedented in its extent and severity. An estimated 31.5 million hectares were burnt between 1 July 2019 to the 21 April 2020, disproportionately affecting National Parks and Reserves destroying or drastically altering much of species’ habitats specifically protected from urban, agricultural development and forestry. The fires likely killed more than three billion native vertebrates (Van Eeden and Dickman 2020) and the populations of almost 800 and plant species. Many of them were considered secure before the fires, but have been affected so severely that they have been declared Priority Species for Commonwealth recovery efforts (Commonwealth of Australia 2020a).

This report focuses on Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs), the areas that are critical to maintaining biodiversity in Australia, according to a rigorous, internationally recognised, scientific standardwww.keybiodiversityareas.org/ publications (IUCN 2016). With Australia being one of the world’s megadiverse countries (Convention on Biological Diversity 2020) our KBA network contributes disproportionally to the protection of global biodiversity.

Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) are:

• Places of global signficance for the conservation of birds and other species • Recognised as a focus for practical conservation action

• Linked to internationally binding agreements

KBAs are identified using the strict, scientific Global Standard and must meet one of five criteria:

• Contain 0.5% of the population of a (critically) * • Contain 10% of the population of a species* with a very small range • Represent intact wilderness • Provide important nurseries, migration bottlenecks etc. for one or more species*

• Be an irreplaceable part of a site network * known as KBA Trigger Species

KBAs did not escape the fire catastrophe unscathed; over four million hectares in 108 KBAs were affected by fires nationally in the summer of 2019/20, with over two million hectares affected across 69 KBAs in the southern and eastern states where bushfires were unprecedented in both severity and extent. Several of these KBAs represent the last known sites for some Critically Endangered Trigger Species e.g. crayfish and plants. Following on from a prolonged period of drought the fires were bad news for birds too. KBAs are home to all 17 of the bird taxa (ten species and seven subspecies) identified by the ’s Wildlife and threatened species bushfire recovery Expert Panel (the Expert Panel) as a high priority for urgent ‘urgent management intervention’. However, while many areas of habitat within KBAs were burnt, KBAs also retained important unburnt refuges for these species. Six of the most impacted species and subspecies have over 50% of their

standing together to stop extinctions 3 remaining unburnt Area of Occupancy (AOO) in KBAs, and 14 have over 20%. In particular, KBAs represent a disproportionately large area (85%) of unburnt habitat for the Rufous Scrub-bird. Unburnt refuges are important for survival of individuals during and immediately following fire, but they also play a larger role in recolonisation as habitat recovers and are, therefore, of critical importance for population recovery (Robinson et al. 2013). This report marks the very beginning of understanding the consequences of the fires for KBAs. It is clear, that on-ground monitoring is essential to gain a better understanding of the level and nature of the impacts of bushfire on KBAs and the birds and biodiversity they support. This information is vital to achieve effective and efficient actions for recovery and preparedness. Thanks to the dedication of many volunteers and the BirdLife Australia KBA Guardian program, monitoring and recovery work can start from a solid base. Most of the badly burnt KBAs have a KBA Guardian or Guardian group in place, with strong relationships with local landholders and agencies and long-standing, regular, standardised bird survey sites. The many years of bird monitoring data— available in birdata.birdlife.org.au—are proving invaluable for the assessment of the impacts of fire as they enable a comparison of bird populations pre– and post-fire. For instance, some of the most reliable survey sites for the Rufous Scrub-bird escaped the fires and have retained their birds. Such findings highlight that the burnt KBAs and other fire affected areas have by no means lost their value to Australia’s biodiversity. On the contrary, their importance to our wildlife has only grown. In response to the bushfire crisis, every effort must be made to reduce any additional pressures on these sites and the species they support. Calls to revoke environmental protections to allow for logging and other detrimental activities are thus not only cynical but ill informed. In fact, the KBA Guardians contributing to this work through their local knowledge and tireless volunteering have stated this very clearly:

All that is burnt is not lost to the birds

Re-sprouting of a burnt Persoonia, Blue Mountains KBA, image by Paul Vale

standing together to stop extinctions 4 KBA Bushfire Recovery Actions

The speed and success of the bushfire recovery depends on focussing scarce resources towards the most appropriate actions in the right places. We have identified the following priority actions for KBA Guardians and other volunteers to implement and support this process:

• Standardised surveys at existing Birdata Shared Sites as KBAs become safe to access. The Birdata app and website now highlight fire affected sites in red.

• Standardised Birdata surveys at new sites as KBAs become safe to access; where appropriate, these should be set up as Shared Sites for long-term monitoring.

• Incidental reports to Birdata of Priority Species (see Appendix Table2).

• Collecting fire impact information using the new Birdata function.

• Several fire affected KBAs do not currently have Guardians. For these KBAs, Guardians are needed to lead the postfire monitoring and recovery.

• Conducting the Easter Health-checks for these KBAs will require liaison with landholders and agency staff to obtain an accurate picture of fire impacts and unusual bird sightings.

• Liaison with ‘Friends’ groups and experts on Trigger Species, Priority Birds and other taxa are necessary to learn what additional important information should be gathered during visits, e.g. the state of creeks used by rare crayfish.

• Assess the addition of KBA Trigger Species resulting from changes of IUCN threat status in response to fire.

• Assess the need to change KBA boundaries or propose new KBAs to accommodate new KBA Trigger Species. Mud maps and local knowledge will be invaluable for this work.

Selecting of post-fire survey methodology and sites Post-fire surveys to assess bird survival and habitat use will enable a comparison with pre-fire distribution data, thereby providing a valuable focus and refinement for on-ground conservation action. Surveys will be most valuable when conducted using standardised methodology. Four concepts are central to site selection and survey design in KBAs:

1. Shared Sites A defined location for a Standardised Survey (published on Birdata) to assist repeat surveys by multiple observers. These sites are shown on the maps below and can be found on the Birdata app and website https://birdata. birdlife.org.au/shared-sites

2. Standardised Surveys The recommended survey method is usually either a 2ha-20min survey or 500m-radius area search as per BirdLife (Birdata.birdlife.org.au/survey- techniques). Every Shared Site comes with Standardised Survey methods to be used when surveying that Site. However, where a specific targeted survey

standing together to stop extinctions 5 methodology has been used to monitor a Trigger Species in the past, that method takes precedence, e.g. targeted surveys for Rufous Scrub-birds.

3. Clusters A larger area where multiple actual or potential Shared Sites are located in convenient proximity to each other so that Standardised Surveys can be conducted at each of them during a single visit to the Cluster.

4. Trigger Species KBA Trigger Species are those species for which the KBA was declared. These species meet at least one of the criteria; based on the IUCN Red List or endemism, as defined in the KBA Standard (IUCN 2016).

Survey sites for post fire KBA monitoring should be selected to:

• Continue an existing series of surveys by targeting Birdata Shared Sites. • Facilitate comparison between sites that have experienced different fire severity by pairing Shared Sites in the same Cluster or, failing that, in the same KBA

• Inform the assessment of Trigger Species and Priority Species populations by choosing sites where they have occurred in the past

• Increase the power of future analyses by surveying Shared Sites paired based on their difference in burn severity in as many Clusters as possible

1 month post-burn

3 months post-burn

Yans Firetrail, Kosciuszko NP, Australian Alps KBA “These images were taken 2 months apart show a far cooler fire [...]” Les Main, Australian Alps KBA Guardian. Image by Les Main.

standing together to stop extinctions 6 THE FOLLOWING KEY IS DESIGNED TO HELP WITH SELECTING SITES

Start Contact [email protected] to set up a Shared Site N Is there a Birdata Shared Site in KBA? Y

Is the Shared Site accessible and safe? N Y

> 2 surveys since 2010 with Trigger or

Priority birds recorded? N Is there another Shared Site? Y N

Can Site be paired with Site Can Site be paired with Site in similar in similar habitat but N habitat but different fire severity in Contact [email protected] different fire severity same Cluster? to set up a Shared Site elsewhere in KBA? Y Y

Survey maximum # of paired Are there multiple accessible Survey maximum # of paired N Shared Sites in the one KBA Clusters in KBA? Shared Sites in the one Cluster

Y

Choose one pair of Sites fire severity in each Cluster as follows

Do Site pairs in Survey most Do pairs of Sites in each Cluster N cluster vary in fire N convenient differ in # of Trigger species? severity difference? Site pair

Y Y

Survey the Site pair with Survey the Sites pair with greatest most Trigger species in as difference in fire severity as per many Clusters as possible maps in this report

standing together to stop extinctions 7 Methodology

Fire Extent The Area affected within each KBA was calculated by overlapping KBA boundaries with the National Indicative Aggregated Fire Extent Dataset v20200324 (NIAFED). This is an amalgamation of data from the Rural Fire Service (RFS), state agency and satellite imagery. It is also known as the fire footprint, and is generally larger than the actual burnt area, as it includes all areas affected by fire, including spot fires, patchy burns and unburnt areas.

Burn Severity Mapping

All burn severity mapping was based on the differential Normalised Burn Ratio (dNBR), an index that can be calculated from changes in vegetation reflectance detected by satellite imagery. In this case, Sentinel2 multispectral satellite data were used, with a spatial resolution of 10m.

For KBAs in NSW, the severity mapping from the NSW Government Google Earth Engine Burnt Area Map (GEEBAM), v3.1 was used. This dataset groups burn severity into four classes: Low, Medium, High or Very High. For each KBA in NSW, two additional statistics were calculated from GEEBAM: ‘Area burnt’ - the area sum of burn classes ‘Medium’ to ‘Very High’. Class ‘Low’ was excluded from this metric because earlier severity mapping showed these areas had remained largely unchanged, and this metric is designed to give a more conservative estimate of burnt area than NIAFED.

‘Area badly burnt’ - the sum of burn classes ‘High’ to ‘Very High’, indicating areas where the canopy is likely to have been partially or fully affected

Where state agency maps were unavailable, burn severity maps were generated in Google Earth Engine using a similar approach to GEEBAM (Gorelick et al. 2017). Further details and code can be provided on request. Due to the difficulty of accurately thresholding ecologically meaningful burn classes from raw dNBR values across diverse environments, these maps were used for visualisation only, and no statistics were calculated from them.

Birdata Shared Sites

The burn status of Birdata Shared Sites was also calculated by overlaying the NIAFED polygons. These include ‘20min-2ha’ and ‘500m-radius area search’ standard surveys sites. Sites were considered to be affected/burnt if the area of overlap was nonzero, that is any part of the site was affected.

Fire Affect Bird Species

Area of Occupancy (AOO) of the 121 species of birds that have been assessed by BirdLife Australia for spatial overlap with fire footprint (G. Ehmke 2020 pers. comm.) were overlayed with KBAs to investigate the possible extent of the impact of fire on Trigger and other Priority Species within each KBA. The AOO of both Trigger and other Priority Species is displayed on each KBA map. For the purposes of this report, ‘fire affected’ species have more than 10% of their distribution burnt, according to at least one of two fire metrics:

standing together to stop extinctions 8 - AOO based on a 1-km grid (each grid cell counted as burnt if >50% of the cell overlaps fire footprint)

- Extent of Occurrence (EOO) based on subsetted minimum convex polygons, for core, seasonal and breeding parts of the species’ range.

As KBAs are home to many of these fire affected species, they are critical for post-fire recovery and may provide important unburnt refuges. The relative importance of KBAs as refuges for fire-affected species was calculated as the proportion of total unburnt AOO for each species that falls within KBAs (see Appendix). ‘Priority Species’ are those determined to be most impacted by the 2019/20 fires as assessed by the Expert Panel. These birds and Priority Species in other taxonomic groups comprise the ‘Revised provisional list of animals requiring urgent management intervention’, published by the Commonwealth Government (Legge et al. 2020). The list contains 17 Priority Species of bird, which can be found here (www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/bushfire-recovery/priority- animals), along with further details on the assessment methodology.

Report Coverage

KBAs with 15% or more of their area overlapped by NIAFED have been included in this report. Only KBAs in the southern and eastern parts of Australia were considered, that are within the ‘Preliminary analysis area map’, below (Commonwealth of Australia 2020b).

standing together to stop extinctions 9 Effect of 2019/20 Bushfire Crisis on KBAs, their Trigger Species and Priority Bird Species

This section provides an overview of the 18 KBAs outside the Northern Savanna area of Australia that had 15% or more of their habitat affected by fires in the catastrophic 2019/20 bushfire season. The KBAs are listed by state and then from north to south in each state. Each KBA account provides a site description based on BirdLife Australia’s 2009 site nominations (available on datazone. birdlife.org/site); a map showing the fire extent and Birdata Shared Sites; key statistics about the fire extent in the KBA; a list of current KBA riggerT Species and, where available, the extent habitat burnt measured as Area of Occupancy (AOO) for species of conservation concern within each KBA. At the available scale and resolution the maps are necessarily coarse and for orientation rather than navigation. More detailed electronic maps or sections of them can be requested from [email protected]. Further, the Shared Sites can be accessed at Birdata.birdlife.org.au/shared-sites#map, which also provides an indication of their fire status.

Evans Lookout, Blue Mountains KBA, image by Paul Vale

standing together to stop extinctions 10 Queensland 1. Palmgrove KBA

Site description

The KBA is identical to Palmgrove National Park (Scientific), which is located approximately 185 km north-north-east of Roma in south-central Queensland. This KBA is designated on the basis of more than 10 pairs of Black-breasted Button-quail in a significant location - this is the western-most population, isolated from all other populations, and although numbers of this species are poorly-known, there are large tracts of suitable habitat. Palmgrove is situated in moderately dry, dissected sandstone country. The vegetation is moderately diverse, hosting a variety of eucalypt woodland and forest types as well as vine thicket and acacia thicket communities. These thickets, which comprise the habitat of the Black-breasted Button-quail, occur in very small pockets in other nearby protected areas and State Forests, all of which have been logged, and are not known to support populations of the button-quail.

Fire extent

Key Statistics

KBA area 25,188 ha Area affected 13,864 ha (55%) No shared monitoring sites

Trigger Species: Black-breasted Buttonquail. AOO burnt for this Trigger Species in Palmgrove has not been analysed because of scarcity of recent data.

standing together to stop extinctions 11 2. Scenic Rim KBA

Site description

This KBA consists of a series of contiguous protected areas along the Queensland / New South Wales border. It is defined as the following protected areas, which support populations of threatened species: Main Range National Park, Glen Rock Regional Park, Mount Barney National Park, Mount Chinghee National Park, Lamington National Park, Springbrook National Park, Border Ranges National Park, Koreelah National Park, Mebbin National Park, , Mount Clunie National Park, Mount Nothofagus National Park, Wollumbin National Park, State Conservation Area, Limpinwood and Numinbah Nature Reserve. The KBA also includes private properties which support the Eastern Bristlebird but these are not displayed on the map. Additional contiguous areas of forest could be included in the KBA but are not known to support populations of the threatened species. The whole Scenic Rim is largely volcanic in origin, including the Mt Warning Shield volcano, Focal Peak volcanics and Main Range volcanics. Other areas are of sedimentary origin including parts of eastern Lamington area and parts of Mount Barney National Park. The now deeply weathered, mainly basaltic soils, which dominate the KBA, support a number of /vine thicket ecosystems as well as some rare grassland and eucalypt communities. The area has a coastal sub-tropical climate with average maximum summer temperatures of 29 °C, average minimum winter temperatures of 6 °C and average annual rainfall of 1555 mm at the lowest altitudes (data sourced from Tyalgum weather station altitude 55 metres). Parts of Wollumbin NP, Border Ranges NP, Limpinwood NR, Numinbah NR, 20,000 ha of Lamington NP and a portion of Mebbin NP are listed as a World Heritage site, and most of Border Ranges NP and all of Limpinwood NR are designated as Wilderness Areas.

Fire extent

standing together to stop extinctions 12 Key Statistics

KBA area 138,357 ha Area affected 49,459 ha (36%) Area burnt (NSW) 9,080 ha (7%) Area badly burnt (NSW) 3,088 ha (2%) GEEBAMv3p1_footprint_coverage 9,227 ha (19%) Shared monitoring sites 10(15)/70 sites burnt

Trigger Species: Black-breasted Buttonquail, Albert’s , Rufous Scrub- bird, Green Catbird, Regent , Eastern Bristlebird, Australian Logrunner, Paradise Riflebird, Pale-yellow Robin

AOO sqkm % AOO burnt

KBA Trigger Species, Commonwealth Priority and BirdLife Concern Albert’s Lyrebird 233 23 Eastern Bristlebird 25 26 Rufous Scrub-bird 67 8

KBA Trigger Species of BirdLife concern Australian Logrunner 134 19 Green Catbird 169 23 Pale-yellow Robin 91 16 Paradise Riflebird 137 22

Not KBA Trigger Species but a Commonwealth Priority Black-faced Monarch 183 27 Red-browed Treecreeper 60 37 Regent 3 0 7 27

standing together to stop extinctions 13 New South Wales

3. Nightcap Range KBA

Site Description

The Nightcap Range KBA consists of four protected areas in north-east New South Wales: Nightcap, Goonengerry and Mount Jerusalem National Parks, and Whian Whian State Conservation Area. The Nightcap Range KBA is located in very close proximity to the Scenic Rim KBA, which lies 10 km to the north- west, but is kept separate because it is located at a lower altitude and supports a slightly different suite of birds. Neighbouring forests could be added to the Nightcap Range KBA if the populations of Albert’s in these forests are considered to be of global significance. The KBA receives the highest volume of annual rainfall of any region in NSW (average 2351 mm per year at 380 m altitude, higher at higher altitudes); average summer temperatures are 17-27 °C and winter temperatures 7-17 °C at this altitude. Warm is found throughout the park on soils with a rhyolitic base, while subtropical rainforest is supported by nutrient-rich basalt soils. Sixty-one percent of the KBA (or the extent of Nightcap NP in 1994) is included in the Gondwana of Australia World Heritage Area.

Fire extent

standing together to stop extinctions 14 Key Statistics

KBA area 16,104 ha Area affected 5,236 ha (33%) Area burnt (NSW) 4,986 ha (31%) Area badly burnt (NSW) 1,037 ha (6%) GEEBAMv3p1_footprint_coverage 5,058 ha (97%) Shared monitoring sites 4/16 sites burnt

Trigger Species: Albert’s Lyrebird, Green Catbird, Regent Bowerbird, Logrunner, Paradise Riflebird, Pale-yellow Robin

AOO sqkm % AOO burnt KBA Trigger Species, Commonwealth Priority and

BirdLife Concern Albert’s Lyrebird 66 33

KBA Trigger Species of BirdLife concern Australian Logrunner 27 25 Green Catbird 20 27 Pale-yellow Robin 25 23 Paradise Riflebird 26 32

Not KBA Trigger Species but a Commonwealth Priority Black-faced Monarch 15 26 Eastern Bristlebird 2 0 Red-browed Treecreeper 3 31 Regent Honeyeater 0 0 Superb Lyrebird 0 0

4. Gibraltar Range KBA

Site Description

The Gibraltar Range KBA comprises Gibraltar Range and Barool National Parks, located between Glen Innes and Grafton in northern New South Wales. These protected areas support all suitable high-altitude rainforest in the range of a population of Rufous Scrub-birds. Parts of these national parks have been declared Wilderness Areas and are included in the World Heritage of Australia. The average winter daytime temperature is 13 °C, the average summer daytime temperature is 25 °C and rainfall peaks at over 2000 mm on the highest peaks. The area is one of the highest ridges of the and supports many ecosystems including warm-temperate rainforest, sclerophyll forest, heathlands and the largest remaining area of coachwood-dominated warm temperate rainforest in the world. Dominant land forms include high ridges and plateaux, the Great Eastern Escarpment, steep sided valleys, creeks, waterfalls, granitic rock formations and outcrops. The adjacent Washpool and Nymboida National Parks could be included in the KBA but neither is believed to currently support Rufous Scrub-birds.

standing together to stop extinctions 15 Fire extent

Key statistics

KBA area 36,563 ha Area affected 32,629 ha (89%) Area burnt 30,741 ha (84%) Area badly burnt 14,316 ha (39%) Shared monitoring sites 4/4 sites burnt

Trigger Species: Rufous Scrub-bird, Green Catbird, Logrunner, Paradise Riflebird, Pale-yellow Robin

Gibraltar Range KBA, image by Keith Fisher

standing together to stop extinctions 16 AOO sqkm % AOO burnt

KBA Trigger Species, Commonwealth Priority and BirdLife Concern Rufous Scrub-bird 16 100 KBA Trigger Species of BirdLife concern Australian Logrunner 17 77 Green Catbird 13 78 Pale-yellow Robin 10 90 Paradise Riflebird 3 100

Not KBA Trigger Species but a Commonwealth Priority Albert’s Lyrebird 1 100 Black-faced Monarch 21 90 Red-browed Treecreeper 17 94 Superb Lyrebird 34 85

Blackheath area of Blue Mountains National Park & nearby Council Reserves, showing before the fires (Jan 2019, left) and after fires (Jan 2020, right). Images by Paul Vale

5. New England KBA

Site description

The KBA is identical to New England National Park, which is located 75 km east of Armidale and 50 km west of Coffs Harbour in New South Wales. The park includes the high eastern escarpment of the Great Dividing Range and consists of high cliffs, rugged ridges and streams which converge into two main river systems, the Bellinger and the Macleay. Average annual rainfall is 1514 mm at a station at 1060 m altitude, average maximum summer temperatures here are 24 °C and minimum winter temperatures are 2 °C. Palaeozoic sedimentry and metamorphic rocks of slate, phylitte and greywake dominate the landscape, and on the plateau these are covered by the volcanic basalt, trachyte and tuff. These different rock types produce very different soils which, along with the high altitudinal range, support a diversity of flora and fauna. The park plays host to around 60,000 visitors a year and has walking tracks, camping grounds and other facilities to accommodate them. New England National Park is World Heritage listed and has a substantial area that fits the criteria for a Wilderness Park. This area stretches through the rugged gullies and ridges of the Bellinger River and Five Day Creek.

standing together to stop extinctions 17 Fire extent

Key Statistics KBA area 74,583 ha Area affected 38,365 ha (51%) Area burnt 36,787 ha (49%) Area badly burnt 8,543 ha (11%) Shared monitoring sites 0/5 sites burnt

Trigger Species: Rufous Scrub-bird, Green Catbird, Regent Bowerbird, Logrunner, Paradise Riflebird, Pale-yellow Robin,

AOO sqkm % AOO burnt KBA Trigger Species, Commonwealth Priority and

BirdLife Concern Rufous Scrub-bird 27 10 KBA Trigger Species of BirdLife concern Australian Logrunner 27 38 Flame Robin 12 16 Green Catbird 21 32 Pale-yellow Robin 14 28 Paradise Riflebird 16 24 Not KBA Trigger Species but a Commonwealth Priority Black-faced Monarch 29 32 Red-browed Treecreeper 16 32 Superb Lyrebird 47 30 standing together to stop extinctions 18 6. Werrikimbe KBA

Site Description

The KBA is identical to , which is located in the Great Dividing Range of New South Wales, 70 km inland of Port Macquarie. The national park is located within a contiguous series of protected areas, and all of the key bird species occur more widely with the exception of the Rufous Scrub- bird, which is restricted to Werrikimbe. The parks are located in a region which receives substantial rainfall (average 1655 mm per year at 155 m altitude, much higher at high altitudes); average summer temperatures are 27-28 °C and winter temperatures 6-18 °C at this altitude. The park is situated on the eastern escarpment of the Great Dividing Range and represents rugged wilderness, with two major rivers, the Forbes and the Hastings. The vegetation is dominated by sub-tropical and cool temperate rainforests, and tall eucalypt forests with significant areas of Antarctic Beech used by Rufous Scrub-birds. When under the former State Forest tenure, some areas of the park were selectively logged for cedar and tallowwood, with some areas clear felled. The National Park rainforests are included in the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area and some of the park is declared as wilderness area(s). The KBA could be extended to include the adjacent Mt Boss State Forest, which has previously supported small numbers of Rufous Scrub-birds.

Fire extent

standing together to stop extinctions 19 Key statistics

KBA area 35,127 ha Area affected 35,127 ha (100%) Area burnt 31,275 ha (89%) Area badly burnt 14,960 ha (43%) Shared monitoring sites 3/3 sites burnt

Trigger Species: Rufous Scrub-bird, Green Catbird, Regent Bowerbird, Logrunner, Paradise Riflebird, Pale-yellow Robin, Flame Robin

AOO sqkm % AOO burnt

KBA Trigger Species, Commonwealth Priority and

BirdLife Concern Rufous Scrub-bird 19 100

KBA Trigger Species of BirdLife concern Australian Logrunner 17 100 Flame Robin 13 100 Green Catbird 6 100 Pale-yellow Robin 2 100 Paradise Riflebird 6 100

Not KBA Trigger Species but a Commonwealth Priority Black-faced Monarch 21 100 Red-browed Treecreeper 10 100 Superb Lyrebird 29 100

7. Greater Blue Mountains KBA Site Description

The KBA includes the whole Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area which is comprised of eight protected areas: Blue Mountains, Kanangra-Boyd, Gardens of Stone, Wollemi, Nattai, Yengo and Thirlmere Lakes National Parks and the Jenolan Karst Conservation Reserve. This area includes most of the Hawkesbury Sandstone massif 60 to 180 km inland of , which supports most of the world population of the Rock Warbler. Another 12 adjacent protected areas could be included but the World Heritage Area supports a sustainable population of Rock Warblers. A number of peripheral valleys supporting Regent and other woodland birds could be considered for inclusion within this KBA or as separate KBAs: the Capertee and Burragorang valleys are categorised as separate KBAs but the Howes Valley in the has not supported significant numbers of Regent Honeyeaters since 1994. Within the World Heritage Area, 542,000 ha has been designated as Wilderness Areas, and another 245,000 ha could be listed. The area is dominated by eucalypt forest between rugged sandstone cliffs, with an exceptional diversity of habitats. Because of the intrinsic beauty, natural features and accessibility from the major population centres, the area has high recreational values, and hosts more than three million visitors annually.

standing together to stop extinctions 20 Fire extent

Evans Lookout, Blue Mountains KBA, image by Paul Vale

standing together to stop extinctions 21 Key statistics

KBA area 1,074,505 ha Area affected 897,882 ha (84%) Area burnt 857,231 ha (80%) Area badly burnt 484,635 ha (45%) Shared monitoring sites 28(29)/87 sites burnt

Trigger Species: Yellow-faced Honeyeater, Regent Honeyeater, , Rock- warbler, Flame Robin,

AOO sqkm % AOO burnt

KBA Trigger Species, Commonwealth Priority and

BirdLife Concern Pilotbird 204 76 Regent Honeyeater 52 78 Rockwarbler 414 74

KBA Trigger Species of BirdLife concern Flame Robin 78 68 Yellow-faced Honeyeater 1261 78

Not KBA Trigger Species but a Commonwealth Priority Black-faced Monarch 206 80 Gang-gang Cockatoo 528 85 Red-browed Treecreeper 293 84 Superb Lyrebird 954 79

8. Capertee Valley KBA

Site Description

The KBA consists of the entire Capertee Valley, a distinct ecological region surrounded by granitic hills and sedimentary plateaux, located about 45 km north of Lithgow in central-eastern New South Wales. The KBA is defined by the boundary of the Capertee Valley IBRA sub-region to the west and the Blue Mountains & Wollemi KBA to the east. Capertee Valley has a temperate climate characterised by warm, dry summers and cool, damp winters; mean temperatures (minimum-maximum) vary from 2-15 °C (June) to 16-30 °C (January) and mean annual rainfall is 634 mm at Glen Davis. The valley is extensively cleared for cattle grazing with remnant woodland patches on low rolling hills, and is surrounded by timbered scree slopes and sandstone cliffs on the western side of the Blue Mountains & Wollemi National Parks and KBA. The remnant native vegetation of the valley consists mostly of dry sclerophyll forest and grassy woodland with smaller stands of wet sclerophyll forest and some patches of montane heath. Changes to land use in recent years have resulted in an increase in the extent of natural regrowth and revegetation by landholders.

standing together to stop extinctions 22 Fire extent

Key statistics

KBA area 71,627 ha Area affected 11,990 ha (17%) Area burnt 10,269 ha (14%) Area badly burnt 5,304 ha (7%) Shared monitoring sites 7(9)/39 sites burnt

Trigger Species: Swift Parrot, Regent Honeyeater, Painted Honeyeater, Rockwarbler, Diamond Firetail

AOO sqkm % AOO burnt KBA Trigger Species, Commonwealth Priority and

BirdLife Concern Rockwarbler 135 7 Regent Honeyeater 28 20 KBA Trigger Species of BirdLife concern Swift Parrot 25 5 Not KBA Trigger Species but a Commonwealth Priority Black-faced Monarch 1 0 Gang-gang Cockatoo 57 7 Pilotbird 1 0 Red-browed Treecreeper 25 9 Superb Lyrebird 44 20 standing together to stop extinctions 23 9. Fitzroy Falls and associated hydrobasin KBA

Site Description

This KBA is based on an Alliance of Zero site triggered by Euastacus dharawalus. The entire known population of this species is confined to this site. KBA boundaries are based on the hydrobasin.

Fire extent

Key Statistics

KBA area 12,395 ha Area affected 7,817 ha (63%) Area burnt 6,440 ha (52%) Area badly burnt 5,208 ha (42%) Shared monitoring sites 0/4 sites burnt

Trigger Species: Euastacus dharawalus (freshwater crayfish)

AOO sqkm % AOO burnt

Not KBA Trigger Species but a Commonwealth Priority Black-faced Monarch 9 31 Eastern Bristlebird 1 0 Gang-gang Cockatoo 8 57 Pilotbird 4 27 Red-browed Treecreeper 3 0 Regent Honeyeater 1 100 Rockwarbler 7 47 Superb Lyrebird 17 55

standing together to stop extinctions 24 10. Jerrawangala KBA

Site Description

This KBA is based on an Alliance of Zero Extinction site triggered by Euastacus guwinus. Entire known population confined to this site. The KBA boundary is based on Jerrawangala National park boundary.

Fire extent

Key statistics

KBA area 4,024 ha Area affected 4,024 ha (100%) Area burnt 3,980 ha (99%) Area badly burnt 3,382 ha (84%) No shared sites present

Trigger Species: Euastacus guwinus (freshwater crayfish)

AOO sqkm % AOO burnt Not KBA Trigger Species but a Commonwealth Priority Black-faced Monarch 1 100 Gang-gang Cockatoo 3 100 Pilotbird 1 100 Rockwarbler 2 100 Superb Lyrebird 4 100

standing together to stop extinctions 25 11. Ulladulla to Merimbula KBA

Site Description

This KBA is defined for Spotted Gum and other flowering eucalypts usedy b Swift Parrots. The current KBA boundary is approximate based largely on surveys in 2009 that recorded Swift Parrots in Spotted Gum forests between Ulladulla and Merimbula. The KBA boundary follows the estimated extent of Spotted Gum forests, extending about 10 km inland of the coast between Ulladulla and Merimbula, but further surveys are needed to refine the boundary, particularly its inland (western) extent. The KBA also includes forests dominated by a range of other eucalypts, of which various ironbarks and bloodwoods are likely to support Swift Parrots in years in which the Spotted Gums are not flowering. The KBA also includes large areas of cattle-grazed pasture between forest blocks, and small areas of urban development and agriculture. These artificial habitats are likely to be of some value to Swift Parrots which utilise scattered large flowering trees and small remnants of native vegetation in otherwise modified landscapes.

Fire extent

standing together to stop extinctions 26 Key statistics

KBA area 217,832 Area affected 76,621 (35%) Area burnt (NSW) 64,920 (30%) Area badly burnt (NSW) 43,261 (20%) Shared monitoring sites 27(34)/139 sites burnt

Trigger Species: Swift Parrot

AOO sqkm % AOO burnt KBA Trigger Species of BirdLife concern Swift Parrot 127 33

Not KBA Trigger Species but a Commonwealth Priority Black-faced Monarch 202 31 Eastern Bristlebird 0 0 Gang-gang Cockatoo 209 29 Pilotbird 34 18 Red-browed Treecreeper 43 37 Regent Honeyeater 20 15 Superb Lyrebird 270 41

Victoria and NSW 12. Australian Alps KBA Site description

The KBA consists of Kosciuszko and Namadgi National Parks in south-eastern New South Wales and Alpine National Park in eastern Victoria. Situated within the Great Dividing Range, the three parks captured by the KBA encompass a sizeable and representative proportion of Australia’s alpine and sub-alpine regions, which support large breeding populations of the near threatened Flame Robin and restricted-range Pilotbird. A number of contiguous protected areas such as Brindibella National Park, Bimberi Nature Reserve, Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve and Scabby Range Nature Reserve in New South Wales and Avon Wilderness Park and Snowy River National Park are currently omitted from the KBA, but could qualify for inclusion pending further investigation. The mountainous terrain of the KBA is dominated by eucalypt woodlands and forests, with various types of woodland and dry sclerophyll forest on lower slopes, tall wet sclerophyll or montane forest of Alpine Ash and other species at intermediate elevations and open Snow Gum woodlands in the subalpine zone. At the highest altitudes, the terrain is exposed and devoid of trees, with the forests and woodlands of the lower zones replaced by a mixture of alpine herbfields, grasslands, heathlands and moss communities. Other vegetation communities occur in the KBA but are limited in extent, e.g. pockets of cool temperate rainforest grow in some mountain gullies. Climatic conditions vary throughout the KBA, with precipitation increasing and temperature decreasing with altitude. Severe weather can occur in alpine regions, which are prone

standing together to stop extinctions 27 to sub-zero temperatures, frosts, rain- and snowfall and high winds. Snow is typically present in high-altitude areas for several months of the year.

Fire extent

A section of the Australian Alps KBA, months after the fires went through. “It burnt in January and I am yet to see a bird in this area since it burnt.” Denise Allardice, KBA Guardian. Image by Denise Allardice

standing together to stop extinctions 28 Key Statistics

KBA area 1,470,823 Area affected 468,789 ha (32%) Area burnt 238,005 ha (16%) Area badly burnt 175,979 ha (12%) GEEBAMv3p1_footprint_coverage 242,893 ha (52%) Shared monitoring sites 88(95)/144 sites burnt

Trigger Species: Pilotbird, Flame Robin

AOO sqkm % AOO burnt KBA Trigger Species, Commonwealth Priority and

BirdLife Concern Pilotbird 96 25

KBA Trigger Species of BirdLife concern Flame Robin 639 35

Not KBA Trigger Species but a Commonwealth Priority Gang-gang Cockatoo 447 42 Red-browed Treecreeper 111 42 Regent Honeyeater 1 0 Superb Lyrebird 321 41

13. Nadgee to Mallacoota Inlet KBA

Site description

This KBA includes all of Nadgee National Park in NSW and the eastern section of the 87,500 ha Croajingolong National Park in Victoria. The key bird species, Eastern Bristlebird, is no longer found west of Mallacoota inlet in Victoria so this section of Croajingolong is excluded. The habitat is largely a patchy mosaic of coastal heath and eucalypt woodlands. This includes Nadgee Coastal Heath Complex and Nadgee Coastal Heath/Woodland, which occurs in exposed situations along the coast. There is a diverse range of structurally complex wet heath, mainly occurring in poorly drained areas, including Nadgee Lowland Sedge Swamp, Nadgee Tall Wet Shrub Heath and Nadgee Wet Shrub Heath. A unique wetland type occurs within the dune swales surrounding Cape Howe (Cape Howe Dune Swale). Dry Scrub occurs along the length of the proposed KBA coastline, and includes Headland Scrub and Dune Scrub (Lynette Evans pers. comm. 2005). The KBA occurs within one of the least disturbed areas of temperate coastal vegetation on the Australian mainland. This has resulted in a very high level of floristic and structural integrity, which is considered significant at the national level (Ecology Australia 1998).

standing together to stop extinctions 29 Fire extent

Key statistics

KBA area 38,171 ha Area affected 27,380 ha (72%)

burnt_GEEBAMv3p1 19,781 ha (52%) badly_burnt_GEEBAMv3p1 9,736 ha (26%) GEEBAMv3p1_footprint_coverage 19,865 ha (64%) Shared monitoring sites 4/4 sites burnt

Trigger Species: Eastern Bristlebird, Pilotbird

AOO sqkm % AOO burnt KBA Trigger Species, Commonwealth Priority and

BirdLife Concern Eastern Bristlebird 39 12 Pilotbird 24 69 Not KBA Trigger Species but a Commonwealth Priority Black-faced Monarch 32 76 Gang-gang Cockatoo 20 68 Red-browed Treecreeper 12 77 Superb Lyrebird 39 84

standing together to stop extinctions 30 Southern Endeavour Moor showing mostly extremely burnt vegetation with small, low severity burnt remnants. Nadgee to Mallacoota Inlet KBA, image by Damon Oliver, DPIE

South Australia

14. Kangaroo Island KBA

Site description

Kangaroo Island, the third largest island off Australia, is 12 km south of the Fleurieu Peninsula, south of Adelaide. The whole of Kangaroo Island and some very small inshore islands are taken as an KBA because the main bird values, the strong populations of Hooded Plovers and Bush Stone-curlews, are partly dependent on the island’s isolation from foxes and other mainland threats. The island has poor soils and only about half is cleared for farmland, which is mostly grazed and suitable for stone-curlews, and 46% has tree or shrub cover (Ball & Carruthers 1998), which is mostly suitable for the strong population of Purple- gaped Honeyeaters. Other KBA bird species are scattered across the island in coastal mallee, inland lagoons and along the coast. The island is mainly elevated ironstone plateau with a limestone coastal belt and stunted mallee woodland growing on impoverished soils. The island has a Mediterranean climate, with most of the mean annual rainfall of 500-900 mm falling in the winter. About half of the island has been cleared for grazing, with small areas under other agricul- ture or residential and tourism development. The island has 28 terrestrial pro- tected areas covering over 116,000 ha (25% of the island) and additional marine protected areas.

standing together to stop extinctions 31 Fire extent

Key Statistics

KBA area 441,672 ha Area affected 223,192 ha (51%) Shared monitoring sites 16(17)/42 sites burnt

Trigger Species: Cape Barren Goose, Freckled Duck, Australian Shelduck, Chestnut Teal, Blue-billed Duck, Musk Duck, Black-faced Cormorant, Bush Stone- curlew, Pied Oystercatcher, Banded Stilt, Hooded Plover, Pacific Gull, Fairy Tern, Rock Parrot, Purple-gaped Honeyeater, Western Whipbird

AOO sqkm % AOO burnt KBA Trigger Species, Commonwealth Priority and

BirdLife Concern Western Whipbird 69 67 KBA Trigger Species of BirdLife concern Purple-gaped Honeyeater 139 40

Not KBA Trigger Species but a Commonwealth Priority Western Bassian 148 22 Kangaroo Island Glossy Black-Cockatoo 77 57 Kangaroo Island Southern Emu-wren 84 74

standing together to stop extinctions 32 Western Australia

15. Gillingarra KBA

Site Description

The Gillingarra KBA supports at least 1% of the breeding population of Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoo. The KBA boundaries are defined by known areas of suitable nesting habitat and associated feeding habitat. The KBA is comprised of isolated Marri paddock trees providing nesting sites and a large area of intact proteaceous heath providing food sources for nesting birds. Pasture, crops, non- native plants and weed populations are not included in the KBA. The area has a Mediterranean climate.

Fire extent

Key statistics

KBA area 8,457 ha Area affected 1,548 ha (18%) No shared monitoring sites

Tigger Species: Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoo, Western Corella, Red-capped Parrot, Western , Western Yellow Robin

standing together to stop extinctions 33 16. Araluen-Wungong KBA

Site description

The Araluen-Wungong KBA supports at least 1% of the non-breeding population of the endangered Baudin’s Black-Cockatoo and smaller numbers of the endangered Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoo. The KBA boundaries are defined by native vegetation within a 6 km radius of known non-breeding season roost sites for Baudin’s Black-Cockatoo in the Darling Range in south- west Western Australia. Foraging distance has been determined by research undertaken by the Western Australian Museum (T. Kirkby, Western Australian Museum, pers. comm. 2009). The KBA consists of all native vegetation greater than 1 ha on private land, water catchment areas, state forests, nature reserves and other reserves. Pasture, crops, non-native plants, weed species and orchards are excluded from the KBA. The 1 ha minimum native vegetation criterion has been determined by experts in a consultation process undertaken by the Australian Government (C. Gole pers. comm. 2009). The area has a Mediterranean climate.

Fire extent

Key Statistics

KBA area 12,485 Min area affected 2,386 (19%) Max area affected 3,180 (26%) Shared monitoring sites 0(4)/20 sites burnt

standing together to stop extinctions 34 Trigger Species: Baudin’s Black-Cockatoo, Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoo, Red- capped Parrot, Western Rosella, Rufous Treecreeper, Red-winged Fairywren, , Western Thornbill, Western Yellow Robin, White-breasted Robin, Red-eared Firetail

17. North Dandalup KBA

Site description

The North Dandalup KBA supports at least 1% of the non-breeding population of the endangered Baudin’s Black-Cockatoo and smaller numbers of the endangered Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoo. The KBA boundaries are defined by native vegetation within a 6 km foraging radius of non-breeding season roost sites for Baudin’s Black-Cockatoo in the south-west of Western Australia. Foraging distance has been determined by research undertaken by the Western Australian Museum (T. Kirkby, Western Australian Museum, pers. comm. 2009). The KBA consists of all native vegetation greater than 1 ha on private land, water catchment areas, state forests, nature reserves and other reserves. Pasture, crops, non-native plants, weed species and orchards are excluded from the KBA. The 1 ha minimum native vegetation criterion has been determined by experts in a consultation process undertaken by the Australian Government (C. Gole pers. comm. 2009). The area has a Mediterranean climate.

Fire extent

standing together to stop extinctions 35 Key Statistics

KBA area 7,721 ha Min area affected 1,326 ha (17%) Max area affected 2,197 ha (29%) No shared monitoring sites

Trigger Species: Baudin’s Black-Cockatoo, Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoo, Red- capped Parrot, Rufous Treecreeper, Red-winged Fairywren, Western Spinebill, Western Thornbill, Western Yellow Robin, White-breasted Robin

18. Stirling Range KBA

Site Description

The KBA is almost identical to Stirling Range National Park, approximately 60 km north of Albany in south-western Western Australia. The KBA excludes some salt lakes on the south-east boundary of the National Park and includes some road corridors excluded from the park. Stirling Range National Park is a very large remnant of native vegetation situated around Stirling Range, a series of isolated peaks and hills which are mainly composed of metamorphosed sandstones and shales. The range experiences a warm Mediterranean climate, although cold temperatures, high rainfall and occasional snowfalls occur at the highest altitudes. The nutrient-poor soils of the national park support five major vegetation communities: (1) shrubland and (2) mallee-heathland at higher altitudes; and (3) woodland, (4) wetland and (5) salt lake communities on lower slopes and plains. The National Park is surrounded by cleared pastoral land but remnant large trees and patches of heathland may be important for Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoos.

Fire extent

standing together to stop extinctions 36 Key statistics

KBA area 112,580 Area affected 39,789 (35%) Shared monitoring sites 2/5 sites burnt

Trigger Species: Baudin’s Black-Cockatoo, Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoo, Red- capped Parrot, Western Rosella, Regent Parrot, Rufous Treecreeper, Red-winged Fairywren, Blue-breasted Fairywren, Purple-gaped Honeyeater, Western Spine- bill, Western Thornbill, Western Whipbird, Western Yellow Robin, White-breasted Robin, Red-eared Firetail

AOO sqkm % AOO burnt KBA Trigger Species of BirdLife concern Purple-gaped Honeyeater 16 55 Western Whipbird 20 59

References Commonwealth of Australia (2020a). Bushfire Recoveryhttps://www.environment.gov.au/ biodiversity/bushfire-recovery. Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, .

Commonwealth of Australia (2020b). Preliminary Area for Environmental Analysis 2019/20 Fires https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/pages/a8d10ce5-6a49-4fc2-b94d- 575d6d11c547/files/preliminary-analysis-area-19-jan-2020.pdf .Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, Canberra.

Convention on Biological Diversity (2020). https://www.cbd.int/countries/ profile/?country=au. United Nations Environment Program. CBD Secretariat, Montreal.

Van Eeeden & Dickman, C. (2020). New WWF report: 3 Billion animals impacted by Australia’s bushfire crisis.https://www.wwf.org.au/news/news/2020/3-billion-animals-impacted-by- australia-bushfire-crisis#gs.ehayoz . WWF Australia, Sydney

Gorelick, N., Hancher, M., Dixon, M., Ilyushchenko, S., Thau, D., & Moore, R. (2017). Google Earth Engine: Planetary-scale geospatial analysis for everyone. Remote Sensing of Environment.

IUCN (2016). A Global Standard for the Identification of Key Biodiversity Areas, Version 1.0. First edition. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN.

Legge, S., Woinarski. J., Garnett, S., Nimmo, D., Scheele, B., Lintermans, M., Mitchell, N., Whiterod, N., Ferris. J. (2020). Rapid analysis of impacts of the 2019-20 fires on animal species, and prioritisation of species for management response. Technical Report. Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, Canberra.

Robinson, N. M., Leonard, S. W. J., Ritchie, E. G., Bassett, M., Chia, E. K., Buckingham, S., Gibb, H., Bennett, A. F., and Clarke, M. F. (2013). REVIEW: Refuges for fauna in fire-prone landscapes: their ecological function and importance. Journal of Applied Ecology 50, 1321–1329. doi:10.1111/1365-2664.12153

standing together to stop extinctions 37 Acknowledgements BirdLife Australia wishes to acknowledge over 925 volunteers who have contributed to bird surveys in the affected KBAs, providing an invaluable resource for post-fire management. Their data were instrumental in delineating the KBAs examined in this report. Australia’s conservation landscape and actions benefit hugely from this work. BirdLife Australia would like to mention specifically the regional KBA Coordinators: Linda Borrison, Elisabeth arplusK and Tida Nou, as well as current and past local KBA Guardians for the fire affected KBAs: Denise Allardice, Gary Brady, Linda Brannian, Greg Clancy, Karen Davies, Rob Dunn, Keith Fisher, Sheena Gillman, Amy Harris, Murray Houghton, Richard Jordan, Colin Kolhagen, Hans Lutter, Les Main, George Malolakis, Ken Monson, Jan Olley, Carol Probets, Sue Proust, Mick Roderick, Vicki Stokes, Alan Stuart, Jean Turner, Paul Vale and Peter West. Their expert knowledge has informed much of this report and their tireless survey work and advocacy for ‘their’ KBA has been and will continue to be a critical contribution to their conservation. Many of the volunteers and KBA Guardians have poured decades of their lives into the protection of these most important places for wildlife. They share with the community a great sadness over the destruction wreaked by the fires and the spirit to do what is in their power to recover and protect these areas into the future.

The KBAs featured in this report and around the country are on Aboriginal land and BirdLife Australia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land and sea where these KBAs are located on and the land we live and work on. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. We recognise and are grateful for the immense contribution of Indigenous people to the knowledge and conservation of Australia's birds.

Regrowth in the Australian Alps KBA, image by Denise Allardice

standing together to stop extinctions 38 Appendix Table 1: List of all Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) burnt in the 2019/20 Bushfire Season This table lists all KBAs burnt in 2019/20 in the of area affected. KBAs in the northern savanna that are adapted to more regular low severity fires were excluded from this list. Only those KBAs with 15% of more of their area affected by fire were analysed in detail for the main report.

KBA KBA Area (ha) Area burnt % burnt State

Werrikimbe 35,127.22 35,127.22 100 NSW Jerrawangala 4,023.99 4,023.99 100 NSW Gibraltar Range 36,563.41 32,628.71 89 NSW Greater Blue Mountains 1,074,504.60 897,881.84 84 NSW Nadgee to Mallacoota Inlet 38,171.48 31,019.58 81 NSW, VIC Fitzroy Falls and associated hydrobasin 12,395.08 7,816.85 63 NSW Palmgrove 25,188.24 13,864.15 55 QLD New England 74,583.01 38,365.26 51 NSW Kangaroo Island 441,672.03 223,191.49 51 SA Scenic Rim 138,357.20 49,459.49 36 NSW, QLD Stirling Range 112,580.09 39,788.69 35 WA Ulladulla to Merimbula 217,831.78 76,889.44 35 NSW Nightcap Range 16,103.88 5,235.65 33 NSW Australian Alps 1,470,822.85 468,789.14 32 ACT, NSW, VIC Araluen-Wungong 12,484.86 2,385.85 19 WA Gillingarra 8,456.65 1,548.26 18 WA North Dandalup 7,720.77 1,325.63 17 WA Capertee Valley 71,627.29 11,990.02 17 NSW Cooloola & Fraser Coast 218,680.57 28,703.83 13 QLD Conondale Range 166,184.25 19,908.93 12 QLD Barrington Tops & Gloucester Tops 129,681.63 13,949.61 11 NSW Hanging Rock and associated hydrobasin 15,229.94 1,439.59 9 NSW Mundaring-Kalamunda 13,949.99 1,242.72 9 WA Northern Swan Coastal Plain 233,815.81 19,167.31 8 WA Mudgee-Wollar 165,316.69 13,266.37 8 NSW Burum Coast Bingera and surrounds 81,524.04 5,575.59 7 QLD Hastings-Macleay 117,078.64 7,901.01 7 NSW Eastern 18,140.63 796.11 4 TAS D’Aguilar 36,560.53 1,518.87 4 QLD

standing together to stop extinctions 39 Appendix Table 1: continued

KBA KBA Area (ha) Area burnt % burnt State

Bundarra-Barraba 354,292.29 14,253.91 4 NSW Goonoo 105,266.26 4,138.31 4 NSW Gwydir Wetlands 44,241.08 987.82 2 NSW Lake Magenta 134,248.06 2,872.63 2 WA Watervalley Wetlands 13,108.93 257.40 2 SA Macquarie Marshes 242,651.16 4,666.05 2 NSW Great Sandy Strait 82,560.36 1,374.64 2 QLD Hunter Valley 56,780.50 942.82 2 NSW Little Desert 135,152.30 1,748.91 1 VIC Budderoo & Barren Grounds 7,384.41 92.94 1 NSW Karroun Hill 309,170.45 3,271.07 1 WA Richmond Woodlands 33,306.76 269.63 1 NSW Ben Lomond 18,300.85 94.24 1 TAS Warby-Chiltern Box-Ironbark 25,234.54 71.12 0 VIC South of Bullsbrook 3,676.97 8.68 0 WA Otway Range 103,921.13 232.11 0 VIC Pilliga 501,124.18 1,066.12 0 NSW Tuggerah 13,154.74 23.08 0 NSW Wyperfeld, Big Desert & Ngarkat 976,260.77 1,700.20 0 VIC Lake Macquarie 12,314.04 21.35 0 NSW Bunya Mountains & Yarraman 62,652.24 46.37 0 QLD Southern NSW Mallee 831,554.73 442.10 0 NSW Murray-Sunset, Hattah & Annuello 704,888.10 250.06 0 VIC Barmah-Millewa 263,730.82 81.19 0 NSW, VIC Gippsland Lakes 59,899.30 10.74 0 VIC Margaret River 30,323.63 3.88 0 WA South-west Slopes of NSW 2,586,912.10 243.38 0 NSW to Birch’s Inlet 218,351.25 17.60 0 TAS Murrumbidgee Red Gums 246,823.78 7.41 0 NSW South-east 317,183.72 4.26 0 TAS Riverland Mallee KBA 1,236,876.95 2.58 0 NSW, SA

standing together to stop extinctions 40 Appendix Table 2: Proportion of unburnt habitat of Priority Species for fire recovery found in Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) Species included in the table below are national Priority bird species or BirdLife species of concern because an estimated 10% or more of their Area of Occupancy was burnt in the 2019/20 fires. The burnt metric only scores each 1km grid cell of a species’ AOO as burnt if >50% of that cell is overlapped by the fire extent polygons (NIAFED).

Bird species National % of AOO % of AOO % unburnt Core AOO in KBAs burnt AOO in KBA (sqkm) nationally

Commonwealth Priority Albert’s Lyrebird 515 63 18 59 Black-faced Monarch 6372 24 22 23 Eastern Bristlebird 224 68 5 69 Gang-gang Cockatoo 7389 23 26 18 Glossy Black-Cockatoo 7999 21 37 23 KI Glossy Black Cockatoo 77 100 57 39 KI Southern Emu-wren 84 100 74 14 KI Western Whipbird 82 100 59 33 Mainland Ground Parrot 802 44 14 49 Pilotbird 1480 25 43 20 Red-browed Treecreeper 2914 26 41 21 Regent Honeyeater 1041 51 10 54 Rockwarbler 1303 40 40 25 Rufous Scrub-bird 258 65 42 84 Superb Lyrebird 8595 25 40 19

BirdLife Conservation Concern (>10% AOO burnt)

Australian King-Parrot 15355 19 16 18 Australian Logrunner 1198 29 21 27 Bassian Thrush 3654 24 16 22 Beautiful Firetail 1766 32 16 30 Bell Miner 5530 24 25 21 Brown Cuckoo-Dove 6556 22 12 22 Brown 6711 27 21 26 Brown Thornbill 34828 19 15 17 7078 19 10 17 Coxen’s Fig-Parrot 19 29 37 18 Crescent Honeyeater 7190 25 16 24 Crimson Rosella 36724 18 13 16 Eastern Shrike-tit 9190 25 12 24 Eastern Spinebill 24767 21 17 19 Eastern Whipbird 17107 21 20 19

standing together to stop extinctions 41 Appendix Table 2: continued

Bird species National % of AOO % of AOO % unburnt Core AOO in KBAs burnt AOO in KBA (sqkm) nationally

Eastern Yellow Robin 29938 21 15 20 Golden Whistler 35524 21 12 19 Greater Sooty Owl 1715 21 38 22 Green Catbird 2667 19 14 18 Large-billed Scrubwren 4439 27 13 26 Lewin’s Honeyeater 19805 18 16 17 Masked Owl 2284 20 33 23 Noisy Friarbird 24757 21 11 19 Olive Whistler 2638 28 12 29 Paradise Riflebird 786 41 22 43 Pied 36473 19 14 17 5656 14 26 13 Red-browed Finch 23182 18 11 17 7012 20 18 19 Rufous Fantail 10608 21 15 19 Russet-tailed Thrush 580 33 13 32 9671 23 23 20 Satin Flycatcher 3801 21 12 20 Scarlet Honeyeater 9676 18 12 18 Southern Boobook 21159 18 16 17 Southern Emu-wren 2579 27 13 26 Spotted 40231 24 12 22 Spotted Quail-thrush 3284 26 37 24 Striated Thornbill 20421 21 18 18 Western Whipbird 443 56 14 49 White-browed Scrubwren 33075 18 13 15 White-eared Honeyeater 20602 26 11 25 White-naped Honeyeater 17884 22 18 19 White-throated Nightjar 2320 22 32 20 White-throated Treecreeper 32462 22 18 21 Wonga Pigeon 6463 22 27 19 Yellow-faced Honeyeater 38444 19 15 17 Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo 18986 17 12 15 Yellow-throated Scrubwren 2656 33 20 31 Yellow-tufted Honeyeater 5122 39 15 38

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standing together to stop extinctions 43