Wetland Implementation Plan - Peatland And
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Wetland Implementation Plan - Peatland and Spring-Soak Wetlands - Stage 1 Project 06-10 Prepared for: Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority Ecology Australia Pty Ltd Flora and Fauna Consultants www.ecologyaustralia.com.au [email protected] 88B Station Street, Fairfield, Victoria, Australia 3078 Tel: (03) 9489 4191 Fax: (03) 9481 7679 © 2006 Ecology Australia Pty Ltd This publication is copyright. It may only be used in accordance with the agreed terms of the commission. Except as provided for by the Copyright Act 1968, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission of Ecology Australia Pty Ltd. Document information This is a controlled document. Details of the document ownership, location, distribution, status and revision history are listed below. All comments or requests for changes to content should be addressed to the document owner. Document Information Owner Ecology Australia Author G.W. Carr, E. D. Moysey, S. Mathews, D. Frood, M.D. White, J. McMahon and P. Griffioen Location Spring Soak and Peatland wetlands - Wetland Implemetation Plan Stage 1- No property owners names.doc Distribution Simon Casanelia Environmental Water Goulburn Broken Reserve Officer - CMA Wetlands GBCMA WIP - - Steering Committee Document History Status Changes By Date Draft E.D. Moysey 23/5/06 Final report E.D. Moysey 27/6/06 Wetland Implementation Plan - Peatland and Spring-Soak Wetlands - Stage 1 Contents Summary i 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Project Background 1 1.2 Consultant team 3 2 Study area 4 2.1 General background 4 2.2 Bioregional description 5 3 Methodology 7 3.1 Overview 7 3.2 Data collation 7 3.3 Field work 10 4 Results 12 4.1 Ecologial Vegetation Class typology 12 4.1.1 General discussion 12 4.1.2 Ecological Vegetation Classes relevant to the vegetation of peatlands and other spring- soak habitats 12 4.2 Preliminary typology of peatland and spring-soaks 17 4.3 Summary of sites 19 5 Flora and Fauna species 48 5.1 Flora 48 5.2 Fauna 51 6 Threats and Management 54 6.1 Land use-history and vegetation condition 54 6.2 Management issues and threats 56 7 Permanent Upland Wetlands Modelling 67 7.1 Study area 67 7.2 Data 68 7.3 Methods 69 7.4 Results 70 7.5 Discussion 72 8 Acknowledgements 76 9 References 77 Final report Wetland Implementation Plan - Peatland and Spring-Soak Wetlands - Stage 1 Tables Table 1 Sources of information and general area of data collated for project. 8 Table 2 Data table of field survey results. 43 Table 3 Victorian Rare or Threatened Plant Species recorded from the FIS database, with an indication of which species were recorded during field work for this study (in bold). 49 Table 4 Summary of fauna species recorded from fauna Data Review Area for this study. 51 Table 5 Threatened fauna recorded from the AVW database (DSE 2005b) within the general study area i.e. Highlands, Strathbogie Ranges, Warby Ranges, Chesneyvale Hills and Tolmie that generally depend on wetlands. 53 Table 6 Seriously invasive environmental weed species observed in peatlands and spring-soaks in the Goulburn Broken CMA study area. 65 Table 7 Variables used to form the model. 70 Table 8 Sensitivity ranking of variables. 71 Table 9 Classification of wetland sites, model 18. 71 Figures Figure 1 Location and extent of the area managed by the Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority (figure supplied by GBCMA). 2 Figure 2. Potential and known areas supporting Peatlands and Spring-soak wetlands within the Goulburn-Broken Catchment. 6 Figure 4 All spring-soak and peatland wetland sites known from the study area, including data collated from within the project team, external to the team and data collected during field trips. 34 Figure 5 Spring-soak and peatland wetlands in Map 1 of the overall study area (see Key map), including data collated from within the project team, external to the team and data collected during field trips. 35 Figure 6 Spring-soak and peatland wetlands in Map 2 of the overall study area (see Key map), including data collated from within the project team, external to the team and data collected during field trips. 36 Figure 7 Spring-soak and peatland wetlands in Map 3 of the overall study area (see Key map), including data collated from within the project team, external to the team and data collected during field trips. 37 Figure 8 Spring-soak and peatland wetlands in Map 4 of the overall study area (see Key map), including data collated from within the project team, external to the team and data collected during field trips. 38 Figure 9 Spring-soak and peatland wetlands in Map 5 of the overall study area (see Key map), including data collated from within the project team, external to the team and data collected during field trips. 39 Figure 10 Spring-soak and peatland wetlands in Map 6 of the overall study area (see Key map), including data collated from within the project team, external to the team and data collected during field trips. 40 Final report Wetland Implementation Plan - Peatland and Spring-Soak Wetlands - Stage 1 Figure 11 Spring-soak and peatland wetlands in Map 7 of the overall study area (see Key map), including data collated from within the project team, external to the team and data collected during field trips. 41 Figure 12 Spring-soak and peatland wetlands in Map 8 of the overall study area (see Key map), including data collated from within the project team, external to the team and data collected during field trips. 42 Figure 13 Study area overview. 67 Figure 14 Probability of wetland presence across the central region of the study area. 73 Figure 15 Greater than 80% probability of wetland presence across the central region of the study area. 73 Figure 16 Probability of wetland presence across the northern region of the study area. 74 Figure 17 Greater than 80% probability of wetland presence across the northern region of the study area. 74 Figure 18 Probability of wetland presence across the southern region of the study area. 75 Figure 19 Greater than 80% probability of wetland presence across the southern region of the study area. 75 Plates Plate 1 Soak arising on rocky hillside near top, flowing into moist drainage line. 20 Plate 2 Series of soaks on rock shelf parallel to stream, following direction of joint in granite. 20 Plate 3 Soaks may disappear into better drained soils downslope. 21 Plate 4 Soak water at head of major gully head and stream complex. 21 Plate 5 Broad soak in gently sloping outwash valley between granite hills. 22 Plate 6 Linear moist drainage line soak. 22 Plate 7 Series of soaks in ‘amphitheatre’- shaped catchment 23 Plate 8 Soak on break of slope above moist drainage line soak– part of a complex containing several soak types, including a spring-induced gully head further upslope. 23 Plate 9 Seasonally dry sites are more tolerant of cattle grazing when dry, and may retain a number of interesting species. 24 Plate 10 At Highlands the peat was often up to 20-30 cm in depth (April 2006). 24 Plate 11 Sphagnum was observed in one site of excellent quality at Highlands (April 2006). 25 Plate 12 Extensive, high quality peatland vegetation with Button Grass (Gymnoschoenus sphaerocephalus) at Highlands (April 2006). 25 Plate 13 A remarkable spring-soak wetland on the outwash southern flank of the Warby Ranges, heavily grazed by sheep but of high significance. Red Gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) and Grey Box (E. microcarpa) are the tree dominants (April 2006). 26 Final report Wetland Implementation Plan - Peatland and Spring-Soak Wetlands - Stage 1 Plate 14 Grazed (foreground) and ungrazed (beyond fence) Warby Range Swamp Gum (Eucalyptus cadens) vegetation on northern outwash slope of Warby Ranges (April 2006). 26 Plate 15 Peatland at Strathbogie Ranges, with Woolly Tea-tree (Leptospermum lanigerum) showing invasion by the seriously weedy Reed Sweet-grass (*Glyceria maxima) (April 2006). 27 Plate 16 Spring-soak wetland dominated by Prickly Tea-tree (Leptospermum continentale) and sedges here being invaded by Cut-leaf Bramble (*Rubus laciniatus) (Strathbogie Ranges) (April 2006). 27 Plate 17 Spring-soak wetland dominated by Prickly Tea-tree (L. continentale) on distant slopes, a common occurrence in the northern Strathbogie Ranges (April 2006). 28 Plate 18 Former Montane Riparian Woodland now cleared and planted with Reed Sweet-grass (*Glyceria maxima) and Willows (*Salix matsudana x S. alba) (Strathbogie Ranges)(April 2006). 28 Plate 19 Recent extensive clearing of spring-soak wetlands dominated by Prickly Tea-tree (L. continentale) now represented by mounds of debris in the distance (Strathbogie Ranges, April 2006). 29 Plate 20 Prickly Tea-tree (L. continentale) dominated spring-soak wetland here being slowly destroyed by invading Maritime Pine (*Pinus pinaster) (Strathbogie Ranges)(April 2006). 29 Plate 21 A very extensive, high-quality peatland on private property at Strathbogie Ranges, dominated by Prickly Tea-tree (L. continentale) and Fine Twig-sedge (Baumea arthrophylla) (April 2006). 30 Plate 22 A formerly vast complex of Montane Riparian Woodland and spring-soaks dominated by Mountain Swamp Gum (Eucalyptus camphora) now destroyed by draining. Rushes (Juncus spp.) indicate the original extent of the complex (Strathbogie Ranges)(April 2006). 30 Plate 23 One of a remarkable, highly discrete pair of spring-soak wetlands south of the Warby Ranges dominated by sedges and Cumbungi (Typha domingensis). The Grassy Woodland vegetation is dominated by Red Box (Eucalyptus polyanthemos), White Box (E. albens) and Grey Box (E. microcarpa) (April 2006). 31 Plate 24 A small spring-soak on the northern flank of the Strathbogie Ranges showing a dramatic cross- fence comparison of the impacts of cattle grazing (indicated by the elimination of Common Reed (Phragmites australis) below the fence (April 2006).