DRAFT Conservation Advice for the Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub Of
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DRAFT Conservation Advice1 for the Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub of the Sydney Region This draft document is being released for consultation on the description, threats, listing category and conservation actions for the ecological community. The purpose of this consultation document is to elicit additional information to better understand the definition and status of the ecological community and help inform updated conservation actions. The draft assessment below should therefore be considered tentative at this stage, as it may change as a result of responses in this consultation process. This document combines the draft conservation advice and listing assessment for the ecological community. It provides a foundation for conservation action and further planning. Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub of the Sydney Region at North Head (Garungal, Car-rang-gel) The Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub of the Sydney Region occurs within country (the traditional lands) of the Eora and Dharawal/Tharawal nations. We acknowledge their continuing link to the ecological community, country and culture. Proposed Conservation Status The ecological community has been listed as Endangered since 2000 under national environment law, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). Information on the currently listed ecological community can be found at: http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicshowcommunity.pl?id=2 The ecological community is under assessment for uplisting to Critically Endangered. The Committee’s draft assessment of the eligibility against each of the listing criteria is: Criterion 1: Critically Endangered Criterion 2: Endangered or Critically Endangered Criterion 3: Insufficient data Criterion 4: Critically Endangered Criterion 5: Insufficient data Criterion 6: Insufficient data The main factors that make the threatened ecological community eligible for listing in the Critically Endangered category are its historic losses to clearing and resulting fragmentation, and ongoing threats to its integrity and function, including invasive species and risks associated with unsuitable fire regimes that are increased by climate change. 1 The Conservation Advice is a statutory document as per section 266B of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub of the Sydney Region Conservation Advice Consultation Draft CONTENTS 1 Conservation objective ................................................................................................................... 3 2 Description of the ecological community and the area it inhabits .................................................. 3 2.1 Description .............................................................................................................................. 3 2.2 Name ....................................................................................................................................... 4 2.3 History of legislative protection ............................................................................................... 4 2.4 Location and physical environment ......................................................................................... 4 2.5 Cultural and community significance .................................................................................... 10 3 Threats ......................................................................................................................................... 10 3.1 Existing and ongoing damage to the ecological community ................................................. 10 3.2 Key threatening processes .................................................................................................... 18 4 Existing protection ........................................................................................................................ 19 4.1 Existing protection in reserves .............................................................................................. 19 4.2 Existing protection under state laws ..................................................................................... 19 4.3 Existing recovery plans, management plans and best practice guidelines .......................... 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 ............................................................................ 27 5.4 Priority conservation and research actions ........................................................................... 28 6 Listing assessment ....................................................................................................................... 39 6.1 Eligibility for listing against the EPBC Act criteria ................................................................. 39 Appendices ........................................................................................................................................... 50 Appendix A - Species lists ..................................................................................................................... 50 A1 Flora ...................................................................................................................................... 50 A2 Fauna .................................................................................................................................... 53 Appendix B - Relationship to other vegetation classification and mapping systems ............................ 57 B1 Relationship to New South Wales vegetation classifications ................................................ 58 References ............................................................................................................................................ 59 Table 1 Summary of threats facing the ecological community ............................................................. 11 Table 2 Nationally-listed ecological communities and their status........................................................ 25 Table 3 Estimates of past and current extent and decline for the ecological community. .................... 40 Table 4: Patch sizes. ........................................................................................................................... 42 Table 5 Characteristic or frequently occurring flora .............................................................................. 50 Table 6 Native fauna that may be found in or near the ecological community ..................................... 53 Table 7 Non-native fauna that may be found in or near the ecological community .............................. 57 2 Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub of the Sydney Region Conservation Advice Consultation Draft 1 CONSERVATION OBJECTIVE To mitigate the risk of extinction of Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub of the Sydney Region ecological community, and help recover its biodiversity, viability 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 draft conservation advice contains information relevant to the objective to improve conservation outcomes for the ecological community 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 conservation, including the key diagnostic features, 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 current landholders and Indigenous people in its maintenance (section 5); and • presenting evidence to explain why the ecological community merits listing as threatened under national environmental law (section 6). 2 DESCRIPTION OF THE ECOLOGICAL COMMUNITY AND THE AREA IT INHABITS 2.1 Description The Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub of the Sydney Region ecological community is comprised of the plants, animals and other organisms associated with a predominantly sclerophyllous heath or scrub vegetation structure. The range of species present varies, but the shrub layer frequently includes Banksia species such as Banksia aemula (Wallum Banksia) and Banksia serrata (Old Man Banksia, Saw-leafed Banksia, Wiryagan2) as well as other characteristic woody species such as Leptospermum laevigatum (Coast Tea Tree), Monotoca elliptica (Tree Broom-heath), Acacia suaveolens (Sweet Wattle), Allocasuarina distyla (Scrub Sheoak), Isopogon anemonifolius (Broad-leaf Drumsticks), Kunzea ambigua (Tick Bush), and Ricinocarpos pinifolius (Wedding Bush). A wide range of other woody species may also be present, including Banksia ericifolia subsp. ericifolia (Heath-leafed Banksia), which may become locally abundant in damp sites and where soils transition from deep Quaternary sands to shallower yellow earths derived from sandstone.