National Recovery Plan for Buloke Woodlands of the Riverina and Murray Darling Depression Bioregions David Cheal, Alicia Lucas and Lisa Macaulay Prepared by David Cheal, Alicia Lucas (both of the Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research) and Lisa Macaulay (South West Region), Department of Sustainability and Environment, Victoria. © State of Victoria Department of Sustainability and Environment 2011 This publication is copyright. No part may be reproduced by any process except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. Authorized by the Victorian Government, 8 Nicholson Street, East Melbourne. ISBN 978-1-74242-367-8 (online) This is a Recovery Plan prepared under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, with the assistance of funding provided by the Australian Government. This Recovery Plan has been developed with the involvement and cooperation of a range of stakeholders, but individual stakeholders have not necessarily committed to undertaking specific actions. The attainment of objectives and the provision of funds may be subject to budgetary and other constraints affecting the parties involved. Proposed actions may be subject to modification over the life of the plan due to changes in knowledge. Disclaimer This publication may be of assistance to you but the State of Victoria and its employees do not guarantee that the publication is without flaw of any kind or is wholly appropriate for your particular purposes and therefore disclaims all liability for any error, loss or other consequence that may arise from you relying on any information in this publication. An electronic version of this document is available on the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities website www.environment.gov.au For more information contact the DSE Customer Service Centre 136 186 Citation: Cheal, D., Lucas, A. and Macaulay, L. 2011. National Recovery Plan for Buloke Woodlands of the Riverina and Murray-Darling Depression Bioregions. Department of Sustainability and Environment, Melbourne. Cover photographs: Buloke Woodland, Pine Plains, Wyperfeld National Park, Victoria 1 Contents SUMMARY ....................................................................................................................................................................... 3 COMMUNITY INFORMATION ................................................................................................................................... 3 Description ......................................................................................................................................................... 3 Distribution ......................................................................................................................................................... 4 Habitat................................................................................................................................................................ 6 Population Information ....................................................................................................................................... 9 DECLINE AND THREATS .......................................................................................................................................... 15 Areas and populations under threat ................................................................................................................ 22 EXISTING CONSERVATION MEASURES .............................................................................................................. 25 RECOVERY INFORMATION ..................................................................................................................................... 26 Recovery Objectives ........................................................................................................................................ 26 Program Implementation and Evaluation ........................................................................................................ 26 Recovery Actions and Performance Criteria ................................................................................................... 27 Estimated Cost of Recovery Program ............................................................................................................. 29 Role and Interests of Indigenous People ......................................................................................................... 29 Management Practices .................................................................................................................................... 29 Affected Interests ............................................................................................................................................. 30 Biodiversity Benefits ........................................................................................................................................ 30 Social and Economic Impacts ......................................................................................................................... 30 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .............................................................................................................................................. 31 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................................................... 32 APPENDIX 1. METHODOLOGY USED FOR ANALYSES .................................................................................... 36 APPENDIX 2. RARE OR THREATENED VASCULAR PLANTS OF BULOKE WOODLAND ....................... 40 APPENDIX 3. RARE OR THREATENED VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF BULOKE WOODLAND .................... 42 APPENDIX 4. SCIENTIFIC NAMES OF ALL SPECIES IN THE RECOVERY PLAN ...................................... 43 APPENDIX 5. PRIORITY, FEASIBILITY AND ESTIMATED COSTS OF RECOVERY ACTIONS .............. 46 Figure 1 Distribution of extant stands of vegetation communities including Buloke Woodlands ..................... 5 Figure 2 Extrapolated Victorian distribution of vegetation communities that contained Buloke Woodlands prior to European settlement ...................................................................................................................... 6 Table 1. Localities of the most important stands of Buloke Woodlands on public land (A systematic survey is likely to reveal other small stands including those in good to excellent condition) ............................... 10 Table 2. Localities of important stands of Buloke Woodlands on private land in Victoria .............................. 12 Table 3. Known and potential threats to Buloke Woodlands. ........................................................................ 21 Table 4. Some Significant Buloke Woodlands sites ....................................................................................... 21 Table 5 Importance (Cover-abundance) conversions for discordant state-based data sets …………………40 Table 6 The Buloke communities described by Sluiter et al………………………………………………………41 2 Summary The 'Buloke Woodlands of the Riverina and Murray-Darling Depression Bioregions' ecological community (Buloke Woodlands) encompasses a number of closely-related woodland communities in which Buloke (Allocasuarina luehmannii) is usually the dominant or co-dominant tree. This community in the Riverina and Murray-Darling Depression Bioregions occurs from south-eastern South Australia through north-western and northern central Victoria into south central New South Wales. The Buloke Woodlands community has suffered a considerable reduction in distribution since European settlement, largely due to extensive clearing for agriculture and grazing by domestic stock, native and feral herbivores. Buloke Woodlands now exist as a patchy, highly fragmented, mostly highly degraded, community across much of its former range. Remnants persist on roadsides, private land and some public land including several parks and reserves. The Buloke Woodlands community is listed as Endangered under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. This national Recovery Plan for the 'Buloke Woodlands of the Riverina and Murray-Darling Depression Bioregions' ecological community is the first recovery plan for the community, and details its distribution, habitat, threats and recovery objectives, and actions necessary to ensure the long-term survival of the ecological community. Community Information Description The ‘Buloke Woodlands of the Riverina and Murray Darling Depression Bioregions’ ecological community (herein referred to as Buloke Woodlands) encompasses a number of closely-related woodland communities in which Buloke (also known as Bull-Oak; Allocasuarina luehmannii (or Casuarina luehmannii, following Hwang 1992) is usually a dominant or co-dominant tree (DENR 2007). Other trees that may be prominent in Buloke Woodlands include: • Slender Pine (Callitris gracilis) (also known as Callitris preissii following Farjon 2005) - a common codominant • White/Murray Pine (Callitris glaucophylla) (also known as Callitris columellaris following Farjon 2005) - a common associate • Black Box (Eucalyptus largiflorens) - a frequent dominant from adjoining communities • Yellow/Blue Gum (Eucalyptus leucoxylon subsp. pruinosa) - a common codominant • Grey Box (Eucalyptus microcarpa) - a common codominant Buloke Woodlands includes vegetation where