This document has been scanned from hard-copy archives for research and study purposes. Please note not all information may be current. We have tried, in preparing this copy, to make the content accessible to the widest possible audience but in some cases we recognise that the automatic text recognition maybe inadequate and we apologise in advance for any inconvenience this may cause. FOREST RESOURCES SERIES NO. 14 FLORA AND FAUNA SURVEY OF JINGO CREEK CATCHMENT, NULLICA STATE FOREST, EDEN REGION BY F. DOMINIC FANNING and STEPHEN S. CLARK ~ FORESTRY COMMISSION OF NEW SOUTH WALES FLORA AND FAUNA SURVEY OF JINGO CREEK CATCHMENT, NULLICA STATE FOREST EDEN REGION by F. DOMINIC FANNING and STEPHEN S. CLARK on behalfof Gunninah Consultants . for the FORESTRY COMMISSION OF NEW SOUTH WALES SYDNEY 1991 Forest Resources Series No. 14 September, 1991 t } Published by: Forestry Commission ofNew South Wales, Wood Technology and Forest Research Division, 27 Oratava Avenue, West Pennant Hills. N.S.W, 2125 P.O. Box 100, Beecroft 2119 Australia. Copyright © 1991 by Forestry Commission ofNew South Wales ODC 182.5:156.2(944) ISSN 1033-1220 ISBN 0 7305 5687 5 Flora IIIld Fauna Survey ofJingo Creek Catelunent, -i- Nullica State Forest, Eden Region TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE IN'TRODUCTION 1 ENVIRONMENTAL SETIIN'G 2 SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY 6 VEGETATION OF THE JINGO CREEK STUDY AREA 9 1. Vegetation Survey Metlwds 9 2. Past Studies 14 3. Description ofPlant Communities (Forest Types) 15 4. Plant Species - General 17 5. Rare or Threatened Plant Species 17 6. Conservation Value ofCommunities in the 18 Jingo Creek Study Area FAUNA IN THE JINGO CREEK STUDY AREA 36 1. Fauna Survey Metlwds 36 2. Results ofthe Fauna Survey 37 (a) Fauna Habitat Types 37 (b) Birds 38 (i) Bird species recorded 38 (U) Relationships with Forest Types and Fauna Habitat Types .41 (iii) Bird species ofconservation significance 45 (c) Marnrnals ...................•.....•••.....................••••.....•....•.....................................•...................47 (i) Species recorded during 'this survey 47 (ii) Other 11Ul111I1Ull speciesfrom the area 51 (Ui) Other 11Ul111I1Ull species ofconservation significance 51 (d) Other groups - reptiles and amphibians 54 (e) Habitats and environmentalfeatures ofsignificance 55 Forest Resources Series No. 14 Forestry Commission ofNew South Wales Flora and Fauna Survey ofJingo Creek Catclunent, Nullica State Forest, Eden Region -ii- PREVIOUS STUDIES 58 DISCUSSION 60 1. Species and Communities ofConservation Significance 60 2. Conservation Significance ofthe Jingo Creek Study Area 64 3. Forestry Management Practices 67 CONCLUSIONS 70 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 72 REFERENCES 72 TABLES Table 1. Rainfall records for climate stations near the Jingo Creek study area 2 Table 2. Vegetation Types based on Forest Types ofthe Forestry Commission 9 ofNew South Wales in the Jingo Creek study area Table 3. Representation of survey plots in the various elevation classes in the 12 Jingo Creek study ~ Table 4. Vegetation studies undertaken in and around the Eden Region 14 Table S. Matrix ofSorensen Coefficients for the species compositions within 16 Forest Types in the Jingo Creek study area Table 6. Rare, threatened and biogeographically significant vascular plant 17 species recorded from the Jingo Creek study area Table 7. Conservation status ofcommunity types recorded in the 21 Jingo Creek study area Table 8. Fauna Habitat Types ofthe Jingo Creek study area based on 37 topography and the moisture state ofthe forest or vegetation communities Table 9. Bird species recorded from the Jingo Creek study area 39 Table 10. The number ofbird species recorded in the Forest Types .41 presented in the "Vegetation ofthe Jingo Creek Study Area" section ofthis report Table 11. Representation ofbirds and avian species ofnote in the Fauna Habitat .43 Types derived from Table 8 for the Jingo Creek study area • Table 12. Comparison ofthe avifauna diversity in similar Fauna Habitats in the •.........................44 t Myanba Creek, Upper Wog Wog River and Stockyard Creek catchments with data from the Jingo Creek study area Foresby Commission ofNew South Wales Forest Resources Series No. 14 Flora and Fauna Survey ofJingo Creek Catchment, -iii- Nullica State Forest, Eden Region Table 13. Representation ofthe observed species ofmammals and birds which 44 ~ are ofconservation 'concern' in the Fauna Habitat Types ~~ described in Table 8 &, Table 14. Mammals recorded from the Jingo Creek study area .49 Table 15. Mammals identified from the presence ofhairs in the seats of 51 predators, collected during this survey in the Jingo Creek study area Table 16. Native mammal species recorded from the Jingo Creek study area 52 and nearby forest areas Table 17. Reptiles and amphibians located during this survey in the Jingo 55 Creek study area Table 18. Annotated list offauna ofconservation concern or of note for 62 forest management which are recorded from within or near the Jingo Creek study area FIGURES 'fl Figure 1. Location ofthe Jingo Creek study area in Nullica State Forest, 3 Eden Region, southeastern New South Wales. y Figure 2. Landscape and geographic features around the Jingo Creek study area .4 Figure 3. The Jingo Creek study area and environs 5 Figure 4. Details ofpast logging and grazing activities in the Jingo Creek study area 7 FigureS. Locations ofmajor fires since the 1950's in the Jingo Creek study area 8 Figure 6. Locations ofthe 66 fauna and flora survey plots in the 10 Jingo Creek study area Figure 7. Locations ofthe various Forest Types in the Jingo Creek study area 11 Figure 8. Elevation contours and the locations of survey plots in the 13 Jingo Creek study area Figure 9. Relationships between the maj~r Forest Types in Jingo Creek on 16 moisture/exposure and parent material axes Figure 10. Locations ofplant communities ofconservation significance 19 located in the Jingo Creek study area ofNullica State Forest during the survey Figure 11. Average number ofbird species recorded on the survey plots in .42 each ofthe Fauna Habitat Types in the Jingo Creek study area Forest Resources Series No. 14 Forestry Commission ofNew South Wales Flora and F&Wl& Survey ofJingo Creek Catchment, Nullica State Forest, Eden Region -iv- Figure 12. The locations ofsightings or other evidence for the presence of .48 fauna species ofconservation significance during this survey of theJmgoCreeksmdYM~ "'. Figure 13. The locations ofhabitats and vegetation communities regarded as of 57 particu1M significance for the conservation ofthe forest fauna of the Jmgo Creek smdy area Figure 14. TIle locations offauna habitats and forest communities regarded 66 as ofconservation significance for the native fauna and flora of the Jmgo Creek smdy area APPENDICES Appendix 1. Floristic data for survey plots m the Jingo Creek srudy area 77 Appendix 2. List ofvasculM plant species recorded in the Jingo Creek srudy area 102 Appendix 3. Animal species recorded from the 66 survey plots m the 110 Jmgo Creek catchment Appendix 4. Annotated list ofall bird species recorded during this survey 140 ofthe Jingo Creek study area m Nullica State Forest, southeast ofNew South Wales Appendix 5. Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union bird list for the 10 minute 143 block. This block includes the Jmgo Creek study area Appendix 6. Occurrence ofbird species in the Fauna Habitat Types 144 in the Jingo Creek smdy area Appendix 7. Details ofthe 66 survey plots in the Jingo Creek smdy area, 146 including the numbers and species ofhollow-bearing trees, the Forest Types and Fauna Habitat Types and the numbers ofanimals recorded from ~ch plot Forestry Commission ofNew South Wales Forest Resources Series No. 14 Flora IJld FlUma Survey offmgo Creek Catchment, -1- Nullica State Forest, Eden Region INTRODUCTION This report provides details ofa rapid survey ofthe flora and fauna conducted in the Jingo Creek study J area ofNullica State Forest in the Eden Region ofsoutheastern New South Wales. This investigation is one ofa series ofbroad biological resource studies which have been conducted in the Region, including within Nullica State Forest immediately to the east (Binns and Kavanagh, 1990a), and in several areas to the west ofthe Jingo Creek study area - the Myanba Creek (Fanning and Mills, 1990a), upper Wog Wog River (Fanning and Fatchen, 1990), and Stockyard Creek catchments (Fanning and Mills, 1991) in Coolangubra State Forest, as well as part ofNalbaugh State Forest (Binns and Kavanagh, 1990b). These studies were designed to assess the "conservation value of certain habitats and species" within the catchments using a 'broad brush' ecosystem approach. Nullica State Forest, like the other areas investigated, is part ofthe Eden Woodchip Agreement Area. The forests within this management area are to be logged using integrated harvesting practices to supply both sawlogs for timber mills in the Region and material for the production ofwoodchips for export from Eden. The Forestry Commission ofNew South Wales has devised a detailed management plan for the forests in the Region, involving division ofthose portions ofthe forest which are to be logged into coupes which are harvested on an alternate basis over a 40+ year cycle, and the reservation ofsignificant areas offorest (for a variety ofreasons). Specific areas are reserved for conservation purposes, and management prescriptions apply within each coupe being logged to provide for the wildlife ofthe Region. Details ofthe management practices, including the alternate coupe system, integrated