Watagans National Park and Jilliby State Conservation Area Plan of Management WATAGANS NATIONAL PARK AND JILLIBY STATE CONSERVATION AREA PLAN OF MANAGEMENT NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service Part of the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water April 2010 This plan of management was adopted by the Minister for Climate Change and the Environment on 10th December 2010. Acknowledgments The NPWS acknowledges that these parks are within the traditional country of the Awabakal and Darkinjung people. This plan of management is based on a draft plan prepared by staff of the Central Coast Hunter Range Region of NPWS, Parks and Wildlife Group, Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water. Information and comments were provided by NPWS specialists, the Central Coast- Hunter Range Regional Advisory Committee, the Plan of Management Focus Group, and members of the public. Cover photograph: Late afternoon on the Myall Range, Watagans National Park, by Geoff Woods (© DECCW). © Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water (NSW) 2010: Use permitted with appropriate acknowledgment. ISBN 978 1 74293 058 9 DECCW 2010/1032 For additional information or enquiries about these parks or this plan, contact the NPWS Lakes Area Office, Blue Wren Drive, Munmorah State Conservation Area, or by phone on (02) 4972 9000. FOREWORD Watagans National Park and Jilliby State Conservation Area are located 60 kilometres north of Sydney, 31 kilometres west of Newcastle and 15 kilometres south of Cessnock. Watagans National Park covers 7,798 hectares and Jilliby State Conservation Area 12,159 hectares. Watagans National Park and Jilliby State Conservation Area are located in an area where the ecologically rich and productive moist forests of the mid north coast give way to the drier forests of the Sydney sandstone country. Tall moist eucalypt forests are widespread in the reserves. The reserves provide important habitat for over 150 native animal species, including wallabies, gliders, brush and ring-tailed possums, amphibians and reptiles, and more than 130 species of birds. The reserves also contribute to the diversity of recreational opportunities available in the Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Central Coast and greater Sydney regions. The New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 requires that a plan of management be prepared for each national park and state conservation area. A draft plan of management for Watagans National Park and Jilliby State Conservation Area was placed on public exhibition from 5th December 2008 until 30th March 2009. The submissions received were carefully considered before adopting this plan. The plan contains a number of actions to achieve the State Plan priority to “Protect native vegetation, biodiversity, land, rivers and coastal waterways”, including undertaking targeted vegetation surveys to confirm existence of endangered ecological communities and threatened plant species within the reserves and developing and maintaining a reserve vertebrate pest control strategy. The plan also contains a number of actions to help achieve “More people using parks”, such as completing upgrades of visitor facilities at picnic and camping areas in the reserves. This plan of management establishes the scheme of operations for Watagans National Park and Jilliby State Conservation Area. In accordance with section 73B of the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974, this plan of management is hereby adopted. Frank Sartor MP Minister for Climate Change and the Environment CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 LOCATION, GAZETTAL AND REGIONAL SETTING ................................................................. 1 1.2 LANDSCAPE ............................................................................................................................... 4 2. MANAGEMENT CONTEXT ............................................................................................................... 5 2.1 LEGISLATIVE AND POLICY FRAMEWORK .............................................................................. 5 2.2 MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES AND OBJECTIVES ..................................................................... 5 3. KEY VALUES AND MANAGEMENT DIRECTIONS ......................................................................... 7 3.1 VALUES OF THE AREA .............................................................................................................. 7 3.2 MANAGEMENT DIRECTIONS .................................................................................................... 8 4. CONSERVATION OF NATURAL AND CULTURAL HERITAGE ..................................................... 9 4.1 GEOLOGY, SOILS AND LANDFORM ......................................................................................... 9 4.2 NATIVE PLANTS ....................................................................................................................... 11 4.3 NATIVE ANIMALS ..................................................................................................................... 15 4.4 ABORIGINAL HERITAGE .......................................................................................................... 19 4.5 HISTORIC HERITAGE ............................................................................................................... 21 5. PARK PROTECTION ....................................................................................................................... 26 5.1 WATER QUALITY AND CATCHMENT MANAGEMENT .......................................................... 26 5.2 INTRODUCED SPECIES ........................................................................................................... 26 5.3 FIRE MANAGEMENT ................................................................................................................ 31 6. VISITOR OPPORTUNITIES AND EDUCATION ............................................................................. 34 6.1 INFORMATION PROVISION ..................................................................................................... 34 6.2 RECREATION OPPORTUNITIES ............................................................................................. 36 7. PARK ROADS, MANAGEMENT TRAILS AND VEHICLE ACCESS ............................................. 45 7.1 TRACK AND TRAIL CLASSIFICATION .................................................................................... 45 7.2 TRACK AND TRAIL CLOSURE ................................................................................................. 45 7.3 SPECIFIC TRACKS AND TRAILS ............................................................................................. 46 7.4 PETS IN TRANSIT ..................................................................................................................... 47 7.5 FIREARMS TRANSIT ................................................................................................................ 48 8. RESEARCH AND MONITORING .................................................................................................... 50 9. OTHER USES .................................................................................................................................. 52 9.1 EASEMENTS AND OTHER OCCUPANCIES ........................................................................... 52 9.2 MINING INTERESTS ................................................................................................................. 52 9.3 ACCESS REQUIREMENTS ...................................................................................................... 54 9.4 COMMERCIAL INTERESTS...................................................................................................... 54 10. PLAN IMPLEMENTATION ............................................................................................................ 56 11. ABBREVIATIONS .......................................................................................................................... 60 12. REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................... 61 APPENDIX 1. VEGETATION COMMUNITY INFORMATION ............................................................. 64 APPENDIX 2. EUROPEAN CULTURAL HERITAGE ITEMS AND INVENTORY SHEETS ............... 67 FIGURE 5. ROADS AND TRAILS IN WATAGANS NP & JILLIBY SCA ............................................ 73 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 LOCATION, GAZETTAL AND REGIONAL SETTING Watagans National Park (NP) and Jilliby State Conservation Area (SCA) (collectively called “the reserves” in this plan) form a near contiguous reserved area from the northern escarpment of the Myall Range overlooking Cessnock, to just north of Ourimbah township 45 kilometres to the south. The reserves are located near a number of major population centres and straddle the Cessnock, Wyong and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas (LGAs). The boundaries of these reserves are located 60 kilometres north of Sydney, 31 kilometres west of Newcastle, 15 kilometres south of Cessnock, 9 kilometres north-west of Wyong and 10 kilometres north of Gosford (see Figure 1, page 2). Watagans NP (7,798 hectares) was created through the enactment of the Forestry and National Park Estate Act 1998 on 1 January 1999. It was comprised of parts of the former Olney (2,260 hectares), Watagan (5,490 hectares)