The Tangalla Community, Streams and Rainforest A folio for the residents of the Tangalla Community, Jamberoo NSW. “We’ve had a deep and abiding interest for a long time in heritage and so on, and these kinds of remnant rainforest patches are quite important in defining what the area’s about, so we have a very protective approach to it” Ron White- Tangalla Resident Welcome to Tangalla Community Streams and Rainforest. We are a group of landholders who live in the Fountaindale sub-catchment in Jamberoo Valley, who have banded together to form the Tangalla Community Streams and Rainforest Inc. The community we live in has a unique arrangement which consists of a productive dairy farm and smaller residential lots nestled amongst the hills and rainforest gullies of the Fountaindale sub-catchment. The Tangalla incorporation provides a mechanism for the dairy farm and rural residents to live cooperatively side by side, and an incentive for our community to appreciate and enhance the unique environment in which we reside. This folio aims to build on this cooperation and appreciation to encourage sustainability and synchronisation in our sub-catchment. The folios can be used as both a reference point for landholders and a skills and knowledge bank to assist landholders in making the best decisions they can to manage their land. The objective of the folios is to promote consistency in management as the key to achieving effective broadscale conservation. Each property in the TCSRinc will receive a folio, which includes information about general ecological principles and guidelines about specific restoration and management initiatives that are useful in this delicate rainforest setting. The folios are also aimed at helping to promote a positive and meaningful culture of action and cohesion in our community. Tangalla Community and Surrounds including Fountaindale Dam Land in the Tangalla Community is mostly privately owned, with a 300-acre dairy farm surrounded by smaller lots. This arrangement takes into account both the significance of the rainforest and maintaining productivity in the dairy farm whilst also providing for residential development. The subdivision’s rural residential landholders work actively with the dairy farm to manage, protect and enhance our unique environment, rainforest and waterways. By creating productive, working partnerships between the farmers, residents and the local community, TCSRinc has achieved improved land management outcomes and positive environmental change in the Fountaindale sub-catchment and in the broader community. Tangalla Streams and Rainforest The landholders in Tangalla have committed to actively managing and protecting the remnant rainforest around their properties. Many of the landholders carry out extensive regeneration and revegetation works on their land and on the common areas in the shared community zones. This work has included the removal of invasive weeds and the management of populations of feral animals. Landholders and other volunteers have planted hundreds of native rainforest species to enhance wildlife corridors, regenerate disturbed and cleared areas and strengthen buffer zones between the forest and land with other uses. This active management is vital to maintain the health of the surrounding vegetation, and to mitigate against cumulative negative impacts which are emerging in these new rural landscapes. The Tangalla community area covers diverse and important environmental zones. It includes the headwaters of Fountaindale Creek which flows directly into the Minnamurra River and wetlands area via the historic Fountaindale Dam. TheFountaindale Dam is located within the community area and flowing into it is a series of small pristine mountain streams. These streams bisect significant areas of remnant rainforest, much of which is unspoilt, zoned High Conservation and supports a wide and thriving variety of native birds, animals and reptiles. Restoration and Revegetation of Fountaindale Dam Rainforests are one of the most complex and diverse biological formations on the planet. They support a vast diversity of flora and fauna and provide important services for the survival and livelihood of humans. Subtropical rainforests are the most complex and have a huge diversity of flora, with the species composition of the canopy varying greatly even between local stands. Rainforest in Australia is restricted to a narrow band along the eastern coast and Tasmania, where there is sufficient rainfall and humidity. They occur in closed communities, often in sheltered gullies or lowland valleys. There are three main types of rainforest dependant on the major climatic zones (Tropical, Subtropical, and Temperate) or on microclimatic variations of these zones. The rainforests in the south east of Australia are often referred to as a scattered archipelago of small island-like stands, living museums of what was once widespread over the entire Illawarra region and beyond. The expanse of rainforest in the Illawarra has unfortunately been intensely cleared and exploited over the years for timber, farming and development. The rainforests of Kiama were especially exploited, leaving only the inaccessible gullies and rocky slopes of remnants to this day. These areas are now important refuges for the ancient rainforest communities and must be protected from further degradation and devastation. Rainforests such as those in Tangalla, provide refuge for a vast variety of species of plants and animals. They host many ancient species of ferns, lichens and mosses, and are home to a huge variety of invertebrates, many of which have Gondwanan origins. It is now recognised that subtropical rainforests have a mega-diverse insect fauna inhabiting the tree canopy and leaf litter. The foliage of rainforest trees in particular support a vast variety of invertebrates, some of which rely on plant specific relationships such as the caterpillar Theretra clotho with the Giant Stinging Tree (Dendrocnide excelsa). A large proportion of rainforest trees produce fleshy fruits, which are eaten and dispersed by birds and mammals. Rainforests are renowned for the diversity of birdlife, of which many species are ‘nomadic’ and travel up and down the coast according to the flowering and fruiting times of different rainforest plants. Rainforest thrives in high rainfall areas with warm temperatures to spur the lush growth and germinate seeds, making the Illawarra an important climatic zone for the survival of rainforest. The complexity of rainforest is largely due to the varied dependence and interactions among the various rainforest organisms. Rainforest complexity is also due to the complex structures within the forest, and its numerous layers ranging from the subsoil abd leaf litter, to above ground layers such as groundcovers, understorey, mid- storey, canopy, and emergent trees. The vegetation of the Fountaindale Sub-Catchment has been largely fragmented by agriculture and residential development. There are however, stands of significant size and quality that are considered to be of high conservation value. These larger stands are linked together by corridors of mixed quality vegetation. These corridors are extremely important for connecting larger vegetation stands for increased mobility of native wildlife. This mobility raises the potential for increased genetic diversity of faunal populations, which subsequently increases floristic diversity through dispersal of rainforest fruit and seed by native animals. The rainforest remnant stands are considered to be of high conservation status due to their floristic and structural diversity, with a range of quality indicators found including epiphytes, vines and mature trees. The stands are a refuge for the Red Cedar (Toona ciliata), which was devastated after early colonial timber getting. Bangalow Palms (Archontophoenix cunninghamiana) have also been found in the rainforest, which are rare to find in remnants this far south. The Endangered Zieria granulata also occurs in the forests and care should be taken to monitor and record sightings. On ground works have recently been carried out in the Tangalla community to assist the recovery of the forest from impacts of vegetation loss through clearing and invasive plant species. Results of this work have found that there is excellent potential in degraded areas for regeneration and improved resilience of these rainforest communities. Improving the connectivity and quality of vegetation stands by using assisted regeneration techniques could prove to be vital for maintaining the biological and genetic diversity of these important vegetation hotspots. Restoration is the process of returning degraded ecosystems to similar conditions as naturally occurring ecosystems, or reference sites. There are many variables which need to be taken into consideration when planning to undertake restoration activities. These include; • The natural structural characteristics of the ecosystem such as multi-layer vegetation and tree canopy cover • The natural functional attributes and dynamics of the ecosystem such as pollination, seed dispersal, decomposition and nutrient cycling, and • The characteristic native species assemblages and diversity of the ecosystem, such as the plants, animals, fungi, and other lifeforms found in reference sites. It is also important to consider the priority in which work is carried out, taking practical considerations into account such as- The natural resilience of the site: the potential for natural regeneration. Indicators