EPBC Act Listed Ecological Communities Mapping in the Lower Hunter
PRN 1213-0236
19 December 2013
Parsons Brinckerhoff 1
Document information
Client: Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities
Title: EPBC Act Listed Ecological Communities Mapping in the Lower Hunter
Subtitle: PRN 1213-0236
Document No: 2117361B-ECO-REP-001 RevC
Date: 19 December 2013
Rev / Date / Details
A / 15/05/2013 / Draft
B / 07/06/2013 / Final
C / 19/12/2013 / Final
Author, Reviewer and Approver details
Prepared by: / Selga Harrington,
Tanya Bangel / Date: 19/12/2013 / Signature: /
Reviewed by: / Alex Cockerill / Date: 19/12/2013 / Signature: /
Approved by: / Alex Cockerill / Date: 19/12/2013 / Signature: /
Distribution
Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, Parsons Brinckerhoff file
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Recommended citation: Cockerill, A., Harrington, S and Bangel, T. (2013). EPBC Act Listed Ecological Communities Mapping in the Lower Hunter. Report funded by the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population, and Communities through the Sustainable Regional Development Program. Parsons Brinckerhoff, Canberra.
Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and CommunitiesEPBC Act Listed Ecological Communities Mapping in the Lower Hunter - PRN 1213-0236Contents
Page number
Abbreviations iii
Executive summary v
1. Introduction 1
1.1 Background 1
1.2 Matters of National Environmental Significance 1
1.3 Project aims 2
2. Methodology 3
2.1 Personnel 3
2.2 Desktop review 3
2.3 GIS 8
2.4 Expert workshop and stakeholder engagement 9
2.5 Limitations 9
3. Threatened Ecological Communities mapping 11
3.1 White Box-Yellow Box-Blakely’s Red Gum Grassy Woodland and Derived Native Grassland 11
3.2 Littoral Rainforest and Coastal Vine Thickets of Eastern Australia 11
3.3 Lowland Rainforest of Subtropical Australia 12
3.4 Subtropical and temperate coastal saltmarsh 15
3.5 Hinterland Sand Flats Forest and Woodland of the Sydney Basin Bioregion 15
3.6 Hunter Valley Remnant Woodlands and Open Forests 16
4. Threatened species assessment 23
5. Conservation values of region 25
5.1 Matters of National Environmental Significance 25
5.2 Wildlife corridors 26
6. High priority conservation areas for TECs 29
7. Key threatening processes 35
8. Conclusions and recommendations 41
References 45
List of tables
Page number
Table 2.1 Study team 3
Table 2.2 Existing vegetation mapping data reviewed 3
Table 2.3 Threatened Ecological Communities 4
Table 2.4 Species likelihood of occurrence categories 6
Table 2.5 Parameters and weighting used for High Priority Conservation Areas mapping 7
Table 3.1 Vegetation communities corresponding to Littoral Rainforest and Coastal Vine Thickets of Eastern Australia 12
Table3.2 Vegetation communities corresponding to Lowland Rainforest of Subtropical Australia 12
Table 3.3 Vegetation communities corresponding to Subtropical and Temperate Coastal Saltmarsh 15
Table 3.4 Vegetation communities corresponding to Hinterland Sand Flats Forest and Woodland of the Sydney Basin Bioregion 16
Table 3.5 Vegetation communities corresponding to Hunter Valley Remnant Woodlands and Open Forests 17
Table 4.1 Total number of EPBC Act - listed fauna and flora species recorded or predicted to occur within Lower Hunter region and EPBC Act – listed ecological communities 23
Table 6.1 Areas of Threatened Ecological Communities of high conservation areas within the Lower Hunter region 30
Table 7.1 EPBC Act - listed Key Threatening Processes (KTPs) 35
List of figures
Page number
Figure 3.1 Littoral Rainforest and Coastal Vine Thickets of Eastern Australia – listed as Critically Endangered under the EPBC Act 13
Figure 3.2 Lowland Rainforest of Subtropical Australia – listed as Critically Endangered under the EPBC Act 14
Figure 3.3 Subtropical and Temperate Coastal Saltmarsh – nominated for listing under the EPBC Act 19
Figure 3.4 Hinterland Sand Flats Forest and Woodland of the Sydney Basin Bioregion – nominated for listing under the EPBC Act 20
Figure 3.5 Hunter Valley Remnant Woodlands and Open Forests – nominated for listing under the EPBC Act 21
Figure 5.1 Conservation values of the region 28
Figure 6.1 High priority conservation areas 34
List of appendices
Appendix A Correlation assessment for EPBC Act communities
Appendix B EPBC Listed species and communities
Parsons Brinckerhoff | 2117361B-ECO-REP-001 RevC v
Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and CommunitiesEPBC Act Listed Ecological Communities Mapping in the Lower Hunter - PRN 1213-0236Abbreviations
CBMP / Cessnock Biodiversity Management PlanGHM / Greater Hunter Native Vegetation Mapping (Sivertsen et al. 2011Sivertsen et al. 2011)
HPCA / High Priority Conservation Area
LHCCREMS / Lower Hunter and Central Coast Regional Environmental Management Strategy (Lower Hunter and Central Coast Regional Environmental Management Strategy 2003b)
KTP / Key Threatening Processes
LGA / Local Government Area
LHRS / Lower Hunter Regional Strategy
MNES / Matters of National Significance
OEH / The Office of Environment and Heritage
RCP / Regional Conservational Plan
RDP / Rapid Data Point survey
SEWPaC / The Commonwealth Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities
TEC / Threatened Ecological Community – for the purposes of this report this includes ecological communities listed or nominated under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1995.
Parsons Brinckerhoff | 2117361B-ECO-REP-001 RevC v
Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and CommunitiesEPBC Act Listed Ecological Communities Mapping in the Lower Hunter - PRN 1213-0236Executive summary
As part of the Australian Government’s sustainable population strategy, the Commonwealth Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities (SEWPaC) is undertaking the Sustainable Regional Development program in high growth areas, including the Lower Hunter. The Lower Hunter region covers 429,741 ha and encompasses five Local Government Areas (LGAs) (Cessnock, Newcastle, Port Stephen, Lake Macquarie and Maitland), and is located within the broader Hunter Valley region, approximately 120 km north-west of Sydney, NSW. This is one of Australia’s largest urban areas and a major centre of economic activity with high levels of growth and development expected in the region in the coming decades. This report describes the distribution of Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) listed and nominated ecological communities and high priority conservation areas within the Lower Hunter region to assist in sustainable planning in the region.
Identification of EPBC Act listed or nominated ecological communities (Threatened Ecological Communities), correlation of EPBC Act – listed species and identification of areas of conservation significance were based on a desktop review of available information and mapping as well as stakeholder input (including an expert workshop).
Mapping of Threatened Ecological Communities was achieved through the correlation of existing vegetation mapping within the region with the characteristics of the Threatened Ecological Communities outlined in the listing and conservation advice. This included assessment and mapping of:
n White Box-Yellow Box-Blakely’s Red Gum Grassy Woodland and Derived Native Grassland – listed as Critically Endangered. This community was determined as unlikely to occur within the Lower Hunter region.
n Littoral Rainforest and Coastal Vine Thickets of Eastern Australia – listed as Critically Endangered. This community was found to occur in small patches within 2km of the coast and cover 56 ha.
n Lowland Rainforest of Subtropical Australia – listed as Critically Endangered. This community was found to occur predominantly along the border of Lake Macquarie and Cessnock LGAs and cover 1760ha.
n Subtropical and temperate coastal saltmarsh – nominated for listing. This community was mapped as occurring in estuarine areas of the Hunter River and wetlands and floodplains along the coast and covers 6427 ha.
n Hinterland Sand Flats Forest and Woodland of the Sydney Basin Bioregion - nominated for listing. Based on the current nomination and community definition this community is likely to be concentrated in the Cessnock-Kurri Kurri region and cover approximately 4007 ha.
n Hunter Valley Remnant Open Forests and Woodlands – nominated for listing. Based on the current nomination and broad community definition this community is likely to cover approximately 60,568 ha within the region.
For the latter two communities, the assessment of nomination and listing process is in the early stages and as such the mapping provided is preliminary and may change significantly as the community definition changes.
The mapping of the Threatened Ecological Communities is based on desktop review of available information and is strongly reliant on the description of the communities provided in the listing advice or nomination form. The mapping is indicative of where each community is likely to occur based on available information and each site would need to be ground truthed to see that the vegetation meets the description and condition thresholds in the listing/conservation advice for the Threatened Ecological Community.
Based on a review of species databases, 111 species have been assessed and are known to occur or are predicted as likely to occur within the study area. Their likelihood of occurrence within each Threatened Ecological Community was assessed based on species records and known habitat requirements.
High priority conservation areas for Threatened Ecological Communities within the region were modelled and mapped based on a range of parameters including patch size, threatened biodiversity and connectivity. Weightings were applied to each parameter to ensure the most important parameters were modelled as higher priority in the mapping process. Other areas of high conservation priority were identified in existing conservation plans for the region and through the expert workshop and consultation with key stakeholders.
Key threatening processes within the Lower Hunter region were identified, the principal threat being land clearance. Other key threats within the region include: loss and degradation of native plant and animal habitat by invasion of escaped garden plants, including aquatic plants; and loss of climatic habitat caused by anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases. Recommendations for the management of these threats were provided.
This mapping will aid in filling the gaps of knowledge of the distribution of EPBC Act – listed ecological communities within the Lower Hunter region. Through the identification and mapping of High Priority Conservation Areas, including Threatened Ecological Communities, this project also provides a suitable resource to support regional sustainability planning, particularly the preparation of the Lower Hunter Regional Strategy and Regional Conservational Plan.
Parsons Brinckerhoff | 2117361B-ECO-REP-001 RevC v
Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and CommunitiesEPBC Act Listed Ecological Communities Mapping in the Lower Hunter - PRN 1213-02361. Introduction
1.1 Background
The Lower Hunter region, encompassing five local government areas (Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Port Stephens, Maitland and Cessnock) is one of Australia’s largest urban areas and a major centre of economic activity. Continued growth and development in this area is expected and the NSW Government's 25 year land use strategy for the region includes:
n new urban areas for a projected population growth of 160,000 people
n new commercial and industrial land to cater for up to 66,000 new jobs
n creation, management and conservation of green corridors with high environmental value
n protection of high quality agricultural land, and natural resources such as water aquifers and extractive materials (NSW Department of Planning 2006).
As part of the Australian Government’s sustainable population strategy, the Commonwealth Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities (SEWPaC) is undertaking the Sustainable Regional Development program in high growth areas, including the Lower Hunter.
The Sustainable Regional Development program aims to provide a comprehensive approach to planning and development in the region which in turn will ensure the region develops in a strong and sustainable way. Specifically, the program aims to protect Matters of National Environmental Significance (MNES) whilst helping to streamline environmental approvals and thus provide greater certainty for businesses, and state and local governments in development and investment in this high growth region.
As part of the Sustainable Regional Development program for the Lower Hunter region, a key knowledge gap has been identified by local, state and Australian governments, namely data gaps in the mapping of EPBC Act – listed or nominated Ecological Communities (henceforth referred to as Threatened Ecological Communities). Correlation of the extant vegetation in the Lower Hunter with Threatened Ecological Communities is needed to support the regional sustainability planning in the Lower Hunter region, in particular the ability to identify MNES including threatened ecological communities and species.