Conservation Management Zones of Australia - South Eastern Australia Mixed Temperate Forests

Conservation Management Zones of Australia

South Eastern Australia Mixed Temperate Forests Woodlands and Grasslands

Prepared by the Department of the Environment

Acknowledgements

This project and associated products are the result of a collaboration between the Biodiversity Conservation Division and the Environmental Resources Information Network (ERIN). Invaluable input, advice and support were provided by staff and leading researchers from across the Department of the Environment (DotE), Department of Agriculture (DoA), the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), and the academic community. We would particularly like to thank staff within the Wildlife, Heritage and Marine Division, Parks Australia and the Environment Assessment and Compliance Division of DotE, Nyree Stenekes and Robert Kancans (ABARES), Sue McIntyre (CSIRO), Richard Hobbs (University of Western Australia), Michael Hutchinson (ANU); David Lindenmayer and Emma Burns (ANU); and Gilly Llewellyn, Martin Taylor and other staff from the World Wildlife Fund for their generosity and advice.

Special thanks to CSIRO staff Kristen Williams and Simon Ferrier whose modelling of biodiversity patterns enabled identification of the Conservation Management Zones of Australia.

© Commonwealth of Australia, 2015.

The Conservation Management Zones of Australia profile is licensed by the Commonwealth of Australia for use under a Creative Commons By Attribution 3.0 Australia licence with the exception of the Coat of Arms of the Commonwealth of Australia, the logo of the agency responsible for publishing the report, content supplied by third parties, and any images depicting people.

For licence conditions see here.

Contents

Acknowledgement of Traditional Owners and Country

Introduction

Zone at a glance

Population characteristics

Employment, volunteering and incomes

Agriculture, Natural Resource Management practices and sources of NRM advice

Land tenure, land use, Native Title and Local Government Areas

Zone vegetation characteristics

Ramsar and Nationally Important Wetlands

World and National Heritage

Major National Reserve System properties

EPBC Act (1999) threatened ecological communities

EPBC Act (1999) threatened species

EPBC Act (1999) migratory species

Threatened endemic species

Invasive species

Vegetation profiles and management recommendations

Acknowledgement of Traditional Owners and Country

The Australian Government acknowledges Australia’s Traditional Owners and pays respect to Elders past and present of our nation’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. We honour the deep spiritual, cultural and customary connections of Traditional Owners to the Australian landscape, including Australia’s waterways, land and sea country.

Introduction

The 23 Conservation Management Zones of Australia are geographic areas, classified according to their ecological and threat characteristics. The zones are also aligned with the Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation of Australia.

The Conservation Management Zones provide a way of understanding Australia’s natural environment that will assist in long-term conservation planning and help the Australian Government to better design, deliver and report on Natural Resource Management (NRM) investments, including ensuring alignment of national NRM priorities with local action.

The Conservation Management Zones also provide a filter through which to make national environmental and socio-economic data more accessible and comprehensible, and a framework for gathering on-ground knowledge and expertise about the environment. This will improve information flow to the Australian Government about regional NRM requirements, best practice management, emerging NRM issues and knowledge gaps.

The Conservation Management Zones do not represent any change to existing administrative boundaries or governance structures, but aim to support the NRM and wider community to cooperatively manage environmental assets across boundaries, where they share common threats, ecological characteristics and stakeholders.

Each Conservation Management Zone profile contains a standard suite of nationally available ecological and socio-economic information. We hope that this information will enable Australians of all ages and backgrounds to engage with, understand and appreciate Australian landscapes, and support all Australians to manage our natural resources more effectively.

The profile information provides an indicative, high-level stock-take of the environmental and socio-economic landscape and it is not intended to be comprehensive. It should also be noted that, at present, the profiles contain only limited information on aquatic ecosystems, coastal assets and Indigenous land management practices. In future, consultation and comprehensive literature reviews will enable us to provide more complete information.

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Zone at a glance

Source: Based on Australian Bureau of Statistics data

* The figures are interpolated 75-year means (1921 to 1995) representing the period prior to the onset of rapid climatic warming. Cited in: Williams KJ, Belbin L, Austin MP, Stein J, Ferrier S (2012) Which environmental variables should I use in my biodiversity model? International Journal of Geographic Information Sciences 26(11), 2009–2047. (Data derived from Australian Climate surfaces version 2.1 for the ANUCLIM-BIOCLIM package).

For future climate projections please refer to: http://www.climatechangeinaustralia.gov.au/

Source: Based on Australian Bureau of Statistics data

Source: Based on data from the National Native Title Register; Collaborative Australian Protected Area Database (CAPAD); National Vegetation Information System (NVIS); Species’ Profile and Threats Database (SPRAT).

Population characteristics

Population

Source: Based on Australian Bureau of Statistics data

Source: Based on Australian Bureau of Statistics data

Education

Source: Based on Australian Bureau of Statistics data

Employment, volunteering and incomes

Employment

Source: Based on Australian Bureau of Statistics data

Volunteering

Income

Source: Based on Australian Bureau of Statistics data

Agriculture, Natural Resource Management practices and sources of NRM advice

Australian farmers manage over 60% of the Australian continent and shoulder much of the burden of responsibility for maintaining and protecting Australia’s natural resource wealth. The information contained in this profile aims to assist the wider community, non-governmental organisations and government agencies to support Australia’s key environmental custodians.

Agricultural commodity values

Source: Based on Australian Bureau of Statistics data

Natural Resource Management practices and sources of NRM advice

* Data obtained from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2012 Land Management Practices Survey (LaMPS) 2012. LaMPS collected land practices information from approximately 50,000 farm businesses across Australia. The data has been aligned to Conservation Management Zones from ABS Statistical Area 2 units and Australian Agricultural Environment units. The % figures presented here are indicative only. For more information on LaMPS please refer to: http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4630.0

** The sample for the Drivers of Practice Change 2012 survey consisted of a random subsample of 1228 broadacre farm managers from the Australian Agricultural and Grazing Industries Survey (AAGIS) frame. The data has been aligned to Conservation Management Zones from ABS Statistical Area 2 units. For this reason, the figures presented here are indicative only.

^ This chart indicates the sources of advice utilised for native vegetation management from respondents who identified they sought advice.

For more information please refer to http://www.daff.gov.au/SiteCollectionDocuments/forestry/domestic-forestry/prep-for-future/drivers-

Land tenure, land use, Native Title and Local Government Areas

Source: Land tenure data based on Environmental Resources Information Network (ERIN) categorisation of Public Sector Mapping Authority (PSMA) State Tenure 2012; Land use mapping based on Australian Collaborative Land Use and Management Program (ACLUMP) 2012. For more information on Australian land use and management information and classification please refer to: http://www.daff.gov.au/ABARES/aclump/

The Native Title Tribunal Register, October 2013.For more information please refer to: http://www.nntt.gov.au/Pages/Searchportal.aspx

Zone vegetation characteristics

The National Vegetation Information System (NVIS) framework is a nationally consistent vegetation classification system based on vegetation data collected by states and territories. It provides information on the extent and distribution of vegetation types across the Australian landscape.

Two products are used to provide the Zone Vegetation Characteristics graph. A modelled pre-European vegetation distribution (pre-1750), and extant (current extent) vegetation, which is based on contemporary vegetation mapping. The information presented here relates to Major Vegetation Subgroups (MVSs). There are 85 MVS types across Australia, describing the structure and floristic composition of dominant and secondary vegetation stratums (e.g. canopy and mid-storey species). Major Vegetation Subgroups only reflect the dominant vegetation type occurring in an area from a mix of vegetation types. Less-dominant vegetation groups which may also be present are therefore not represented.

It is important to note that the vegetation information is indicative only, as state and territory mapping in Australia is of variable resolution and scale. However, this data is the best available nationally consistent information on vegetation, and the dataset continues to evolve and increase in accuracy.

Analysing this information at Conservation Management Zone, rather than national level provides greater discrimination for decision makers, as clearance levels of vegetation types are not uniform across Australia. For example, eucalypt woodlands with a tussock grass understory is a vegetation type found across Australia. In the Brigalow Woodlands Conservation Management Zone, eucalypt open woodlands with a tussock grass understory originally covered approximately 36% of the zone, but today it only covers only 14.5 % of the zone (58.7% of this vegetation community has been cleared in the Brigalow). In the Northern Australia Tropical Savannah zone, this vegetation type originally occupied 19.6% of the zone. Today, it occupies approximately 19.4% of the zone (only 2.3% of this vegetation type has been cleared). It should be noted that this data only provides an indication of change in extent, and not vegetation condition.

For more information on the National Vegetation Information System (NVIS) please refer to:
http://www.environment.gov.au/topics/science-and-research/databases-and-maps/national-vegetation-information-system

Ramsar and Nationally Important Wetlands

For more information on Ramsar please refer to: http://www.environment.gov.au/topics/water/water-our-environment/wetlands/ramsar-convention-wetlands

Nationally important wetlands are defined according to the following criteria: