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Grassy White Box Woodlands |
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Project Update: Autumn 2002Grassy Box Woodlands: Where to next?Article by Judy Lambert - Community Solutions As many of you will be aware, about a year ago the Grassy Box Woodland project led by Community Solutions was 'consolidated' with another, more science-based project led by ecologists Drs Suzanne Prober and Kevin Thiele and the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service. That amalgamated project, like its predecessors, is funded in significant part by the Natural Heritage Trust. However, as is widely known, the Natural Heritage Trust in its current form ends on 30 June this year. The Commonwealth Government has committed to a new Natural Heritage Trust, but details of that program are not yet available, and at this stage time is fast running out for any chance of a smooth and continuous transition from NHT1 to NHT2. For those of us who have worked together, and with many of you, in the Grassy Box Woodland project team, this is very unfortunate. We are firmly of the view that the mix of landholders, scientists and others working together to bring science and on-property management together to have the remaining Grassy Box Woodlands managed for better conservation outcomes, has been very successful. Based on the fact that time was lost because of funding delays both at the start of our project and during the amalgamation of our projects requested by former Environment Minister, Robert Hill, we will very soon be putting to State and Commonwealth agencies, a request to continue our current project through to September, rather than having it end at 30 June. We are hopeful that this request will get a favourable hearing, as the extra few months will give us an opportunity both to properly document the outcomes to date and to explore the possibilities of continued funding under the new Natural Heritage Trust or from other sources. Some of the avenues we plan to explore for further funding include the NSW Nature Conservation Trust and the possibility of corporate sponsorship. At the very least, we are keen to see continued support for the science behind the project, the development of Conservation Management Networks and keeping our landholder Rural Liaison Officers out there in contact with those who have committed to conservation management of their remnant woodlands. If you have any ideas of where we might find some continuing support, we'd love to hear from you. See contact details on back page. Challenge answeredArticle by Geoff Tonkin - RLO in the Central West In the last edition on the Grassy Box Woodland update I sent out a challenge for some one to come up with a bigger Kurrajong tree than the one I described in that article. To refresh your memory this tree, which is growing on Robert and Gloria Wood's property "Allambie" near Bearbung east of Gilgandra stands some 23m (75ft) tall and is 5.2m (17 ft) around the trunk at chest height. I received this response from Eric Whiting I read your article in the summer edition of the Grassy Box Woodlands Project Update. Sorry to disappoint you but State Forests ran the same query in the early 1990's (about may have been a bit earlier). They came up with the biggest Kurrajong near Leeton on private property. The trunk was 180 cm dbh (diameter at breast height) that equates to 5.66 metres in circumference. Only 18.2 m tall but has a crown diameter of 26.0 m. The lower limbs are so big that they droop down onto the ground on each side. They are too big to climb over (hence a calculated circumference!) It is growing in a corner of a paddock and acts like a copse of trees. I have not been to it since the State Forestry announced it had officially claimed it as the biggest, but it can be seen from the Leeton - Colinroobie road near to the Brobenah Gliding Field. The property owner at the time was D. Cantril but I am not sure if he/she still owns it. Well I have to concede that Eric's is probably a bigger tree but it is still not as tall as the one I described. On both accounts these are two massive specimens and certainly deserve some protection. Could there possibly be any other ones out there to match them? ReminderIf you are put in a situation where you can't avoid burning some stubble this autumn take a little bit of extra care with your isolated paddock trees. A few extra runs with the rake to clear the bulk from under the tree may make the difference as to the trees' survival. Even dead paddocks trees are providing vital habitat for insect eating bats and birds. The very insects that attack your crop and the trees you planted close by. It's called biodiversity, give it a chance and one day you may be able to leave the boom spray in the shed. Grassy Box Woodlands of the Gundagai DistrictArticle by Ray Dowling - RLO in the South The Gundagai district has some of the more intact Grassy Box Woodland areas in the southern part of NSW. The undulating to hilly terrain has meant that very little cultivation has been undertaken, and the major rural use of the land is for grazing. On the whole the grazing of sheep and cattle in the district has been done without the introduction of widespread pasture improvement. Even though a lot of the native trees, predominately White Box, Yellow Box, Apple Box, Red Box and Blakely's Red Gum have been cleared for the grazing of the livestock, the native grasses are still quite abundant in the district. This also means that the invasion by exotic weeds has been at a far lower rate than in the districts where widespread broad acre cereal farming has been undertaken. Consequently the district is still very much reliant on the native grasses to provide the grazing for the large livestock raising enterprises for which Gundagai has become so well known. The native grasses- Kangaroo Grass - Themeda australis, Snowgrass - Poa species, Wallaby Grasses - Danthonia species, Microlaena or Weeping Grass - Microlaena stipoides, Redgrass or Redleg Grass Bothriochloa macra, provide the majority of the grazing. Along with the judicious use of superposhpate, and the introduction of Sub Clovers Trifolium species, these native grass pastures have provided long term productive grazing for the extensive livestock industry. Many landholders in the Gundagai district have taken an interest in their native herbage and are now actively managing their properties to maintain and enhance the native content of the pasture. The various Landcare groups around Gundagai all have enthusiastic native pasture graziers, who are interested in further increasing the productivity of their grasslands. The large areas of native grasslands also mean that there are still many native animals that in other areas have become very rare or extinct. Some of the animals include Sugar Gliders, Phascogales, Wombats and Platypus. Birds include Superb Parrot, Latham's Snipe, Swift Parrot, Bush Stone Curlew, Brown Tree Creeper, Hooded Robin, Speckled Warbler, Painted Quail and Three Crown Babbler. To help with the preservation of these birds and animals many areas of local indigenous tree species have been planted. The town of Gundagai is fortunate to be located on the Murrumbidgee River and is built around Mt Parnassus. Mt Parnassus is a typical Grassy White Box Woodland, which is being actively managed by the local Gundagai Bushcare Group. Being so close to the urban environment it has been invaded by many of the exotic garden plants when seeds have been carried on to the mountain by birds. These weeds are being removed and small areas of rank Kangaroo grass have been burnt to trial this method of weed thinning and removal. Many rare native forbs are still growing on Mt Parnassus and it is hoped that the improved management by the Bushcare Group will restore this site to its previous natural condition. Anybody who is traveling along the Hume Highway between Sydney and Melbourne should take the short detour into Gundagai and view the Mt Parnassus Grassy Box Woodland from the lookout and take the walk along the newly constructed walking trail. 
Grassy White Box Woodland on Rebecca Sini's property at Gundagai Woodlands listed as endangered in NSWArticle by Erica Higginison and Graham Wilson - NPWS The NSW Scientific Committee, an independent body of scientists, has made a final determination to list White Box Yellow Box Blakely's Red Gum Woodland as an endangered ecological community under Schedule 1 of the Threatened Species Conservation Act, 1995 (TSC Act). The Scientific Committee in June last year made a preliminary determination, at which time members of the public were able to make submissions. An ecological community is defined as an assemblage of species occupying a particular area. This means it covers both the plants and animals which occur within it. The final determination includes a description of the ecological community. The TSC Act places responsibility on applicants, proponents, consent and determining authorities and the National Parks and Wildlife Service in the fields of environmental planning, development control, recovery planning and threat abatement planning. For example:
Environmental Assessment
Recovery Planning The Grassy Box Woodland Conservation Management Network that was established three and a half years ago has been developing a conservation strategy for the community. The recovery plan will build on this work with local communities and land managers. The National Parks and Wildlife Service has also been working with a Recovery Team of stakeholders, under a Natural Heritage Trust Endangered Species Program grant, to prepare the National Recovery Plan for Grassy White Box Woodlands under the federal Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. Information on the final determination by the Scientific Committee and the Threatened Species Conservation Act are available on the National Parks and Wildlife Service web page: http://www.npws.nsw.gov.au/wildlife/threatened.htm 
Landholder concerns clarifiedArticle by Toni McLeish - RLO in the North Concern has been raised by landholders in the Maules Creek area and Warialda, over the Western Regional Assessment in the Brigalow Belt South Bioregion, and wilderness nominations near the Mt Kaputar National Park and the Bebo State Forest. The main concern of landholders is the resumption of private and leasehold land for conservation. I attended a meeting at Warialda with 100 other landholders in the hope of clarifying this issue. Trevor May, (Community Liaison Officer, Western Regional Assessment, Planning NSW Dubbo) made it very clear at this meeting that permission was required to enter private property and that no freehold land was under threat. Grazing leases in State Forests could be affected but perpetual leases would not be. The RACAC March 2001 News Letter clearly states:
If your property has been assessed and is of high conservation value, the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) may make an offer to purchase the land. This is an offer and a landholder is under no obligation to accept. NPWS offers for properties are based on the StateValuation Office's valuations of market value. Market value is based on the highest and best use of the land as permitted under the zoning and includes all improvements. Another concern raised by landholders was whether a wilderness nomination took away landholder rights. I have since spoken to NPWS who clearly took me through the process of assessing wilderness nominations (contact your local office for details). As a private landholder with a 4000 acre remnant/ cattle property, with a mix of land tenure, including special lease, perpetual lease and freehold I am reassured that this process is not to be feared. You can choose to not allow NPWS on your property to make an assessment, but they are bound under the Wilderness Act to do an assessment anyway with whatever information they can piece together. Yes - your property may be included as "identified wilderness" on a map in a public display as part of the process but property names are not included, generally an area is marked and land tenure included. After this if you don't wish wilderness to be declared, notify NPWS who will remove it before the recommendation for declaration is sent to the Director-General. The Armidale Tree Group has completed their WOODLAND CENTRE.The Centre is to be an educational resource for schools and the community at large. They wish to display images of your woodland habitats and the plants and animals that live there. Please forward your colour prints, with information for captions to:
Armidale Tree Group or email digital images to pmetcalf@metz.une.edu.au Getting InformationRural Liaison Officers (RLOs)
Toni McLeish
Geoff Tonkin
Ray Dowling
Team Leaders for the Rural Liaison Program and Heather Pearce: ph/fax (02) 9818 2684 and email: heather@sydney.net
Erica Higginson - contact in NPWS This project is funded by the Natural Heritage Trust |
CONTENTS:Grassy Box Woodlands: Where to next? Grassy Box Woodlands of the Gundagai District Woodlands listed as endangered in NSW The Armidale Tree Group has completed their WOODLAND CENTRE. |