Yass Valley
Indicator: Ecological Communities
Results for this indicator are also available for [an error occurred while processing this directive]
What the results tell us for Yass Valley
Thirty-six vegetation communities have been recorded within Yass Valley Council area, 19 of which are considered to be of conservation significance. The Council area may also contain occurrences of four ecological communities listed as critically endangered or endangered nationally or within New South Wales (NSW). One wetland of national importance is in the Council area.
It was not possible to assess accurately changes to the extent and condition of native vegetation in the Council area during the current reporting period. No information was available on vegetation cleared during the current reporting period. Three separate wildfires occurred within the Council area during the current reporting period; however no information is available on areas burnt by these wildfires.
No information was available on whether reservation targets were met for vegetation communities considered to be poorly represented within the broader region's reserve system in the previous reporting period. No additions to the reserve system within the Council area occurred in the current reporting period
No information was available on Voluntary Conservation Agreements or wildlife refuges for the current reporting period. Council was an active participant in the preparation of a planning framework for natural ecosystems in the region, which was completed during the previous reporting period.
Vegetation communities in the council area
Thirty-six vegetation communities (or ecosystems) have been recorded within Yass Valley Council area (see Table 1). These communities were classified as part of the Southern Comprehensive Regional Assessment (CRA) program in south-eastern NSW over 1999 which provided the best coverage and most consistent description of vegetation in the Council area at the time of writing this State of the Environment report (see About the data). These vegetation classifications are still current, however Eden CRA classifications were incorporated (almost unchanged) into the new South Coast - Illawarra Vegetation Integration (SCIVI) classification system (Tozer et.al 2006), and completely overlap the Eden CRA region. SCIVI has superseded the Southern CRA region, however does not fully encompass the Canberra region, overlapping much of the Southern CRA region, but not extending as far west. SCIVI does not include western vegetation classification types therefore was not applicable to this report.
Fourteen of the forest vegetation communities that occur within the Council area were considered vulnerable in 1999 (see Table 1), i.e. they were approaching 70% clearance of their pre-1750 extent. In the context of the Southern CRA region, an additional five communities were still considered poorly represented within this region's reserve system in 2004. No information is available to determine the number of communities still poorly represented within those regions' reserve systems in 2008.
| Forest vegetation communities | CRA Number | Area(ha)# | Vulnerable* | Poorly Reserved* | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 2000 | 1997 | ||||
| Brindabella Montane Dry Fern/Grass Forest | S102 | 2,070 | ||||
| Burrinjuck Acacia Dry Herb/Grass Forest | S91 | 2,230 | + | + | ||
| Central Tableland/ACT Montane Dry Shrub Forest | S107 | 2,630 | ||||
| Eastern Tableland Dry Shrub/Grass Forest | S73 | 1,090 | + | + | + | + |
| Eastern Tablelands Acacia/Herb/Grass Forest | S89 | 300 | + | + | ||
| Eastern Tablelands Dry Shrub Forest | S112 | 240 | + | + | + | |
| Montane / Sub-Alpine Dry Rocky Shrubland | S36 | 20 | ||||
| Montane Riparian Moist Shrub/Grass/Herb Forest | S83 | 640 | ||||
| Montane Wet Heath/Bog | S123 | 20 | ||||
| Montane Wet Heath/Herb Grassland | S125 | 30 | ||||
| North East Tablelands Dry Shrub/Grass Forest | S113 | 4 | + | + | + | |
| Northern Coastal Hinterland Heath Shrub Dry Forest | S139 | 40 | + | + | + | |
| Northern Slopes Dry Grass Woodland | S159 | 20 | + | + | + | + |
| Northern Slopes Dry Grass Woodland | S160 | 4,270 | + | + | + | + |
| Northern Tablelands and Slopes Dry Shrub/Grass Forest | S122 | 580 | + | + | + | + |
| Riparian Acacia Shrub/Grass/Herb Forest | S53 | 1,300 | + | + | ||
| South Eastern Tablelands Dry Shrub/Grass/Herb Forest | S74 | 90 | + | + | + | + |
| Tableland Acacia/Herb/Grass Forest | S104 | 40 | ||||
| Tableland and Escarpment Wet Layered Shrub Forest | S58 | 310 | ||||
| Tableland Dry Grassy Woodland | S154 | 2,000 | + | + | + | + |
| Tableland Dry Heath Shrub/Herb/Grass Woodland | S38 | 950 | ||||
| Tablelands Acacia/Grass/Herb Dry Forest | S92 | 5,840 | + | + | + | + |
| Tablelands and Slopes Dry Herb/Grass Woodland | S161 | 190 | + | + | + | + |
| Tablelands and Slopes Herb/Grassland/ Woodland | S153 | 80 | + | + | + | + |
| Tablelands Dry Shrub/Grass Forest | S110 | 5,920 | + | + | ||
| Tablelands Dry Shrub/Tussock Grass Forest | S114 | 30,220 | + | + | + | |
| Western Montane Acacia Fern/Herb Forest | S82 | 550 | ||||
| Western Montane Dry Fern/Grass Forest | S103 | 12,710 | ||||
| Western Montane Wet Heath/Herb Grass Woodland | S124 | 40 | + | + | + | |
| Western Slopes Herb/Grass Woodland | S116 | 750 | + | + | + | + |
| Western Slopes Moist Herb/Sedge/Grass Woodland | S162 | 20 | + | + | + | + |
| Western Slopes Riparian Moist Sedge Woodland | S43 | 2 | + | + | + | + |
| Western Slopes Shrub/Herb/Grass Dry Forest | S120 | 1,000 | + | + | + | + |
| Western Tablelands Dry Herb/Grass Forest | S108 | 4,750 | ||||
| Western Tablelands Herb/Grass Dry Forest | S93 | 4,870 | + | + | + | + |
| Widespread Tablelands Dry Shrub/Tussock Grass Forest | S109 | 9,470 | + | + | + | |
* Determinations (preliminary and final) under the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 made by the NSW Scientific Committee; # Listed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 by the Commonwealth Minister for Environment and Heritage; Source: DEC 2004; DEH 2005a.
Endangered ecological communities
The Yass Valley Council area may contain four threatened ecological communities listed as endangered or critically endangered within NSW or nationally (Note: threatened ecological community lists are generated based on Bioregions). Two are listed under the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995; two are listed under the Commonwealth's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. Two communities had their final determinations made during the current reporting period (DECC 2008b; DEHWA 2008c).
| Name of ecological community | Status | Date of determination* | Recovery Plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Montane peatlands and swamps of the New England Tableland, NSW North Coast, Sydney Basin, South East Corner, South Eastern Highlands and Australian Alps bioregions | Endangered in NSW* | Final: 17 December 2004 | No |
| Natural temperate grasslands of the Southern Tablelands of NSW and the ACT | Endangered nationally# | Prior to 16 July 2000 | In Preparation |
| White Box Yellow Box Blakely's Red Gum woodland | Endangered in NSW* | Final: 15 March 2002 | No |
| White Box-Yellow Box-Blakely's Red Gum Grassy Woodland and Derived Native Grassland | Critically Endangered nationally# | Final: 17 May 2006 | In Preparation |
* Determinations (preliminary and final) under the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 made by the NSW Scientific Committee; Source: DECC 2004a–c, 2008a–h
Other significant communities or habitats
One nationally significant wetland listed in the Directory of Important Wetlands in Australia (DEWHA 2008a), Coree Flats occurs within the Council area. This wetland is reserved and the surrounding land use is National Park, State Conservation Area and State Forest.
No Ramsar sites (that is internationally important wetlands) have been declared within the Council area.
The SEPP44 – Koala Habitat Protection applies to the Yass Valley Council area as it contains communities of Ribbon Gum (Eucalyptus viminalis), River Red Gum (E. camaldulensis) and White Box (E. albens).
Vegetation extent and condition
Pressures on vegetation extent
Loss of native vegetation continues to be one of the greatest threats to Australia’s biodiversity. The clearing of native vegetation is a threatening process operating on both ecosystems and species (DEHWA 2006). Even if all clearing were to cease now, the decline in vegetation condition is likely to continue for many years, because of the lag effects of vegetation fragmentation and growing pressure from climate change (DECC 2006). The main responses are the Native Vegetation Act 2003 (and supporting Regulations) and improved compliance monitoring. The new legislative regime is expected to provide a means to address this issue.
Clearing was the main pressure on the extent of native vegetation in the Yass Valley Council area during the previous reporting period. Increased fragmentation and clearing have both have been identified as particular threats to the five threatened ecological communities with occurrences in the Council area. No information is available on the extent of native vegetation clearing in the Yass Valley during the current reporting period. It appears that the trend in the overall rate of clearing is difficult to accurately assess (see About the data).
During 2000–2004, seven forest communities were impacted by harvesting, three of which were rated vulnerable and poorly reserved respectively in July 2000. No information was available on mapped vegetation change relating to extent of native vegetation in the Council area in the current and previous reporting periods.
A total of 3,674 hectares of vegetation was approved for clearing within the Murrumbidgee and Lachlan Catchment regions under the NSW Native Vegetation Act 2003, which encompasses Yass Council area, during the reporting period. No information was available on clearing applications approved, including clearing areas, within the council area during the reporting period.
Pressures on vegetation condition
Wildfire is likely to have been a major broad scale pressure affecting the condition of native vegetation in parts of the Yass Valley Council area during the current reporting period. About 114 hectares of land were affected by control burns in the period 2004–2008. Three separate wildfires occurred within the Council area during the current reporting period; however no information is available on areas burnt by these wildfires. One wildfire was designated a Class 3 fires, which is a major fire that has the potential to reach a size that can’t be controlled by available resources, requiring a multi-agency response.
No information is available on the number of forest communities affected by very low severity fires (generally fuel reduction burns) or by fires of unknown severity (generally wildfires).
Other factors such as drought and weed invasion, including the spread of St John's Wort (Hypericum perforatum) and the noxious pasture grass Serrated Tussock (Nassella trichotoma) represent other pressures impacting the condition of native vegetation in parts of the Yass Valley during the current reporting period.
General threats to the condition of the four endangered ecological communities with occurrences in the Council area include (DECC 2008a; DEWHA 2008b):
- land degradation and fragmentation of remnants
- grazing and trampling by stock
- weed invasion
- erosion and sedimentation
- soil disturbance caused by feral animals
- harvesting of firewood and collection of on-ground woody debris
- high frequency or high intensity fires
- climate change.
Peat mining, and changes to water tables and surface flows caused by drainage works or altered flows in catchments, are also considered threats to the endangered Montane peatlands and swamps (DECC 2008a).
Conservation and management
Law and policy
Some national and state laws require recovery plans or action plans to be prepared for endangered ecological communities, and for the presence of such communities to be taken into account during decision-making on developments applications. These laws also aim to minimise the effects of threatening processes on endangered ecological communities or prevent communities from becoming endangered. Laws such as the Native Vegetation Act 2003 (enacted during the previous reporting period and replaced the Native Vegetation Conservation Act 1997), also aim to minimise the effects of threatening processes and to protect, conserve and improve the condition of existing native vegetation, particularly at a local and regional level.
Yass Valley Council area is located within the Lachlan and Murrumbidgee Catchment Management Authority (CMA) areas established under the NSW Catchment Management Authorities Act 2003. Each CMA is required to work in partnership with Local Government as well as other stakeholders, and must develop and administer a regional vegetation management plan. These plans and the catchment blueprints prepared by the catchment management boards which preceded the CMAs, also support the conservation of native ecosystems. The Lachlan Catchment Blueprint (Lachlan Catchment Management Board 2003) and Murrumbidgee Catchment Blueprint (Murrumbidgee Catchment Management Board 2003), both completed during the current reporting period, include a range of management actions to restore, maintain or conserve biodiversity values in each catchment area.
The document A Planning Framework for Natural Ecosystems of the ACT and NSW Southern Tablelands (Fallding 2002), launched in March 2003, covers Yass Valley Council area. The framework enables planning for conservation and sustainable urban and rural development in the region, and is designed for use by various land managers and planners. Among other things, it identifies areas of varying conservation value, describes broad vegetation types, links data on vegetation types with threatened species habitat, provides threatened species mapping and outlines issues that need to be addressed. Yass Valley Council participated in the Joint Regional Biodiversity Working Group that played a primary function in developing the planning framework (Yass Valley Council 2004).
Local government legislation, regulations and planning documents such as Llocal Environment Plans (LEPs) may also provide some protection for ecological communities, or limit or prohibit certain activities that may lead to the further decline of endangered ecological communities. The Yass LEP, currently under review, contains no specific consideration of the protection of natural resources. The review noted there was no coordinated approach within the Council area of a range of protection and conservation initiatives administered by various government agencies, non-government organisations and community based groups. Council was still working on a comprehensive LEP and Development Control Plan at the end of the current reporting period (Yass Valley Council 2004).
Conservation reserves
Eight national parks, nature reserves and state conservation areas either fall within or intersect Yass Valley Council area, covering approximately 24,250 hectares or 7% of its area.
Additions totalling 1 hectare were made to one reserve also within this period, compared with 4,400 hectares made to two reserves in the current period compared. Additions to the reserve network during the previous period were outcomes of the Southern Regional Forest Agreement. No new conservation reserves were gazetted within the Yass Valley during the current reporting period.
No information was available on forest communities considered poorly represented within the regional reserve system in 2004 meeting regional reservation targets during the current reporting period. No information was available on forest communities still classed as vulnerable changing their status due to new reserves or additions to the regional reserve system within the current reporting period.
| Reserve | Date plan adopted |
|---|---|
| Black Andrew Nature Reserve | 06 October 2006 |
| Kosciuszko National Park | 14 June 2006 |
| Tinderry Nature Reserve | October 1998 |
Source: Department of Environment and Climate Change
Fire management plans that had been prepared and adopted for Black Andrew, Burrinjuck and Oak Creek Nature Reserves.
Other conservation management
The Yass Shire Vegetation Management Plan was developed during the reporting period (Yass Valley Council 2002). It will help council, Landcare groups and other stakeholders to work together to protect and manage native vegetation in the Council area.
No privately owned property in the Council area had a Voluntary Conservation Agreement in place, but 17 properties covering a total of 15,657 hectares were designated wildlife refuges during the previous reporting period. No information was available on the vegetation communities occurring within these refuges, or whether plans of management or schemes of operation had been developed or implemented for them during the previous reporting period. No information was available on these conservation initiatives during the current reporting period.
Thirteen Landcare groups operated within Yass Valley Council area. For information on the range of activities occurring there and in the Lachlan and Murrumbidgee catchments, see the Landcare NSW website.
Community groups, council and/or other organisations may have undertaken various projects during the reporting period that enhanced the protection of ecological communities in the Council area. No information was available on these projects.
No information was available on revegetation projects, native vegetation preserved or fencing of remnant vegetation during the current reporting period.
About the data
Forest vegetation communities referred to in this report were derived from the Eden and Southern Comprehensive Regional Assessment (CRA) forest ecosystem mapping. This mapping was undertaken in 1998 and 1999 respectively. All calculations are based on the extant and pre-1750 forest ecosystem layers. The extant forest ecosystem layers reflect the extent of these vegetation communities at the time of mapping.
Under the CRA mapping, a Vulnerable vegetation community was defined as one whose areal extent at the time of mapping was approaching 70% loss of its pre-European extent. A vegetation community was defined as Poorly Reserved when less than 15% of its pre-European extent was located in formal conservation reserves across the CRA region. Further information on the 70% clearing threshold and the 15% reservation threshold is provided in JANIS (1997).
The CRA mapping was used for this report because it provided the most current data which covered the entire extent of the majority of local government areas in the Australian Capital Region. However the mapping data have the following limitations:
- some mapped CRA ecosystem types may be inconsistent with vegetation on the ground because the CRA vegetation types were modelled and limited ground truthing was undertaken in some areas
- the vegetation classifications were focused primarily on forest vegetation types and may poorly reflect non-forest communities
- the vegetation classifications used to describe forest ecosystems were not a widely used system
- the vegetation classification systems used in the Eden and Southern CRAs differ and there may be some duplication of forest types at the borders of these two study areas.
No data were available regarding extant vegetation at 30 June 2008, and hence it was not possible to determine changes in the extent of forest communities within the Council area during the current reporting period. Overall vegetation condition assessment across the landscape is very difficult to achieve because remote sensing below the canopy level is still not possible (given current technology and cost requirement in achieving statistically significant results from survey) and the complexities of obtaining permission to enter private land for survey staff.
Mapping of the amount of vegetation cleared was not available at a scale suitable for application within Council area’s boundaries, and reflects significant limitations in accurately assessing this indicator. Broad scale analyses under-estimate the overall rate of clearing because current techniques only operate under large map scales. Effectively this means that it only records removal of woody vegetation that is at least two metres tall with a canopy cover of 15% or more, excluding changes in sparse open woodlands and grasslands, which are extensive and among the most affected vegetation types in NSW.
Fine-scale remote-sensing studies allow a more accurate appraisal of clearing rates in woodlands, open woodlands and shrublands; however coverage is limited to particular regions of NSW. Authors using these methods in the NSW State of the Environment Report 2006 indicate that clearing rates are substantially greater (8–10 times higher) than the estimates obtained from the coarse-scale analyses referred to above. However, being regional, they provide an incomplete view of state-wide clearing. The availability of accurate vegetation clearing data is of critical importance for future reporting purposes, due to the threat that this pressure represents to biodiversity.
Data on vegetation approved for clearing within Catchment Management Association regions under the NSW Native Vegetation Act 2003 was accessed through the NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change (DECC) website under the Public register of approved clearing PVPs and development applications. Geographic analysis would reveal locations within Council area boundaries; however this was unavailable during the reporting period. The data collection system was changed in 2006 with the introduction of the new Regulations. These estimates exclude the area of vegetation cleared illegally and clearing carried out legally under statutory exemptions (in 2005, 40% of all clearing was estimated to be illegal in NSW (Audit Office 2006)).
Threats to each endangered ecological community was provided by DECC, under the NSW Scientific Committee - final determination page, and/or the Threatened Species, Populations and Ecological Communities endangered ecological communities profile page. The information contained in this database is available on the internet link under DECC 2008a in the references. New parks and additions to existing reserves was provided by DECC upon request, as the website only listed all the parks and reserves created over the last 12 months. Information on park and fire management plans, as well as recovery plans for endangered ecological communities was provided by DECC.
References
Audit Office 2006, Auditor-General's Report: Performance Audit, Department of Natural Resources – Regulating the Clearing of Native Vegetation, follow-up of 2002 performance audit, Audit Office of NSW, Sydney
DECC—see Department of Environment and Climate Change (NSW)
DEHWA—see Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (Commonwealth)
Department of Environment and Climate Change (NSW) (2008a) NSW Scientific Committee—Final Determination, (search on threatened ecological community - endangered ecological community listing), viewed 20 October 2008, http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/natureconservation.htm
Department of Environment and Climate Change (NSW) (2008b) Threatened Species, Populations and Ecological Communities, Final determinations by date, viewed 22 October 2008, http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/committee/FinalDeterminations.htm
Department of Environment and Climate Change (NSW) (2006), NSW State of the Environment Report 2006, Biodiversity http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/soe/soe2006/chapter6/chp_6.1.htm#6.1.60
Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (Commonwealth) (2006), Australia State of the Environment 2006, Pressures on biodiversity http://www.environment.gov.au/soe/2006/publications/report/biodiversity-2.html
Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (Commonwealth) (2008a) Australian Wetlands Database, Department of Environment and Heritage, viewed 22 October 2008, http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/wetlands/search.pl?smode=BOTH
Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (Commonwealth) (2008b), Biodiversity, search on threatened ecological community, viewed October 2008, http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/index.html
Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (Commonwealth) (2008c), EPBC Act List of Threatened Ecological Communities, Final determinations by date, viewed October 2008, http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/index.html
DIPNR—see Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources (NSW)
Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources (NSW) (2004) 2003/04 Combined NSW Catchment Management Authorities Annual Report, Volume 1: CMA Activities and Achievements, Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources, Sydney.
Fallding, M (2002) A planning framework for natural ecosystems of the ACT and NSW Southern Tablelands, Natural Heritage Trust, NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service and Land and Environment Planning, on-line at http://incp.environment.act.gov.au/planningframework/index.aspx.
JANIS—see Joint ANZECC/MCFFA National Forest Policy Statement Implementation Sub-committee
Joint ANZECC/MCFFA National Forest Policy Statement Implementation Sub-committee (1997) Nationally Agreed Criteria for the Establishment of a Comprehensive, Adequate and Representative Reserve System for Forests in Australia, Joint ANZECC/MCFFA National Forest Policy Statement Implementation Sub-committee, Commonwealth of Australia.
Lachlan Catchment Management Board (2003) Lachlan Catchment Blueprint, NSW Department of Land and Water Conservation, Sydney, online at http://www.dlwc.nsw.gov.au/care/cmb/blueprints/pdf/lachlan_blueprint.pdf.
Murrumbidgee Catchment Management Board (2003) Murrumbidgee Catchment Blueprint, NSW Department of Land and Water Conservation, Sydney, viewed 4 August 2005 http://www.dlwc.nsw.gov.au/care/cmb/blueprints/pdf/murrumbidgee_blueprint.pdf.
Sattler P and Creighton C (eds) (2002) Australian Terrestrial Biodiversity Assessment 2002, National Land and Water Resources Audit on behalf of the Commonwealth of Australia, Chapter 4: Threatened Ecosystems and Species, viewed 4 August 2005, http://audit.deh.gov.au/ANRA/vegetation/docs/biodiversity/bio_assess_threat.cfm.
Sheppard, H (2005) Environmental Planning Officer, Yass Valley Council, personal communication.
Yass Valley Council (2002) Yass Shire Vegetation Management Plan – Stage 3, Yass Valley Council, Yass.
Yass Valley Council (2004) 2003/2004 State of the Environment Report – Supplementary Report, Yass Valley Council, Yass.
Tozer, M.G., Turner, K., Simpson, C., Keith, D.A., Beukers, P., MacKenzie, B., Tindall, D. & Pennay, C. (2006) Native vegetation of southeast NSW: a revised classification and map for the coast and eastern tablelands. Version 1.0. Department of Environment and Conservation and Department of Natural Resources
