Notification of public consultation on two mallee threatened ecological communities
The national Threatened Species Scientific Committee invites your submissions on the proposed listings for two nationally threatened ecological communities under the
Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act):
We are contacting a range of people and organisations about the opportunity to provide comment on this proposed listing. The Committee would also appreciate your help to spread news about the proposed listing and its invitation to comment through your networks;
for instance through newsletters, bulletins and meetings, or please forward this email as you see appropriate to relevant organisations and contacts.
About the Plains Mallee Box Woodland of the Murray Darling Depression and Riverina Bioregions
The ‘Plains Mallee Box Woodland of the Murray Darling Depression and Riverina Bioregions’ is a unique type of mallee woodland that is found in south-west New South Wales, north-west Victoria, and south-east South
Australia. It is an open mallee eucalypt woodland with a tree canopy typically dominated by ‘mallee box’ Eucalyptus species and an understorey in which tussock grasses are prominent in wet years, low chenopod shrubs occur in variable densities, and taller
shrubs are typically sparse. The community is associated with relatively medium-heavy textured soils (i.e. heavier texture than most other mallee vegetation) on near-level sandplains.
The ‘Plains Mallee Box Woodland of the Murray Darling Depression and Riverina Bioregions’ was nominated (originally under the name ‘Ridged Plains Mallee Woodland’) as a potential threatened ecological community
in 2015 and is currently undergoing an assessment by the independent Threatened Species Scientific Committee to determine if it meets the criteria for listing. The draft assessment, included within the Draft Description and Listing Assessment Document, recommends
that the ecological community may be eligible for listing as Critically Endangered, based on evidence that it has declined in extent by at least 90-95%. The ecological integrity of the remaining patches is also very severely compromised. Remaining patches
are mostly very small remnants, infested by weeds and under threat from surrounding land use due to their fragmentation and isolation. All these stresses reduce the ecological function of the remaining patches.
The draft description and listing assessment, a consultation guide for landholders, and the guidelines for nominating and assessing threatened ecological communities can be downloaded from:
http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/nominations/comment/plains-mallee-box-woodland-murray-darling-depression-riverina-bioregions. Comments close 26 August 2020.
Questions are available online that may help frame your comments. You do not need to limit your feedback to the Committee to these questions – the Committee welcomes, and will consider, any comments received about the ecological community and its eligibility
for listing.
About the Eastern Mallee Bird Community
The ‘Eastern Mallee Bird Community’ is an assemblage of 52 bird species that are dependent on, or strongly associated with, mallee habitats in south-eastern Australia. The Eastern Mallee region is a region where mallee is the main vegetation
type and covers the Eyre and Yorke Peninsulas, and the Murray Mallee in south-eastern SA, south-western NSW and north-western Victoria. The ecological community is present where:
·
standard bird surveys confirm a minimum number of terrestrial birds to be present and most of the bird species observed are members of the Eastern Mallee Bird assemblage; and
·
intact native vegetation habitats remain that have mallee as the main type of vegetation present and are more than 50 ha in size.
The ‘Eastern Mallee Bird Community’ was nominated as a potential threatened ecological community in 2015 and is currently undergoing an assessment by the independent Threatened Species Scientific Committee to
determine if it meets the criteria for listing. The draft assessment, included within a draft Conservation Advice, recommends that the ecological community may be eligible for listing as
Vulnerable, possibly Endangered based on evidence that a large proportion of important species have severely declined over the past decade; and its ecological function has severely declined from a range of threats, notably fragmentation of mallee
habitats, pest animal impacts, altered fire regimes, and climate change.
The draft Conservation Advice, a consultation guide for landholders and the guidelines for nominating and assessing threatened ecological communities can be downloaded from:
http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/nominations/comment/eastern-mallee-bird-community. Comments close 28 August 2020.
Questions are available online that may help frame your comments. You do not need to limit your feedback to the Committee to these questions – the Committee welcomes, and will consider, any comments received about the ecological community and its eligibility
for listing.
