Presented by Renata Zelinova, Local Biodiversity Program Manager at the Western Australian Local Government Association (WALGA).
She presented an overview of studies into ecological connectivity in Perth and Peel, why habitat fragmentation is increasing, and why none of the ecological linkages are being protected.
Presented at the Cockburn Community Wildlife Corridor AGM 30th April at the Cockburn Wetlands Centre.
Joka \ Call Girls Service Kolkata - 450+ Call Girl Cash Payment 8005736733 Ne...
Will kangaroos fly or can a functional landscape connectivity be achieved in the biodiversity hot-spot?
1. O R C AN A F U N C T I O N AL L AN D S C A P E C O N N E C T I V I T Y B E
AC H I E V E D I N T H E B I O D I V E R S I T Y H O T- S P O T ?
WILL KANGAROOS FLY?
Renata Zelinova
Quinns Rocks Environmental Group
Committee Member
and Environmental Consultant
Nam Natura Consulting
Image source: Google images
3. Fragmented Neerabup National Park
Images source: Main Roads WA Mitchell Freeway Extension Newsletter October 2015
4. OVERVIEW
• Statutory/policy provisions
• Overview of studies into
connectivity in Perth and Peel
• So why is habitat
fragmentation increasing and
none of the ecological
linkages are protected?
Image source: Google images
5. STATUTORY/POLICY PROVISIONS
Environmental Protection Act 1986
(2) In this Act
‘environmental harm means direct or indirect-
(a) harm to the environment involving removal or destruction of, or damage to-
(i) Native vegetation; or
(ii) The habitat of native vegetation or indigenous aquatic or terrestrial animals;
Or
(b) alteration of the environment to its detriment or degradation or potential detriment or
degradation; or
(c) alteration of the environment to the detriment or potential detriment of an
environmental value; or
(d) alteration of the environment of a prescribed kind;’
Environmental Protection (Clearing of Native Vegetation)
Regulations 2004
• Clearing principle (b) – Native vegetation should not be cleared if it comprises the whole or a part
of, or is necessary for the maintenance of, a significant habitat for fauna indigenous to Western
Australia.
6. • Environmental Protection Bulletin No 20: Protection of naturally
vegetated areas through planning and development (2013)
• Guidance Statement No 33: Environmental Guidance for Planning
and Development (2008):
• Attachment B2-3 describes ‘Areas of high conservation significance in the
Perth Metropolitan Region (Swan Coastal Plain portion) including: areas
that form part of an ecologically significant linkage between
conservation areas.
• Areas of high conservation significance for protection of fauna
include ‘quality ecological linkages between conservation areas of
regional or higher significance.
MORE STATUTORY/POLICY PROVISIONS
7. • EPA Environmental Factors Guidelines (December 2016)
• Flora and vegetation (e.g. impact on seed dispersal vectors)
• Terrestrial fauna (disruption of the dispersal of individuals required to
colonise new areas inhibiting maintenance of genetic diversity between
populations)
• Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act
1999
• Banksia woodlands of SCP TECs Conservation Advice – important to
protect, restore and improve landscape scale connectivity of high quality
remnants.
• EPA Interim Advice on Perth and Peel @3.5 million (2015)
• Recommendation 4: that the State Government enhance the viability of
consolidated regionally significant natural areas by improving degraded
area and re-establishing linkages.
MORE STATUTORY/POLICY PROVISIONS
CONTINUES….
8. CONNECTIVITY IN PERTH AND PEEL
• Concept of regional open space introduced in 1955 – MRS
(1963)
• System’s Reports (1983) – introduced a concept of “green belts”
and linkages between areas of regional open space
• A Strategic Plan for Perth’s Greenways (Alan Tingay and
Associates, 1998)
• Greenways in Bushplan and Bush Forever (2000)
• Perth Regional Ecological Linkages (2004)
• Gnangara Sustainability Strategy Ecological Linkages (2009)
• South West Regional Ecological Linkages (2009)
• Local ecological linkages
• Regional Framework for Local Biodiversity Conservation
Priorities for Perth and Peel (2012)
9.
10.
11. Examples of two vegetation connectivity
measures for Perth and Peel based on 2016
vegetation extent mapping (Regional
Framework for Local Biodiversity
Conservation for Perth and Peel, Perth
Biodiversity Project 2012)
15. WHAT LIVES
HERE?
Area covered by the Yanchep and Neerabup
NPs Management Plans is considered to
have a higher diversity of fauna compared
with other conservation reserves in Perth:
• 17 species of mammals ( western grey
kangaroo, western brush wallaby, brushtail
possum, western pygmy possum, honey
possum, echidna, chuditch, quenda, water
rat, western bush rat, ash-grey mouse & 6
bats)
• Over 112 species of birds
• 45 species of reptiles and amphibians
• Two species of fish
• Terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates
16. FAUNA OF
CONSERVATION
SIGNIFICANCE
Schedule 1: Carnaby’s black cockatoo
(E) & Chuditch (E)
Schedule 4: Peregrine falcon & carpet
python
Priority 2: Native bee, cricket
(Austrosaga spinifer) biting midge
Priority 3: Black striped snake &
Quenda (Southern brown bandicoot)
Priority 4: water rat, western brush
wallaby, black bittern & little bittern
Migratory birds listed under international
treaties
17. Bush Forever Site 323 (Tamala Rubbish tip and adjoin
bushland)
Observed during a site visit:
• 2 native and 4 feral mammals
• 17 birds
• 6 reptiles
18. TAMALA
CONSERVATION
PARK
‘a vegetated transition between
Quindalup and Spearwood Dunes
that provides particularly important
feeding habitat for a range of fauna
due to seasonal diversity of flowering
times, necessary to sustain
populations of resident nectivorous
pollinators.
In zoographic terms, the
Quindalup/Sperwood dune system
has a richer bird and reptile fauna
than other dune systems on the
Swan Coastal Plain.’
EPA Bulletin 880
19. Limited surveys: 54 species of birds including the Variegated and White-winger
fairy wrens that are restricted to the Quindalup/Spearwood dune system; 3
species of mammals, 23 species of reptiles and 1 amphibians.
Species of conservation significance:
• Western brush wallaby
• Habitat for honey possums
• Carnaby’s black cockatoos
• Scarlet robin
• Graceful Sun moth
20. DECISIONS AFFECTING THE CURRENT
OUTCOME
• MRS Amendment 992/33
Clarkson-Butler – EPA Bulletin
971 Report and
Recommendations (2000)
• Ministerial Conditions 629:
• Assessment under EPBC Act
did not cover connectivity for
terrestrial fauna
• EPA approval of Flora and
Fauna Management Plan
• Appeal to the Minister for
Environment to uphold the
Ministerial Conditions
25. WHY SHOULD WE INCREASE
PROVISIONS FOR CONNECTIVITY IN THE
SW OF WA?
The refugia areas resulting from the species distribution modelling analyses (left: SDM refugia)
and the generalised dissimilarity modelling (right: GDM refugia)
From: Reside, AE, VanDerWal, J, Phillips, BL, Shoo, LP, Rosauer, DF, Anderson, BJ, Welbergen, JA, Moritz, C, Ferrier, S, Harwood, TD, Williams, KJ, Mackey, B,
Hugh, S, Williams, YM & Williams, SE 2013, Climate change refugia for terrestrial biodiversity: Defining areas that promote species persistence and
ecosystem resilience in the face of global climate change, National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility, Gold Coast, 216 pp.
26. WHAT ARE WE PROVIDING FOR FAUNA
MOVEMENT IN THE SW OF WA AND HOW WE
COMPARE ?
• Installation of underpasses is
growing in WA
• 2 canopy rope-bridges
• 0 overpasses
Country
Number of fauna
overpasses
Eastern Australia
(Victoria, NSW)*
10
North Amerika# 6
Europe# >200
*Australian Government (2008) Review of Mitigation measures used
to deal with the issues of Habitat Fragmentation, Department of
Environment and Heritage
#Jones, D (2010) Fauna overpasses increase habitat connectivity
and road permeability. Australian Wildlife Management Newsletter,
27. CONCLUSION
• The current legislative,
land use planning and
policy provisions do not
adequately protect
ecological linkages
• Lack of a framework for
identification of ecological
linkages and refugia at
bioregion level
Photos sourced through Google Images
Under clearing principle (b), the DER’s Guide to the assessment of applications to clear native vegetation list ‘loss of corridors, stepping stones (ecological linkages) and buffering vegetation as factor affecting a fauna ecosystem.
EPB 20 sets out EPAs expectations for the design of urban and peri-urban development proposals in order to protect naturally vegetated areas and complements principles set out in other State Government policies, including Bush Forever, EPA guidance statements no 10 and 33 and Clearing principles set out in Schedule 5 of the EP Act 1986.
GS33: defines Areas of high conservation significance including: “quality ecological linkages between areas of conservation significance” and criteria to be used including “Maintaining ecological processes or natural systems – areas that are important for maintenance of ecological processes or natural systems at a regional or national scale, including substantive wildlife corridors connecting bushland areas.”
Then a checklist for site planning includes actions towards retaining sequences of ecological communities and bushland corridors. The Guidance Statement requires and assessment of ‘proximity to and connectivity with other vegetation (include mapping), and a discussion of linkage values in the local and regional context. – no reference as to what is a regionally accepted network of important linkages.
Attachment B2-3 describes ‘Areas of high conservation significance in the Perth Metropolitan Region (Swan Coastal Plain portion) including: areas that form part of an ecologically significant linkage between conservation areas.
Areas of high conservation significance for protection of fauna include ‘quality ecological linkages between conservation areas of regional or higher significance.
EPB 20 sets out EPAs expectations for the design of urban and peri-urban development proposals in order to protect naturally vegetated areas and complements principles set out in other State Government policies, including Bush Forever, EPA guidance statements no 10 and 33 and Clearing principles set out in Schedule 5 of the EP Act 1986.
GS33: defines Areas of high conservation significance including: “quality ecological linkages between areas of conservation significance” and criteria to be used including “Maintaining ecological processes or natural systems – areas that are important for maintenance of ecological processes or natural systems at a regional or national scale, including substantive wildlife corridors connecting bushland areas.”
Then a checklist for site planning includes actions towards retaining sequences of ecological communities and bushland corridors. The Guidance Statement requires and assessment of ‘proximity to and connectivity with other vegetation (include mapping), and a discussion of linkage values in the local and regional context. – no reference as to what is a regionally accepted network of important linkages.
Attachment B2-3 describes ‘Areas of high conservation significance in the Perth Metropolitan Region (Swan Coastal Plain portion) including: areas that form part of an ecologically significant linkage between conservation areas.
Areas of high conservation significance for protection of fauna include ‘quality ecological linkages between conservation areas of regional or higher significance.
