Rainforests of the Mallacoota area

Submission prepared by: Bill Peel on behalf of the East Gippsland Rainforest Conservation Management Network.

SUBMISSION CONTENTS

 SUMMARY

About the Network

Conservation status of rainforest in the Mallacoota Urban Area

Rainforest values to the environment and the community at large

Constraints imposed by the conservation status of rainforests

Benefits of conserving the existing stands of rainforest and the currently cleared habitat of rainforest

Depletion through land clearing, coastal recreation, urbanisation, grazing and weed invasion

Depletion by locality

 

References

 

List of Tables

Table 1.  Rainforests of the Mallacoota Urban Area.

Table 2.  Conservation status of rainforests that occur in the Mallacoota UDF study area and the threats to them.

Table 3.  Rare or threatened plants that occur in the rainforest of the Mallacoota UDF study area.

Table 4.  Rare or threatened or edge of range animals, which occur (have been recorded) in the rainforests of the Mallacoota UDF study area.

Table 5.  Depletion of rainforest and planning solutions and benefits

 

Attachments

Attachment 1.  Mallacoota Inlet Littoral Rainforest floristic community description.

SUMMARY

 

Mallacoota retains some of the most significant stands of rainforest left in Victoria that have both state and national significance, including:

• A major portion of a nationally significant but (as yet) unnamed floristic community of Littoral Rainforest (Peel in prep b.):
• Good examples of Warm Temperate Rainforest in Shady Gully and in the gully system behind the Oval:
• Nationally threatened Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (1999)-listed species;
  • Grey-headed Flying Fox
• Seven listed Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act (1988)-listed animals that use rainforests:
  • Black Bittern, Diamond Python, Grey-headed Flying Fox, Powerful Owl, Sooty Owl, Sooty Owl and White-bellied Sea Eagle.

 

All of the Littoral Rainforests of the Mallacoota UDF study area are threatened, many provide habitat for both Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (1999)-listed animals and an array of rare plants.  Much of this rainforest estate has been cleared and all of the rainforest vegetation is either listed as rare (the Warm Temperate Rainforest floristic communities) or is in the final stages of the nomination process (the Littoral Rainforest floristic community) under the Federal Environmental Protection and Biodiversity and Conservation Act (1999).  

 

The Council (and by extension the community that it represents) has obligations to conserve these threatened rainforest communities as well as their threatened plants and animals that rely upon them for habitat.  Conservation and maintenance of these values requires rainforest conservation both through the preservation of existing stands and the rehabilitation and restoration of a significant proportion of the degraded or previously cleared rainforest habitat in the UDF study area.  If as a community we choose to conserve and restore these rainforest habitats then we have taken the biggest step towards conserving the cargo of rare and threatened species they contain.

 

Fortunately there are significant synergies available across the UDF study area between sensible planning overlays that deal with land not suitable for development, erosion risk and storm water management and nutrient processing whilst maintaining or restoring rainforests in Mallacoota area. 

 

These synergies fall into the following groupings:

1. Gully systems with land too steep for development will allow for the protection and rehabilitation of Warm Temperate Rainforest;
2. Marginal bluffs would if managed appropriately, could ensure the conservation of threatened of newly described (but as yet un-named floristic community) of Littoral Rainforest (currently in the nomination process under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999);
3. Storm water and nutrient processing along gully systems through the conservation and restoration of listed Warm Temperate Rainforest communities that have been locally proven to strip 70% of floodwater phosphorous and 88% of ground water phosphorous (Peel in prep. a).

 

Conservation status of rainforest in the Mallacoota Urban Area

There are two ecological vegetation classes of rainforest present in the study area (Warm Temperate Rainforest and Littoral Rainforest) with two distinct floristic communities represented (Table 1.).  The UDF correctly identifies rainforest as a significant feature of the area study in the following terms:

• Landscape
• Remnant vegetation

 

The UDF unfortunately fails to list the following: the floristic communities (Table 1), their conservation status and the threats to them (Table 2) and their threatened species [Table 3 (plants) and Table 4 (animals)].

 

Rainforest values to the environment and the community at large

In Victoria rainforests conserve 4% of the states plant diversity (30% of which are rare and threatened species), despite occupying less than 0.14% of the State’s land area.

• Rainforests are excellent water processors and have been proven locally to strip up to 70% of the phosphorous from surface storm water and 88% from ground water.  This works best in streams of up to third order (which matches all of the stream orders of the gully systems in the UDF study area);
• Rainforests are fire retardant and so their presence in the urban environment is a benefit in this regard;
• Rainforests consist of species that are restricted in the landscape that can only be conserved by protecting rainforests and their fringing ecotones;
• Rainforest on or adjacent to properties is a major selling point for real estate; and
• Rainforests enable urban kids to experience the bush with relative safety near to home.

 

Constraints imposed by the conservation status of rainforest

All of the Warm Temperate Rainforest and Littoral Rainforest communities of East Gippsland are protected by the NVP regulations.  All of the Warm Temperate Rainforest and Littoral Rainforest floristic communities within the Mallacoota urban area are threatened.  None of the rainforests in the UDF area will survive without concerted local government and community actions that include zoning to protect existing rainforest remnants and their ecotones and zoning to conserve currently cleared habitat to ensure planning and subsequent development allow recovery of the rainforests in their past habitat.

 

The largest stand of Littoral Rainforest in the town area (on the northern shore of Devlin’s Inlet was not noted by the UDF.  Consequently the value of this rainforest has been neglected by this document.  Warm Temperate Rainforests in the gully systems were also not mentioned in the UDF.

 

Benefits of conserving existing stands of rainforest and the currently cleared habitat of rainforest

The following benefits will accrue if the council adopts planning measures to conserve these areas of the landscape:

• Obligations under the Federal Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (1999) and State Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act (1999) will be met;
• Nationally and State-listed rainforest vegetation as well as their cargo of rare and threatened plants and animals will be conserved;
• Storm water treatment is facilitated by the restoration of rainforests to gully systems in the Mallacoota UDF study area;
• Nutrient stripping (particularly phosphorous) will remove up to 70% of phosphorous and if combined with the reinstatement of wetlands at the mouths of rainforest gullies nitrogen sequestration is enhanced as well;
• Urban and landscape amenity is improved and the environment is conserved.

Table 1.  Rainforests of the Mallacoota Urban Area.

Ecological vegetation class Habitat features	Floristic community	Habitat Localities in the urban area
Warm Temperate Rainforest Habitat features: ·         Moist localities; ·         Fire protected	Undefined floristic community of Warm Temperate Rainforest	Habitat: alluvial soils and gully sides of all of the major gully systems Localities: Shady Creek and gully system behind the oval
Littoral Rainforest Habitat features: ·         Exposed sites ·         Saline influence (wind, water, water tables or geology); ·         Fire protected	As yet un-named floristic community of Littoral Rainforest	Habitat: marginal bluffs and steep slopes around the estuary. Localities: relatively intact and large stand (not noted in the UDF) but present along the northern shore of Devlin’ s Inlet and would have been present along the western shore from Captains Point (in the Municipal Caravan Park) northwards to Karbethong and Mirrabooka.

 

 

 

Table 2.  Conservation status of rainforests that occur in the Mallacoota UDF study area and the threats to them.

Floristic community	Conservation status	Threats
Warm Temperate Rainforest	Rare	Habitat loss (land clearing) Grazing by domestic stock Feral Deer Weed invasions Urban development (subdivision of cleared habitat, weed invasion) Global warming (increased fire frequency and intensity, rising sea levels)
As yet un-named floristic community of Littoral Rainforest	Threatened: currently under consideration in the nomination process under the Federal Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (1999).	Habitat loss (land clearing) Grazing by domestic stock Feral Deer Weed invasions Urban development (weed invasion) Coastal recreation and associated infrastructure Global warming (increased fire frequency and intensity)

 

Table 3.  Rare or threatened plants that occur in the rainforests of the Mallacoota UDF study area.

Name	IUCN	EPBC	AROTS	VROTS	FFG	Action Statement	Rainforest type
Rough-barked AppleAngophora floribunda				r			LRf; WTRf
Oyster Bay Pine Callitris rhomboidea							Regionally significant in LRf
Bolwarra Eupomatia laurina				r			WTRf
Trailing Guinea-flower Hibbertia dentata				r			WTRf
Creeping Shield-fern Lastreopsis microsora subsp. microsora				r			WTRf
Branching Grass-flag Libertia paniculata				r			LRf; WTRf
Whiteroot Lobelia purpurascens				r			LRf
Giant Honey-myrtle Melaleuca armillaris subsp. armillaris				r			LRf
Coast Mistletoe Muellerina celastroides				r			LRf
Golden Mistletoe Notothixos subaureus				r			LRf
Rough-fruit Pittosporum P. revolutum				r			WTRf
Lilac Lily Schelhammera undulata				r			LRf

 

 

Table 4.  Rare or threatened animals*, which occur (have been recorded) in the rainforests of the Mallacoota Urban Design Framework study area.

Name	Division Name	ESP	AROTS	VROTS	FFG	TR	CAMBA/ JAMBA	Notes
Azure Kingfisher Alcedo azurea	Birds			n				Nests in LRf/WTRf
Black Bittern Ixobrychus flavicollis australis				v	L			Uses rainforest near water
Diamond Python Morelia spilota spilota	Reptiles			e	L			WTRf/LRf
Grey Goshawk Accipiter novaehollandiae	Birds			v				Nests and hunts: WTRf
Grey-headed Flying-fox Pteropus poliocephalus	Mammals	VU	V	v	L			Food: LRF/WTRf, roosts: WTRf

 

Table 4 cont’d.  Rare or threatened animals*, which occur (have been recorded) in the rainforests of the Mallacoota Urban Design Framework study area.

Name	Division Name	ESP	AROTS	VROTS	FFG	TR	CAMBA/ JAMBA	Notes
Powerful Owl Ninox strenua	Birds			v	L			Hunts and roosts: WTRf
Sooty Owl Tyto tenebricosa	Birds			v	L			Likely but not recorded
Tree Goanna Varanus varius	Reptiles			v				Inhabits WTRf
White-bellied Sea-Eagle Haliaeetus leucogaster	Birds			v	L	1	1/-	Nests: WTRf

*Bold are rainforest dependant in the district; underlined are those that breed in rainforests of the district.

 

 

 

 

Depletion through land clearing, coastal recreation, urbanisation, grazing and weed invasion

One of the major reasons for the CMN submission relates to habitat loss for rainforests in the Mallacoota UDF study area.  This habitat loss and the ongoing threats that continue to degrade and erode the remaining areas of rainforest in the district are directly related to urban development, coastal recreation and ongoing weed invasion.  Drawing the Council’s attention to this on a site by site basis should enable the planning scheme to be amended to accommodate both the urban development and conservation needs of rainforests in the UDF study area. 

 

Depletion by locality

The causes of depletion of rainforests in the Mallacoota UDF study area, the planning solutions and benefits are listed in Table 5.

 

 

 

References

Peel, B.  (in prep. a).  Rainforest Restoration Manual for south eastern Australia.  The how to book on what we have learnt so that you can do it.  Includes: Cool Temperate Rainforests, Warm Temperate Rainforests, Subtropical Rainforests, Gallery Rainforests, Dry Rainforests and Littoral Rainforests. C.S.I.R.O.

Peel, B. (in prep. b).  Littoral Rainforests of south eastern Australia: composition, ecology and management.