14 CONSERVATION CRITERIA FOR
THE BRIGALOW BELT SOUTH
14.1 THE NATIONAL RESERVE CRITERIA
(JANIS)
The JANIS criteria (JANIS 1997) implement the National Forest Policy Statement
for the conservation of biodiversity and require that:
JANIS Criterion 1
"As a general criterion, 15% of the pre-1750 distribution of each forest
ecosystem should be protected in the CAR reserve system"
JANIS Criterion 2
"Where forest ecosystems are recognised as vulnerable, then at least 60%
of their remaining extent should be reserved"
JANIS Criterion 3
"All remaining occurrences of rare and endangered forest ecosystems should
be reserved or protected by other means as far as is practicable"
JANIS Criterion 4
"Reserved areas should be replicated across the geographic range of the
forest ecosystem to decrease the likelihood that chance events such as wildfire
or disease will cause the forest ecosystem to decline".
JANIS Criterion 5
"The reserve system should seek to maximise the area of high quality habitat
for all known elements of biodiversity wherever practicable"
Particular reference should be given
to:
¨ "areas of high species diversity, natural refugia for flora and fauna,
and centres of endemism
¨ the special needs of rare, vulnerable or endangered species
¨ special groups of organisms, for example species with complex habitat
requirements, or migratory or mobile species
¨ those species whose distributions and habitat requirements are not well
correlated with any particular forest ecosystem"
JANIS Criterion 6
"Reserves should be large enough to sustain the viability, quality and
integrity of populations".
JANIS Criterion 7
"To ensure representativeness, the reserve system should, as far as possible,
sample the full range of biological variation within each forest ecosystem,
by sampling the range of environmental variation typical of its geographic range
and sampling its range of successional stages".
JANIS Criterion 8
"In fragmented landscapes, remnants that contribute to sampling the full
range of biodiversity are vital parts of a forest reserve system. The areas
should be identified and protected as part of the development of integrated
regional conservation strategies".
JANIS Oldgrowth Criterion
Where old-growth forest is rare or depleted (generally less than 10% of the
extant distribution) within a forest ecosystem, all viable examples should be
protected, wherever possible.
For other forest ecosystems, 60% of the old-growth forest identified at the
time of
assessment would be protected"
JANIS Wilderness Criterion
"Ninety percent, or more if practicable, of the area of high quality wilderness
that meet minimum area requirements should be protected in reserves"
14.2 LIMITATIONS OF THE CRITERIA
The National Reserve Criteria were designed for application in coastal bioregions
with relatively continuous forest cover. It is well recognised that they are
not adequate in highly fragmented bioregions such as the Brigalow Belt South
region (Nix & Mackay, undated). They are also designed for productive, fast-growing
regions and are not adequate in slow-growing areas with very low recovery potential.
Some of the specific reasons why
the National Reserve Criteria designed for coastal forests are inappropriate
for use in the BBS are listed by Nix & Mackay (undated), as follows:
¨ Trees take longer to develop hollows suitable for nesting and shelter,
particularly for larger vertebrates
¨ Stands produce smaller volumes of food (foliage, nectar etc), hence a
larger area is needed to support a given sized population of herbivores and
hence the prey species
¨ Slower decomposition rates means that nutrient cycles operate over longer
time periods
¨ It follows that ecological processes take longer to recover from perturbations,
ie . they have a smaller buffering capacity and a longer response time.
They note that "the BBSB is a very high priority for conservation. It contains many ecological phenomena that have been severely degraded and component biodiversity that is threatened and endangered". They also state that none of the humid forest regions have suffered the extent of vegetation clearance experienced by the BBSB and that "reservation targets established for the humid coastal forest regions will not be relevant to the BBSB". They conclude that "the proportion of remaining open-forest and woodland reserved needs to be significantly higher. The extreme level of ecological degradation will require a major focus on ecological restoration".
Nix & Mackay note that the 15% target for forest ecosystems set down in the National Reserve Criteria "has no scientific foundation". They review potential alternatives and point out that "tree clearing legislation in Queensland recognises an important threshold at 30% retention. Theoretical considerations, backed up by field experimentation provide strong indications that 40% is a critical threshold".
Nix & Mackay conclude that "in highly fragmented landscapes all remnants are valuable and should be protected across all land tenures and land uses. The proportion of Dedicated Reserves should be maximised."
The NSW Government has failed to address this issue or to provide a set of improved criteria for the Brigalow Belt South bioregion. Therefore, the Western Conservation Alliance has referred to available literature, and using the National Reserve Criteria and the Nix & Mackay review as a basis, have proposed the amended criteria for application in the region in Table 2. The Western Conservation Alliance has also identified relevant datasets that are currently available that should be used to implement each criterion.
The National Reserve Criteria also
refer repeatedly to the aim of meeting each criteria in secure reserve areas
from public land. However, in highly fragmented landscapes it must be accompanied
by a genuine, integrated conservation framework which protects values on other
tenures (Nix & Mackay undated).
|
BASIS |
PROPOSED AMENDED CRITERIA |
IMPLEMENTATION IN THE BBS |
|
JANIS Criterion 1 |
As a general criterion, 30% of the pre-1750 distribution of each forest ecosystem should be protected in the CAR reserve system" |
Apply criterion to Joint Vegetation Mapping Project (JVMP) outputs. |
|
JANIS Criterion 2/3 |
All remaining occurrences of vulnerable, rare and endangered forest ecosystems should be reserved as a priority, or protected by other means where that is not immediately possible. Vulnerable ecosystems should include ecosystems which are subject to threatening processes that have serious impacts on habitat values. |
Apply JANIS definition of rare, endangered and vulnerable ecosystems with expert input, including information on threatening processes and their impact on ecosystem attributes. Use existing API map types to map endangered ecological communities. Use analogous JVMP types or woody community models to depict endangered ecological communities in unmapped areas and apply appropriate target. |
|
JANIS Criterion 4 |
Reserved areas should be replicated across the geographic range of the forest ecosystem |
Use of C-plan spatial indices to test and report on the extent to which ecosystems have been reserved across their range. Alternatively, use of BBS provinces to provide sub-regionalisation. |
|
JANIS Criterion 5 |
The reserve system should seek to maximise the area of high quality habitat for all known elements of biodiversity wherever practicable |
Use models for fauna and flora as highest priority, since they represent best possible surrogates for biodiversity. Identify population boundaries and set targets based on population parameters after expert input (Possingham 1998, Burgman et al 1998). Apply targets on a population by population basis. |
|
Particular reference should be given to: areas of high species diversity, natural refugia for flora and fauna, and centres of endemism |
High species diversity – sum model groups, identify cut-points for high diversity, and set appropriate targets for protection in c-plan. Refugia – include the following types as refugia; rainforest, rocky outcrops, wetlands, riparian, alpine, mallee, native grasslands, heath, banksia, swamps, paperbark, casuarina (see EA 1999). Centres of endemism – identify endemic flora and fauna species, use models where appropriate (ie Pilliga mouse) or density/species richness analysis based on point data for endemic species to identify centres. |
|
|
Particular reference should be given to the special needs of rare, vulnerable or endangered species |
1) Use good quality fauna models – set areal targets using the Possingham approach (EA 1999b), identify population boundaries and apply target by population. 2) Use all significant fauna locality information in C-plan – set targets based on percentage of localities 3) Use good quality rare plant models – set areal targets using the population area formula developed by Burgman et al 1998 and described in EA 1999b, identify population boundaries and apply target by population. 4) Use all significant plant locality information in C-plan – buffer and set areal targets based on percentage of localities (see Environment Australia 1999b) |
|
|
Particular reference should be given to special groups of organisms, for example species with complex habitat requirements, or migratory or mobile species |
Map eucalypt communities with seasonally significant flowering periods for migratory birds. Map wetlands. Apply 100% target. |
|
|
Particular reference should be given to those species whose distributions and habitat requirements are not well correlated with any particular forest ecosystem |
Inclusion of woody community models in c-plan with targets applied as per criteria 1 & 2; those that are well-correlated will simply be picked up along with the JVMP type, those that are not will warrant attention. |
|
|
JANIS Criterion 6 |
Reserves should be large enough to sustain the viability, quality and integrity of populations. |
1) As per proposal above on needs of rare, vulnerable and endangered species. Emphasis must be on the development of core reserves in large patches as a priority. Reserves must be developed by building cores first and then identifying and building connections and protecting remnants. 2) Use spatial indices in C-plan to design spatially appropriate reserve options and to measure and report outcomes with regard to spatial viability and design principles. |
|
JANIS Criterion 7 |
To ensure representativeness, the reserve system should, as far as possible, sample the full range of biological variation within each forest ecosystem, by sampling the range of environmental variation typical of its geographic range and sampling its range of successional stages. |
1) Use provinces to subregionalise targets for ecosystems. 2) Use of C-plan spatial indices to test and report on the extent to which variation has been reserved across the range. |
|
JANIS Criterion 8 |
In fragmented landscapes, remnants that contribute to sampling the full range of biodiversity are vital parts of a forest reserve system. The areas should be identified and protected as part of the development of integrated regional conservation strategies. |
Use of vegetation dissimilarity information alluded to in targeted flora project to identify remnants that are most dissimilar from other ecosystems. Use of vegetation patch size and continuity analysis to identify areas of high importance for connectivity. Map dissimilar remnants and areas of high connectivity and include with target. |
|
JANIS Old Growth Criterion |
Where old-growth forest is rare or depleted (generally less than 10% of the extant distribution) within a forest ecosystem, all viable examples should be protected, wherever possible. |
Use available data on forest condition such as logging history, api condition mapping where available and plot data to derive a forest condition layer. Maximise representation of the older stages in heavily depleted, commercial woodland types. |
|
For other forest ecosystems, 60% of the old-growth forest identified at the time of assessment would be protected |
||
|
JANIS Wilderness Criterion |
Ninety percent, or more if practicable, of the area of high quality wilderness that meet minimum area requirements should be protected in reserves |
Apply wilderness targets to final combined wilderness layer. |