Welcome to the Winter 2020 Lismore Biodiversity E-news
Our big news this winter is the Revised Biodiversity Management Strategy 2015 - 2035 is now available to download. COVID-19 restrictions are still impacting on our events. This means our Rural Landholder Initiative Field Days are postponed until a little later in the year when we can invite enough landholders along to make them viable.
The team stepped out for a walk around Terania Creek recently to look at how the vegetation is recovering since the fires last November. Scroll down for more and some photographs from the day.
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Introducing the Revised Biodiversity Management Strategy (BMS)
Council’s Environmental Strategies team has completed two documents for the first four-year review of the BMS 2015-2035 for Lismore:
Biodiversity Management Strategy 2015-2035: Year 4 Operational Review Report
Outlines the approach to the review, including engagement with key stakeholders, an overview of revisions undertaken in the BMS, progress against all 63 BMS actions over the last five years and where they sit in the revised BMS, as well as collated responses from the Your Say survey with external stakeholders.
Biodiversity Management Strategy 2015-2035: Revised 2nd Edition
Updated with relevant changes in knowledge, legislation and administration since the original BMS was adopted, reduced duplication in the content, a new strategic framework and actions that focus on a five-year period before the next review.
While the overall direction of the BMS has not changed, some key revisions include a redefined framework that aims to more clearly convey the links between the overall goals, strategies and objectives. There are 75 specific actions that are identified for implementation over the next five years.
The goals of the BMS are to:
- Develop a greater understanding of the flora and fauna, habitats and ecological processes of the area and their value
- Identify and mitigate the pressures on these biodiversity values
- Improve the broader community’s awareness of biodiversity through education and engagement activities
- Foster partnerships with and build capacity for rural landholders, industry and community groups to improve biodiversity stewardship on private lands
- Foster partnerships with and build capacity for community groups to protect and improve biodiversity on Council-managed public lands
- Promote a landscape connectivity approach as the basis for managing biodiversity and building landscape resilience to climate change
- Embed the principles of ecologically sustainable development into planning processes
- Provide a long-term strategic framework to guide on-the-ground actions that lead to measurable biodiversity outcomes
- Foster an adaptive management approach so that the strategy can continuously improve on its delivery
The figure below shows a visual overview of the BMS framework, outlining strategies for biodiversity protection and enhancement across three program areas – Internal, Rural and Urban.
The documents are now available from the Council website at https://www.lismore.nsw.gov.au/cp_themes/default/page.asp?p=DOC-WHG-36-21-02
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Terania Creek Bushfire Recovery
Recently the Environmental Strategies team met up with Nan Nicholson and Hannah Rice-Hayes to have a look at how the vegetation has responded to the Terania Creek bushfires. We walked up the hillside on the Nicholson property opposite Protestors Falls and could see the patches of burnt bush above the falls and along the ridgelines on both sides of the valley.
 
Protestors Falls Wendy Neilan and Nan Nicholson
Nan had walked in the Terania Basin several times since the fires and noted that the fire was mostly restricted to sclerophyll areas dominated by eucalypts, Brush Box, casuarinas or Turpentine.
Fires in the rainforest areas were usually due to one of the tall sclerophyll trees burning and falling into the rainforest. Sadly, losing the old sclerophyll trees is a disaster for the wildlife which depend on these old trees with hollows for nesting or roosting, such as the gliders and large birds including owls. Roughly half of the smaller eucalypts on the slopes survived and are showing good epicormic growth with lush new foliage.
A lot of the understory was fully consumed and some of the Bangalow Palms which are a feature of the Terania Basin ignited due to the dry fronds, causing intense heat and literally boiling them.
Species which have fruited at the opportune time post-fire can cause changes to the floristic diversity and structure of the forest. The fruiting tree might have been a small component of the original forest but become a much more dominant species of the recovering forest. Nan is working with other local botanists to record plant recruitment and recovery in survey plots. At this stage the trajectory of the recovering areas of the forest is unknown but there is concern about the potential for weeds to establish.
The Conversation website has a special feature on the east coast fires called Flora, Fauna, Fire with links to articles authored by various researchers from around Australia, including Dr David Newell from Southern Cross University. Go to https://bushfires2020.netlify.app/#Main
 
Walking up the fire-trail on the Nicholson property Tree ferns are prominent against the blackened trees
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Aussie Backyard Bird Count 2020
Lismore City Council has signed up for the 2020 Aussie Backyard Bird Count and is encouraging our keen bird watching residents to get involved again this October. Last year we had 772 local people participate and we’d love to see just as many people get involved this year.
The Aussie Backyard Bird Count has grown to be the biggest citizen science project in the country and is the flagship citizen science project for BirdLife Australia. They are a national charity which aims to promote the protection and appreciation of native birds and to stop bird extinctions, tackled through community engagement and science-based conservation projects.
If you can't wait until October to get out there counting or just want to learn more about the wonderful native birds and some fun activities you can get involved in your own backyard watching birds then visit the Birds in Backyard webpage by clicking here
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Rural Landholder Field Days
Our Rural Landholder Initiative Field Day program for 2020 has been interrupted by COVID-19 with most of our upcoming events postponed until gatherings can accommodate more than twenty attendees. With up to ten inspiring demonstrators, expert speakers and landholders at each of our events, a limit of twenty people means we can only have ten local landholders along, while a typical event caters for forty people or more.
Inspections of properties have restarted with a new COVID-19 risk assessment for property visits. Rural Landholder Initiative Extension Officer Kate Steel has been out and about meeting with local rural landholders to fine tune their projects and to look at the work carried out on current partnership project sites.
The next three field days may have limited numbers and will be targeted at the local community and neighbouring landholders. They will suit rural landholders battling weeds in the mid-catchment creeks and graziers wanting to install off-stream solar watering systems and undertake riparian restoration.
Job’s Tears and Rainforest Rehabilitation Field Day – date TBA
This event will be held in partnership with Richmond Landcare Inc. at Terania Creek. We will look at new and emerging weeds and best practice soil conservation techniques for waterways. Staff from the Soil Conservation Service will provide information on Riverstyles, a comprehensive classification system for NSW waterways in use for the last 20 years, types and causes of erosion processes, riverbank erosion treatments, licencing and approval requirements and indicative costs per lineal metre.
Rocky Creek Grazing and Fish Habitat Field Day - date TBA
This event is a partnership with North Coast Meat Co-operative, Whian Whian Landcare and Ozfish Unlimited. The host property is a stunning example of a staged approach to rainforest restoration with stock exclusion fencing along creekbanks and solar powered off-stream watering systems. There will be talks on dung beetles for soil and pasture health and improving fish habitat and downstream water quality.
Mulgum Creek Riparian Restoration Field Day - date TBA
This event will interest landholders working on upper catchment creeks to remove weeds, fence creeks, restore native vegetation and improve catchment health. We will visit several properties to look at work being undertaken by lifestyle landholders and graziers to tackle environmental weeds along Mulgum Creek, including the very invasive Barner Grass, Giant Devils Fig and Lantana. The landholders are using a mixture of weed control methods from low-chemical to standard water sensitive practices. We will hear from the landholders as well as bush regenerators on how they have tackled some very degraded sites and established diverse plantings.
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Other News
North Coast Local Land Services in conjunction with Women on the Land invite North Coast rural women to participate in this holistic decision-making workshop series.
Making good decisions is an artform - and doesn’t come naturally to all people. The process can leave you doubting your choices, feeling uncertain, or incapable of moving forward. Once you’ve made a decision, your choices can go on to impact your family, your farm and your community. So how do you know which decision is the right one for you?
Through a combination of online and face-to-face training this 2-day workshop will introduce you to the concepts of holistic decision making. You will learn how to apply a holistic framework to your decision-making process. Empower yourself to make grounded, sound decisions that consider all the influences in your life, leaving little room for ‘decision paralysis’ and resulting in a more confident, capable you.
There are 2 courses currently open for registration:
- CASINO – August 25th and 26th (plus pre-requisite webinar 6th August)
- KYOGLE – August 27th and 28th (plus pre-requisite webinar 6th August)
Registration cost: $100/person (includes catering for both workshops)
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Dampiera (Dampiera purpurea) is a multi-stemmed perennial subshrub to 1 metre tall found on rocky slopes and eucalypt forests. The bluish-purple flowers usually appear from Spring to Autumn however the image at left below was taken at Terania Creek in July. It prefers well drained soils in full or partial shade.
 
Image: V.Tallon Image: M. Fagg at Australian Plant Image Index
Forest Buttercup (Ranunculus plebeius) is an erect hairy or pilose herb to 80 centimetres found near creeks and other moist sites in forests and woodlands below 1000 metres along the east coast. The five-petalled yellow flowers usually appear in spring but are also appearing early this year.
Image: A.J. Perkins © The Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust
Sally Wattle or Blackwood (Acacia melanoxylon) is a small to large tree (6 to 30 metres) with deeply fissured dark grey bark. The species is widespread in wet sclerophyll forests and rainforest edges. Like other wattles, the flowers appear in winter and are pale yellow to white. It is a pioneer common in disturbed sites and its fast growth make it ideal for regeneration areas.
 
Image: T.M. Tame © The Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust Image: J & P Edwards © The Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust
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Your feedback and suggestions
We’d love to hear your feedback on the content of this newsletter, and your ideas on what you’d like to hear about.
If you’d like to chat to a member of the Environmental Strategies team, phone us on 1300 87 83 87.
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