ordinary meeting of council to be held on tuesday, 18 july 2006

Feral Animal Control
The fox bating control program has <strong>be</strong>en ongoing since 2000. The periods <strong>of</strong> bating
this year were in August 2005 and May 2006. This program is a joint initiative <strong>of</strong> 12
Council’s in the northern region <strong>of</strong> Sydney, the Department <strong>of</strong> Environment and
Conservation and Taronga Zoo. The success <strong>of</strong> the bating program is <strong>be</strong>coming
evident with the increase in the sightings <strong>of</strong> swamp wallabies and lyrebirds.
In response <strong>to</strong> ongoing concerns about the impact <strong>of</strong> feral birds on local biodiversity,
Council with the other northern regional Council’s will <strong>be</strong> launching a pilot program
<strong>to</strong> trap Indian/ Common Mynah birds in June 2006. Initially this will focus on private
lands in partnership with interested residents and Council. As part <strong>of</strong> the program a
brochure will <strong>be</strong> developed <strong>to</strong> raise awareness <strong>of</strong> this pest species, what is <strong>be</strong>ing done
about it and what residents can do <strong>to</strong> help reduce local population.
Moni<strong>to</strong>ring
Council has continued ongoing moni<strong>to</strong>ring <strong>of</strong> aquatic macro-invertebrates in the Lane
Cove and Middle Harbour catchments. Sampling was undertaken in Decem<strong>be</strong>r 2005
for Lane Cove and Middle Harbour with the autumn sampling <strong>to</strong> occur over the
coming weeks. Results will <strong>be</strong> published in the 2005/06 State <strong>of</strong> the Environment
Report and will <strong>be</strong> available on Council’s web site.
KPI – Adopt a measure for Biodiversity.
To supplement this data set and <strong>to</strong> provide a greater understanding <strong>of</strong> our riparian and
other bushland systems a terrestrial macro invertebrate moni<strong>to</strong>ring program has <strong>be</strong>en
developed in partnership with Macquarie University. This program combined with
the results <strong>of</strong> the terrestrial and aquatic macro-invertebrate sampling with the existing
fauna and vegetation data <strong>to</strong> give an improved picture <strong>of</strong> the health <strong>of</strong> bushland areas
over time. A summary <strong>of</strong> the methodology is included as Attachment 1 <strong>to</strong> this report.
The first sampling program will assess the health <strong>of</strong> a num<strong>be</strong>r <strong>of</strong> bushland sites
including those <strong>be</strong>ing regenerated with the second program <strong>to</strong> determine the condition
<strong>of</strong> a range <strong>of</strong> riparian environments. The first round <strong>of</strong> samples from 20 sites was
undertaken in January 2006 and a report on a report on the findings is in preparation.
This will <strong>be</strong> reported <strong>to</strong> the Bushland, Catchments and Natural Areas advisory
committee and will <strong>be</strong> included in the annual State <strong>of</strong> the Environment Report.
KPI – Reduce the percentage <strong>of</strong> bushland that is severely degraded by weeds.
In 1996 Council commenced a program <strong>to</strong> map the presence and density <strong>of</strong> weeds
across ground, mid and canopy layers within bushland areas. The data has <strong>be</strong>en
aggregated <strong>to</strong> produce a weed density score ranging from severely degraded <strong>to</strong> having
little <strong>to</strong> no weeds. The mapping has usually occurred on a three year rotation based
on water catchments. Analysis <strong>of</strong> the data over the past 10 years has indicated an
average improvement <strong>to</strong> each weed density categories <strong>of</strong> around one percent per year.
Environmental fac<strong>to</strong>rs such as high rainfall years have impacted on this trend due <strong>to</strong>
limiting the hazard reduction burning activities, increasing nutrients and run<strong>of</strong>f peak
events and in turn reducing the num<strong>be</strong>r <strong>of</strong> day’s operational staff and contrac<strong>to</strong>rs can
work on regeneration sites. Attachment 2 provides an analysis <strong>of</strong> the data on
vegetation conditions from 1997 <strong>to</strong> 2003. Mapping this year has focused on the 24
sites within the bush regeneration program.
Ku-ring-gai Council Summary <strong>of</strong> programs within the Sustainability and Natural
Environment sections 2005/2006
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