Cell Descriptions - South East Natural Resources Management Board

SE11 – Guichen Bay
Sea Eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster), Eastern Osprey (Pandion cristatus), and Little (Sternula albifrons) and
Fairy (Sternula nereis) Terns.
Benthic Habitat
Inshore bare sand runs out to low profile reef some 300 to 600m into Guichen Bay. A large
patch of bare sand off Robe encloses a number of areas of heavy limestone reef.
Land Use/ Land Ownership
Predominantly grazing land use throughout. Guichen Bay CP lies adjacent to the coast (acquired
1967, see 'Small Coastal Parks Management Plan', 1994) and has no road access. It protects only
127 ha of the vegetated dune ridges that are the dominant feature of the cell as described above.
Upper South East Marine Park (Boatswains Point to Nora Creina) extends the length of the cell.
Robe lakes and connecting Drain L are dedicated Crown land to the South East Water
Conservation and Drainage Board. The Long Beach residential part of Robe is nestled in the
southern corner of the cell, separated from the main township by the lakes and drain. South of
the CP, a narrow unallotted Crown land reserve extends around Guichen Bay and connects to a
Crown land reserve at the Robe end of Long Beach which is in the care and control of Council.
Values/ Uses (Field visits and local reports)
Long Beach is heavily utilised for recreation and is a highly travelled stretch of beach by vehicles.
Majority of the cell is used for grazing and cropping. Aboriginal Heritage values throughout.
Threats (Field visits and local reports)
Remnant coastal vegetation and the conservation park are threatened by pest plant and animal
incursion from adjacent primary production land. Inappropriate Primary Industry and Residential
(Coastal)(Frenchman Bay) development plan zoning of the foredune ridges. Native vegetation
around the Robe Lakes and Beacon Hill seriously threatened by weed invasion.
Opportunities
Development of a strategy to preserve a transect across the time series geological record of beach
ridges, from the coast to the Woakwine Range.
(The following is an extract from Slater and Farrington 2010) “There are historic records of
Southern Bell Frog in Drain L, which crosses Cell SE11 to the Robe lakes and then Guichen Bay.
Anecdotal reports from local landowners suggest the species may still be present in the area. A
detailed frog survey should be carried out of these drains to assess if the Southern Bell Frog is
still present (this should involve a minimum of three site visits and the use of frog recording
devices). Recent surveys have recorded Southern Pygmy Perch from this site (Hammer, 2009).
The connectivity of the site to Reedy Creek Wilmot Drain suggests that Dwarf Galaxias would
still be present in Drain L and K albeit in low numbers. However, this would need to be
confirmed via more thorough survey effort. In addition, a detailed survey of Drain L and K for
fish and amphibians is required to identify key refuge areas or sites that could be suitable refuge
creation.”
Conservation Analysis (GIS)
The sum of conservation means for Guichen Bay is low within the region, 84.82. The bulk of the
cell is taken up with cleared and grazed dune ridges of low conservation value, with only the
uncleared foredunes showing moderate to high conservation values; a further kilometre from the
shore, some partially cleared land has moderate totals. This pattern is reflected in the Guichen
Bay CP, which was grazed until 1967. However, the detail shows there are a number of state rare
Leucopogon shrubland associations within the dunes, also there are extensive areas of habitat
suitable for the Orange Bellied Parrot in this part of the cell.
Limestone Coast and Coorong Coastal Action Plan 403