Declared Rare and Poorly Known Flora in the Geraldton District

PART FOUR: THE PLAN FOR MANAGEMENTThe objective of this Wildlife Management Program is to ensure and enhance, by appropriate management, thecontinued survival in the wild of populations of Declared Rare Flora and other plants in need of special protection.1. Determining PrioritiesPart Two assesses the abundance and conservation status of each Declared Rare Flora taxon within the GeraldtonDistrict and makes recommendations for protection, research and management. On the basis of these recommendations,each taxon was ranked on a scale of 0 to 3 under 17 categories recognised as potential threats or management andresearch requirements (Table 1). Taxa with no threat or urgency for management and research action were given ascore of 0. Those with a high degree of threat were allocated a score of 3. The scores were summed for each of the 35taxa and for each threat/requirement category. Table 1 summarises the perceived threats, and management and researchrequirements for each Declared Rare Flora in the District.Table 2 lists the 35 Declared Rare Flora in priority order according to the urgency of their requirement for protectionand management action. Taxa with a high ranking score are most threatened and/or most in need of action. It isintended that all requirements for each taxon, as outlined in the previous species treatments, will be implemented.Work will be conducted, programmed or deferred according to priority, available funds and existing resources andworkloads. Attention is directed to Table 2 to determine with which taxon action should commence. This will enableresources and staff within the Geraldton District to be allocated where most urgently required.Taxa most in need of attention for a particular management or research requirement can be determined from Table 1.Ranking the categories illustrates which threats/requirements are the most critical in the Geraldton District. The tableindicates those taxa that are (or may be) threatened by particular activities, in addition to providing for continuedresearch and management once requirements listed for the critically threatened taxa are fulfilled.2. Management and Research ActionsOverall rankings of threatened taxa based on the 17 categories of threat, management requirements and researchrequirements (Table 1) are shown in Table 2. These data suggest that the following taxa warrant immediatemanagement and research action:Beyeria lepidopetalaEucalyptus synandraCaladenia elegansGlyceria drummondiiCaladenia wanosaGrevillea christineaeConostylis dielsii subsp. teresHalosarcia bulbosaConostylis micrantha Pterostylis sp. Northampton (S.D.Hopper 3349)Darwinia masoniiVerticordia spicata subsp. squamosaEremophila niveaSpecific management or research actions for all threatened flora in the Geraldton District are outlined below.(i)SurveyFurther survey of suitable habitat for new populations is a requirement for many of the Declared Rare Flora in theGeraldton District. Some taxa are in need of urgent attention, either because of the small number or size of knownpopulations, or their poor representation in conservation reserves. Some are in need of resurvey of known populationswhich have not been visited within the last ten years, or where insufficient data are available. In the more easterly partof the District, there are few conservation reserves and for this reason, Grevillea inconspicua has remained declared asRare Flora, although it is known from many populations with a large total number of plants.Taxa in most urgent need of further survey are:Beyeria lepidopetalaChorizema humileLeucopogon marginatusMenkea draboides(ii)Population Size and Few Populations25