ILLAWARRA BIODIVERSITY STRATEGY Vol. 2 - Wollongong City ...

There are anumberofother pestanimalspecies present in the region; howeverthese have notbeenlistedas theyare considered to have lesssignificant impactsonbiodiversity (DECC 2007a).Rusa, RedandFallowdeerare themostsignificantcurrent threat.Wide ranging impactsacrosstheIllawarraEscarpment include destructionof understorey vegetation.In recentyears, they have migratedfrom theRoyal NationalPark to Ulladulla, and havethe potentialtosignificantlyexpand their rangefurther south(DECC 2007a).6 BIODIVERSITY VALUESThe landformsofthe Illawarraregiongivesrisetoahighlevelof biodiversity. TheIllawarra Councilscover an areaapproximately 108,000 hectares in size.Approximately halfof thisis vegetated. Mostofthe retainedvegetationis foundon the Illawarra Escarpmentslopes and sandstone plateauwestof theescarpment,whichis largely watercatchmentland. The Illawarracoastalplain however, hasmostlybeencleared, leavingmostly isolatedremnantsof vegetationvulnerable to anumberofongoingthreats.Biodiversityvaluesappliedin the Strategy aremore fully describedbelow.6.1 ENDANGERED ECOLOGICAL COMMUNITIESThere are19 EndangeredEcological Communities (EECs)listedas threatenedunder the NSW TSC Actorthe CommonwealthEPBC Act in the Illawarra. Some are distributedacrossallthreeLGAs,others arerestrictedto particular LGAs as indicatedin Table 12.Due tothe highlevelofvegetationclearingon the coastal plainforagriculture industry and residentialdevelopment, mostvegetation typesthatoccuronthe Illawarracoastal plainare nowlistedas EECs.Other EECs alsooccuron the IllawarraEscarpment,WoronoraPlateauand MossValeTablelands. Table12 providesalistof the EECsand the prioritisationofthosecommunitiesbasedonanassessmentof thelevelof threatto thecommunity, andpopulationstatus. This assessmentmethodwas adoptedfromDECC(2008b), however, withafocuson the Illawarraregion.Appendix 3provides further informationon the distributionofEECs.Table 12:EndangeredEcologicalCommunities (EECs) of theIllawarraEndangered EcologicalCommunity(EEC)TSCActEPBCActWollongongLGAShellharbourLGAKiamaLGAPrioritiesBangalay Sand Forest yes * * * HighCoastalSaltmarsh yes * * * HighFreshwater Wetlandson Coastal yes * * * HighFloodplainsIllawarraLowlands GrassyWoodland yes * * * Highestin the Sydney BasinBioregionIllawarraSubtropicalRainforest in yes * * * HighestSydney BasinBioregionLittoral Rainforest (TSCAct); LittoralRainforest andCoastalVine Thicketsof Eastern Australia(EPBCAct)yes yes * * * HighILLAWARRA BIODIVERSITYSTRATEGYVol.2Background document 21