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

6.6 RARE FAUNARare faunahave beencompiledfrom several datasetscollated within the region(Chafer etal. 1999,Mills andAssociates2000,NPWS2002b,MillsandAssociates2006b, DECC2007a). There has beencomparativelylesssystematic fauna surveyacrosstheIllawarra thanfor flora, asaresultthere is lessunderstandingof rare faunaspecies.Given theactivemembershipof the IllawarraBird ObserversClub,there ismore known aboutbirds thanother fauna groups in the region.Appendix 9 containsthe list ofrare faunacompiledfor the Illawarra.6.7 FAUNA HABITATSFaunadataacross the regionisvery variable. Fauna data ismore available forthe northof the region,withfewer records andlesssystematicstudies available in Shellharbour andKiamaLGAs.Giventhispaucityof consistent faunadataacrossthe Illawarra, broad vegetationclasseswere usedas anindicatorof threatenedfauna habitats.Habitattypeswere used that hadbeendefinedin recentstudies (DECC2007a,DECC 2007d). Thehabitat approachisoftenmore practical compared withaspecies-by-speciesapproach, especially whenthere aremanythreatenedspeciesinan area(DECC 2007a), andanabsenceof systematic survey data.Each threatenedfaunaspecies recordedfor theregionhas beenassignedto itspredominant habitattype basedonknowledgeof their distributions described in existingliterature (DECC 2007a,DECC2007d, and NPWS 2003b).The full listofspeciesby habitat canbeseenat Appendix 10.6.8 VEGETATION COMMUNITIESThere are threemajor landformtypes inthe Illawarra: the coastal plain; IllawarraEscarpment; andplateau, comprising the WoronoraandBudderoo Plateaux.Eachlandform gives rise to differentgeologiesandclimate, leading to avery high diversity ofvegetation types.The coastalplainis highly urbanisedin the northof the region, andprogressivelymore ruraltowards thesouth.Mostof the vegetationof the coastalplain hasbeen cleared, andwhat little remains ismostlylistedas EEC. There remain scatteredremnantsof grassy woodlands, wetlands,saltmarsh,rocky coastalheadlandsanddune vegetation.Mostof thecoastalplainis flat andmildly undulating withvolcanichillsgiving rise to dry andsubtropical rainforests.The Escarpment slopes are mostly vegetated withmoist eucalypt forests and rainforests,whichprovideascenic backdropto thecoastal plain.The WoronoraandBudderoosandstone plateaux beyond the Escarpmentinclude another suiteofvegetation typesincludingwoodlands, heaths, uplandswamps,shale forests andshelteredgully forests.Table 15 shows thedistributionof extant(current) vegetation acrossthe councilareasof theIllawarra.Table 15:Proportionofvegetatedlands acrossthe Illawarra RegionKiama Shellharbour Wollongong IllawarraRegionLGA totalarea(ha) 25,791 14,759 68,437 108,987Totalvegetation(ha) 12,841 5,309 47,666 65,816%of LGA 50 36 72 100% ofIllawarra region 12 5 44 60ILLAWARRA BIODIVERSITYSTRATEGYVol.2Background document 24