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

• To minimise the impactofdevelopmenton land within andadjoining the regional corridors.Methodused toMapIllawarraBiodiversity CorridorsRegional corridors for theWollongong LGA have already beenlargely defined through existing studies(MillsandAssociates 2000, NPWS2002b,NPWS2003a, Eco Logical2004, WCC 2005,Mills andAssociates2006b, WCC 2007, DECC 2007d, andDoP 2006). They include anorth-south escarpmentmoist forest corridor, and an east-westcorridor linkage throughYallah andMarshall Mount.TheMarshallMountcorridor boundary needs to benegotiated as partof theupcoming WestDaptoLEPStage 5.Through engagement withlocalfloraandfaunaexperts and review of existingstudies, regionalcorridors to the southof Wollongong LGAwere defined. The north-southescarpmentmoistforestcorridor was extendedalong the escarpment tothe southernboundaryof KiamaLGA, andmajor eastwestlinkswerealsoidentified.The informationwhich wasconsideredin thedraftingof corridorboundariesincludes:• Aerial photography;• Bufferingofextant vegetationby 50m using SCIVImapping - whereothermapping did notexist;• Mappingof highconservation value areas (Mills andAssociates2001and 2006, NPWS2003a);• Advice from engagementwithlocal floraand fauna experts;and• Other studies which have outlinedsignificant linkages(Mills and Associates 2001,SRCMA 2008,DoP2006,WCC2007).The regional corridorsmaps are showninAppendix 1of Volume One. Asummary of the maincorridorlinks is providedbelow.Escarpment MoistForest CorridorThe escarpmentmoist forest corridorwasoriginallydefinedin theWollongong LGA from Helensburghin the north, to the Calderwood Valley inShellharbour (NPWS2003).However, the southernboundaryof thiscorridorwas definedat Calderwooddue to study area limitations.Physically, themoistforestcorridorcontinues the length ofthe Illawarra Escarpment from the Royal National Parkin the north,andcontinuesto thesouthalong the Escarpment throughShellharbour and Kiama LGAs,southto theShoalhaven, where itendsat Cambewarra.For the purposesof the Strategy, the boundarieswere delineatedonlyto Foxground to the southernboundaryof the KiamaLGA. The Escarpment supportslarge areaof native vegetationand adiversityofhabitat types, andtherefore contains alarge proportionof the biodiversityof the Illawarra(MillsandAssociates2006b). Themoist eucalyptforests providequality habitat for bird,arborealmammal, reptileand bat assemblages(NPWS 2002b).The Escarpmentcorridorprovidesthe largest, continuouscoreconservationarea in the region.Protectionand improved connectivityof thiscorridormay allow for therecolonisationof faunaspecies thatmay be locally extinctinWollongong, but areknowntooccurfurther southsuchas the Stuttering Frog and theSpotted-tailQuoll (NPWS2002b). Threatsto theIllawarraEscarpmentoccurmostly from developmentpressure in the foothills, andfrom pest animaland weedinvasion.Yallah CorridorAfew studies have attempted todefineacorridor through the Yallah-MarshallMount precinct (NPWS2002b,Eco Logical2004, WCC 2007).AGrowthCentres Commissionreport (2008) onthe WestDaptoRelease Arearecommendedreviewof thiscorridor. This corridor presentsthe mainopportunity intheILLAWARRA BIODIVERSITYSTRATEGYVol.2Background document 27