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

Estuaries inthe Illawarra are managedunder estuarymanagementprograms.EachCouncil isguidedbyan estuarymanagement program which defines priority actions,includingactions relevanttobiodiversity,in theestuaries under its responsibility.Table 19:Estuary ManagementPlansLGAWollongongLGAShellharbour LGAKiama LGAEstuaryManagementPlansEstuary Management Planfor EstuaryManagement Study andPlanfor Fairy,Towradgi, Hewitts andTramway Creeks 2005.Estuary Management Planfor SeveralWollongongCreeksandLagoons2007.This addresses the following estuaries: TomThumbLagoon (includingSpringhillandJ.J.Kelly catchments; BellambiLagoon; BellambiGully (including FarraharsCreek catchment); CollinsCreek; WhartonsCreek; Slacky Creek; FlanagansCreek(including Thomas GibsonCreek); Stoney Creek; Stanwell Creek; andHargravesCreek.ElliotLake Estuary ManagementPlan2003.MinnamurraRiver Estuary ManagementPlan2003.CrookedRiver EstuaryManagementPlan2003.7 PRIORITISING RESTORATIONWORKS ON PUBLICLANDAs partof theStrategy, anassessmentof the biodiversityvaluesof publiclandsunder Council care andcontrol (Community andCrownland)was undertakento identify priority sites forundertaking bushrestoration.Through engagement withthe biodiversity reference group, ahierarchyofvariables wasidentifiedtoprioritise those siteswith the highest biodiversityvalue. Eachof thesevariableswas classifiedtoenableasystematic rankingofsites and their relativevalues.The rankingwas basedonacombinationofvariables includingvegetationtype, connectivity (presence within aregional corridor), patchsize, andtype ofexistingmanagement.Eachvariablewas classified withdifferentscore weightingsas shown inTable 20.Priority vegetationtypes were deemedto havethe highest importance indeterminingpriority sites.Once the priorityvegetation types were identified, these werecombined withthe othervariables.Theexistingmanagementregime was alsoincludedso that current efforts wouldbeacknowledged.Table 20:Assessmentmatrix fordeterminingpriorities for protectionand restorationof publiclandsVariablePriority VegetationScoringapproachPriority1=4Priority2=2= 2 ifintersects withmapped regionalcorridorConnectivityPatchsize >10ha =32-10ha = 1