VEGETATION MANAGEMENT PLAN for Bidjigal Reserve - Land

Vegetation Management Plan - Bidjigal ReserveFire regimes which are expected to benefit the vegetation community present on a site may notaddress the neighbouring residents need for asset protection. Detailed planning and research willbe required to address the obligation of the Trust to manage fire in the Reserve for both assetprotection and biodiversity. It is certainly possible to present such information in a comprehensiveBushfire Management Plan, prepared jointly by fully qualified and experienced experts in bushfiremanagement and plant ecology.Much scientific literature on this topic is now available. The text Flammable Australia edited by RossA. Bradstock, Jann E. Williams and A. Malcolm Gill gives a valuable synthesis of much of this workover the past 50 years. The impact of fire on dry sclerophyll forest communities in western Sydneyby Penny Watson’s PhD thesis (UWS 1995) provides valuable information for the management ofnative bushland in the urban environment. Both texts are highly recommended for further study.Changes to the ‘natural’ fire regime in urban bushland, and the resultant floristic impacts have beendiscussed more fully in Section 6.12.2 of the VMP.A Bushfire Management Plan has been prepared for the whole of Baulkham Hills Shire by Rod Rose(2003 & 2005). The Rose Report focused primarily on APZ design, and did not identify the location,width or indeed, the on-going management of individual APZs in Bidjigal Reserve. Further, as thisPlan was prepared some time ago, it needs to be updated, or revised in light of the comments madeabove about marrying bushfire management to plant community dynamics.A comprehensive and user friendly bushfire management plan will provide recommendations on asite by site basis; determining the location and width of APZs in a particular site or area; prescribingthe extent of clearing or under-scrubbing required; and providing a timetable for maintenance. Theplan should also take account of ecological issues, such as the presence of threatened ecologicalcommunities and their optimal fire regimes, and for flora species, its fire sensitivity (if known).The bushfire plan should include a visual representation of each APZ, trails and tracks - possiblybeing colour-coded to provide priority ranking of their importance to bushfire management in theReserve. This ranking should then be compared with the condition of existing breaks and tracks,therefore allowing for maintenance planning and upgrading (as required).6.11 Others Issues for Consideration6.11.1 Feral Animal ControlRabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) are a particular problem in bushland because of their burrowinghabit, which threatens the integrity of a range of landforms and also of constructions such asfootpaths and footbridges. Other non-native fauna likely to occur in local bushland reserves includethe domestic cat (Felis catus), domestic dog (Canis familiaris), European Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) 14and Black Rat (Rattus rattus).14 Note predation by the European Red Fox has been declared as a ‘Key Threatening Process’ under the Schedules of theNSW TSC ActUBM Ecological Consultants Pty Ltd 126