Saving our Species Update

This species of moth feeds on rotting fruit and, although nocturnal, it is not thought to be strongly attracted to light. It is rarely recorded in surveys which is reflected in the small number of localities recorded in the NSW Wildlife Atlas (two only) and its listing as endangered in NSW and nationally. It is categorised as a data-deficient species by the Saving our Species program.

The Bellingen area on the state’s north coast is considered a southern outlier for the species with a core range from about Ballina in northern NSW to Nambour in south-east Queensland. The moth was known from two specimens (recorded in 1973 and 1990) from the Bellingen region which were lodged with the Australian Museum. In 2006, the caterpillar was found near Bellingen by the Australian Museum’s David Britton following a tip from a local botanist on the location of the food plant, the rainforest vine Carronia multisepalea. This was the first time a southern pink underwing moth caterpillar had been found in the region.

After the 2006 find, the species was recorded again in 2007 and 2008, followed by an isolated record in 2011. As part of a broader conservation effort, a group of skilled and enthusiastic butterfly and moth volunteers from the Lepidoptera Conservation Group of North East NSW decided to focus on finding greater numbers of the species by targeting the Carronia vine Carronia multisepalea and regularly scouring the vines for the caterpillar. Success came last December and again in March this year, although the numbers of caterpillars found remains small.

The group is also investigating the propagation and reproductive biology of Carronia multisepalea, following up and documenting moth sightings in NSW, and planning to trial survey methods for adult moths.

Bankstown City Council’s efforts include the Community Creating Corridors program to connect areas of bushland as well as tree planting days for residents. These initiatives have reintroduced habitat not only for the powerful owl, but also its prey, such as the ringtail possum, brushtail possum and sugar glider. The planting of native grasses to help build the populations of native rats, and other small marsupials, has also been a focus of these popular and successful initiatives, particularly at Walshaw, Manuka and Maclean reserves.

Another long running initiative is Bankstown City Council’s Nest Box program which has been running for ten years. This program has further supported Bankstown’s powerful owls by providing a number of possum and glider species with additional habitat and breeding quarters. Building on that success, Bankstown City Council’s draft Nest Box Management Plan aims to identify additional opportunities and monitoring actions to ensure this important project flourishes.

The Nest Box program has also seen the establishment of little lorikeet (Glossopsitta pusilla) nest boxes in various reserves. The little lorikeet is another threatened species highly likely to benefit from this program. By conserving top order predators Bankstown City Council hopes to increase the population of other species and, through doing so, return a more natural balance to Bankstown’s ecosystems.

Bankstown City Council looks forward to engaging with the Office of Environment and Heritage’s Saving our Species program. This may include the establishment of suitable nest boxes to further reinvigorate Bankstown’s threatened species, particularly the powerful owl and the little lorikeet. It may also include the construction of raptor nesting poles for a suite of threatened raptors found in Bankstown, namely the osprey, spotted harrier and little eagle.

Bankstown City Council is proud of the place the powerful owl, Australia’s largest owl, has in the ecosystem and history of the region with the first recorded sighting from along one of the Georges River tributaries in 1853.

In 2012, fewer than 350 mature individuals were known across a range of 4.3 kilometres. No individuals were known in conservation areas. Since 2012, 57 hectares of North Rothbury persoonia habitat has been conserved, predominately through private conservation initiatives including offset lands resulting from property development. These sites are protected from clearing and grazing and weeds have been controlled. The Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) have also been engaging with local landholders to provide conservation advice and to undertake additional population surveys for the plant.

Based on the most recent surveys, 271 plants have been recorded with 164 recorded in five conservation sites, 101 in Crown road reserves, and the remaining six plants are currently unprotected. It is also estimated that there are an additional 200 plants in a conservation site which will be surveyed by OEH in 2015. Other sites are known to exist on private land. OEH is working closely with landholders to achieve positive conservation outcomes for all populations.

Importantly, the latest surveys of the conservation sites show that notable recruitment of new plants has occurred. Seedlings less than 15 cm high through to plants up to 2 m have been recorded. Approximately 80 per cent of these plants were found to be flowering and 25 per cent had fruit.

During the surveys, incidental observations were made of insect pollination and dispersal of seeds in bird droppings. The droppings, believed to be from a resident satin bowerbird, contained persoonia seeds which showed signs of germination.

OEH is looking to further strengthen numbers through a translocation and propagation program being coordinated with the Mount Annan Botanic Gardens. The first trial translocation is scheduled for June 2015, with an anticipated 360 plants to be introduced into the wild over three years. The Mount Annan Botanic Gardens is also experimenting with seed storage and germination techniques to better understand the conservation requirements of this species.

The study area comprised some 44 579 hectares, of which 8 per cent is national parks and nature reserves, 36 per cent state forests, 2 percent Crown land and 54 per cent private tenure. The study comprised two methods:

• an assessment of all available koala records across all land tenures

• systematic field-based surveys across all private lands.

An analysis of 878 koala records in the NSW Wildlife Atlas was undertaken to determine trends in distribution and persistence of koalas over time and 134 survey sites were completed. A total of 3541 trees were sampled with 105 trees recording a koala scat at 38 of the surveyed sites. Eight individual koalas were sighted during the surveys. An assessment of key threats on koalas was also undertaken.

The study found that the Bellingen coastal area has a long history of land clearing / ringbarking for agriculture and forestry which has significantly altered the availability and quality of habitat for koalas. A significant koala population, however, still persists particularly in the area north and north-east of Bellingen town and out to the coast. In this area there is recorded evidence of koala persistence over six koala generations or a period of 36 years. Unfortunately, some areas in the study showed a trend of decline. In the south-east coastal part of the local government area, the analysis of koala records showed a historical and more recent small number of koalas persisting. More research is required to determine the size and viability of the koala population in this area.

Observed occupancy rates calculated from the records analysis (30.65 per cent) and the field surveys (28.36 per cent) are below the accepted optimal 50 per cent level, but are similar to those observed for other north coast studies. This means that some areas of habitat remain unoccupied.

The results, outcomes and recommendation of the study were used to inform the preparation of the draft Comprehensive Koala Plan of Management for the coastal area of Bellingen Shire Council. For more information contact OEH Senior Threatened Species Officer John Turbill by email or phone (02) 6659 8224.

It is a very attractive plant and is confined to the beds of ephemeral lakes and their fringes in south-eastern Australia.

The new population was found on a dry lake-bed on private land near Dalgety in the Snowy Mountains area of NSW. Coincidentally, this property has recently been sold to the NSW Nature Conservation Trust. The site is now in the process of having a management plan and in-perpetuity conservation covenant developed for it. This means that the new population will be the first in NSW to have permanent security.

Monitoring and management actions at two other NSW populations are continuing. Actions have included fencing to exclude rabbits and wombats, as well as weed control of serrated tussock at Lake Bathurst and African lovegrass at Maffra Lake. These sites are both on public land. The only other known NSW site, up until late last year, was on private land. The two populations on private land have both been visited by Office of Environment and Heritage ecologists and both have been assessed as being secure in terms of their weed and grazing management. Both populations are on properties managed by farming families that apply sustainable land management principles.

Visit our video gallery to watch an evocative video on the Omeo stork’s-bill.

The first plantings of this species into the wild date back to 1993 when staff from the Australian National Botanic Gardens undertook small trial plantings on several properties in the Goobarragandra River valley. One of these plantings has done particularly well - expanding from six plants to now 350 adult and sub-adult plants. In 2000, as part of the recovery program for the species, the Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) commenced an enrichment planting project on a private land site where 13 natural plants survived.

Over the next few years, 50 new individuals were successfully established and by 2005 the first recruitment from seedlings was observed. Following this success, plantings at two other sites (one private land, the other public land) within the natural range of the species commenced in 2010. Plantings at all sites progressed very well until a record flood event struck in March 2012. The flood washed away 80 per cent of the plantings at the two new planting sites as well most of the riparian zone plantings at the initial OEH planting site. The flood also destroyed approximately 50 per cent of the original natural population which is now reduced to about 200 plants.

Fortunately at the first planting site, over half the plantings extended up a low ridge adjoining the river and so, despite the flood, there are now over 70 adult plants (planted and naturally recruited) established there – a major nett increase on the 13 original plants at the site. The 2012 flood event led to a revised planting strategy which is now targeting suitable habitat above the level of the 2012 flood.

Since 2012, with the assistance of Saving our Species funding, another 80 grevillea plants have been established at the two most recent planting sites and it is hoped that within a few years natural recruitment will also occur there. Thanks to the horticultural skills of OEH Senior Threatened Species Officer Dave Hunter, the challenge of growing grevillea seedlings from seed has been solved. So now, rather than using cuttings, the use of plants grown from seed has significantly improved the robustness of the planting material and the survival rates of the seedlings. Additional plantings are planned for both the existing planting sites and for some new sites.

Over the past two years, the SoS program has provided funding to increase our understanding of the current status of Sloane’s froglet across its range in NSW, and initiate a proactive conservation program for the species. Funding was provided to Charles Sturt University PhD student Alexandra Knight to produce a booklet outlining the critical habitat requirements for Sloane’s froglet in the Thurgoona area of Albury. Since Thurgoona supports the most extensive Sloane’s froglet population known in NSW, this booklet will be invaluable for guiding sympathetic land management practices that maintain suitable habitat for this species.

Another project undertaken using OEH SoS funds for Sloane’s froglet was to assess gilgai wetlands in the Thurgoona area of Albury. A gilgai is a small ephemeral lake formed from a depression in the soil surface by expanding clay soils. The objective was to assess the current condition of these wetlands and to determine if they were part of the ‘Seasonal Herbaceous Wetlands’ vegetation community listed under the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. Gilgais often provide important breeding habitat for Sloane’s froglet, and the project will help maintain this important resource by identifying threats and management issues.

An important component of the Sloane’s froglet data-deficient project was to increase our understanding of where Sloane’s froglet was persisting in NSW. During the winter of 2014, OEH staff undertook surveys for Sloane’s froglet in the southern half of NSW, covering historic known localities, and new areas with potentially suitable habitat. Sloane’s froglet was found in very few locations, a semi-contiguous population from Albury to Corowa, and a small population to the west of Tocumwal. The plan for winter 2015 is to assess the current distribution of Sloane’s froglet in the northern half of NSW.

It seems likely that Sloane’s froglet has a highly restricted distribution in NSW, and that the majority of extant populations occur in areas subject to a range of urban, industrial, and agricultural land management practices. Given this, the conservation of Sloane’s froglet will rely on effective engagement with the community to foster a sympathetic approach to land management that ensures the persistence of high quality habitat for this species across the landscape.

Heather was a member of various birding groups in the Northern Rivers area and became involved in bird monitoring and school education programs. She kept a tireless vigil on the beach nesting pied oystercatchers and beach stone-curlews at their nest sites in the Brunswick and Richmond rivers estuaries, especially during the breeding season. When in 2010 a pair of the critically endangered beach stone-curlews successfully nested, Heather took on the role of surrogate mother and the chick banded A1 can thank her for its life.

As part of the Byron Bird Buddies education programs and in collaboration with the Northern Rivers Regional Shorebird Group, Heather was responsible for the design of the ‘Shorebirds of Ballina Shire’ sign, now erected at key wader sites. These signs have been transformed and are now also erected in other shires from the Tweed Coast right down to the Clarence River and beyond. From this sign design, thousands of brochures have been printed and distributed through tourist information centres, local councils and national parks providing information for the protection of shorebirds.

Heather was an active member of the subcommittee to save the endangered population of coastal emu in the Clarence Valley, and despite her illness she joined the Ballina Shire Coastal Advisory Committee and, right up to her death, was a committee member of BirdLife Northern NSW.

Heather had a wonderful appetite for life and an infectious laughter. She will be a great loss to conservation. RIP Heather and wherever you are, may you be enjoying the joyous song of birds.

More stories about Heather can be found on the Conondale Range Conservation Association website.