Threatened Ecological Communities protected in NGT’s reserves

At NGT we do a lot of work to protect and restore habitats for all species, and we do a lot of groundbreaking work with threatened fauna, but today, in honour of Threatened Species Day occurring this month (7th September), let’s have a look at some of the Threatened Ecological Communities (TECs) we are protecting in our NGT reserves. Threatened Ecological Communities are listed nationally under the Environment Protection and Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC), and are ecological communities (assemblages of plants and animals) that have been lost across much of their former range and are at risk of extinction. TECs support many threatened species, so protecting them has wider benefits.

At NGT we have a wide diversity of poorly represented ecological communities protected for perpetuity in our reserves, including the following:

Seasonal Herbaceous Wetlands (of the Temperate Lowland Plains)

The Seasonal Herbaceous Wetlands (Freshwater) of the Temperate Lowland Plains is a national, critically endangered ecological community found across southeastern Australia—including Victoria, South Australia, and southern New South Wales—consisting of small, shallow, temporary freshwater wetlands that fill with winter rain and dry out by summer. Devoid of dense tree canopies, although they may be fringed by various tree species, these ephemeral “puddles in paddocks” feature fertile clay bases dominated by a rich diversity of native grasses and wildflowers such as Swamp Wallaby-grass (Amphibromus spp.) and Billy Buttons (Craspedia spp.). These communities have a natural dry phase with a suite of grassland species and a wetland phase.

NGT protects this ecological community at our Eaglehawk Waterhole Restoration Reserve, and quite possibly also at our newest reserve, the Wirey Swamp Restoration Reserve. This wetland type proves that size isn’t everything, punching above its weight in terms of species diversity and beauty.

Buloke Woodlands of the Riverina and Murray-Darling Depression Bioregions

Eaglehawk Waterhole is NGT’s northernmost reserve and includes some endangered Buloke woodland on the eastern side.

Buloke (Allocasuarina luehmannii), are a very long-lived and slow-growing species of sheoak. Typically growing on flat to slightly undulating landscapes with heavier soils, these woodlands were heavily cleared for agricultural development and are structurally dominated by Buloke, known for having some of the hardest wood in the world. The community usually features an open, diverse ground stratum of native grasses, herbs, and subshrubs, and provides crucial habitat for specialised wildlife, including as an essential food source for the endangered South-eastern Red-tailed Black Cockatoo, which is a regular resident of the reserve. Due to historic land clearing for agriculture and ongoing pressure from livestock grazing, the woodlands are now highly fragmented. Remaining patches primarily persist on roadsides, private farmlands, and small nature reserves, so any patches that can be managed for conservation are extremely valuable!

Karst Springs and Associated Alkaline Fens of the Naracoorte Coastal Plain Bioregion.

The Hutt Bay Restoration Reserve, located near Finger Point, west of Port MacDonnell in SA is home to a large and very significant wetland, supporting a karst spring and surrounding area of fen, fed by alkaline groundwater from the regional limestone aquifer. Historically impacted by artificial drainage, like all of the 18 known examples of the ecological community, the wetland has now been hydrologically restored (to the extent it can be, without impacting neighbouring properties). In recent years, we have turned our efforts to managing weeds and targeted revegetation to reinstate the former dominant vegetation communities, particularly the dense woolly/silky tea-tree (Leptospermum lanigerum) wet shrublands that were once more common at the site, and are themselves regionally threatened. As you might imagine, keeping peat fens wet is important to stop the peat from desiccating, then oxidising and releasing its heavy load of carbon to the atmosphere. But, revegetation is also important to provide habitat for a range of species and to reinvigorate the process of peat formation.

A small sample of some of the threatened beauties found across our reserves.