Commonwealth of Australia

Inclusion of ecological communities in the list of threatened ecological communities under section 181 of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999

I, PETER ROBERT GARRETT, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, pursuant to section 184(1)(a) of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, hereby amend the list referred to in section 181 of that Act by:

including in the list in the endangered category

Weeping Myall Woodlands

as described in the Schedule to this instrument.

Dated this seventeenth day of December 2008

Peter Garrett

Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts

SCHEDULE

Weeping Myall Woodlands

The Weeping Myall Woodlands are open woodlands to woodlands, generally 5-12 m high and with a naturally shrubby or grassy understorey. The Weeping Myall Woodlands occur on the inland alluvial plains west of the Great Dividing Range from Townsville in Queensland to south of Deniliquin in New South Wales. They generally occur on flat areas, shallow depressions or gilgais on raised (relict) alluvial plains. These areas are not associated with active drainage channels and are rarely if ever flooded.

Acacia pendula (Weeping Myall) trees are the sole or dominant overstorey species in the ecological community. The understorey of Weeping Myall Woodlands can include an open layer of shrubs above an open ground layer of grasses and herbs. In many areas, however, the shrub layer has disappeared and the woodland now has a primarily grassy understorey. The ground layer includes a diversity of grasses and forbs, and varies in species composition and cover depending on past and current management regimes and rainfall events.

In the southern part of the distribution of Weeping Myall Woodlands (south of the mid-Lachlan region), chenopods, such as saltbushes, native cotton bushes, bluebushes, goosefoots and copperburrs, were originally an important component of the understorey. As chenopods are generally highly palatable, they have largely disappeared in areas that have been grazed for substantial periods of time.

In the northern parts of the ecological community, chenopods are a less prominent component of the understorey and winter-growing grasses, such as Wallaby Grasses (Austrodanthonia species), are also less common. Summer-growing grasses, such as Mitchell Grass (Astrebla spp.) and Queensland Blue Grass (Dichanthium sericeum), are more abundant, than in the south.

The dominant overstorey species, Weeping Myall, goes through regular cycles of senescence and regeneration. As such, percentage canopy cover will fluctuate from very sparse to 30 percent. The death of canopy trees is not considered to be an indicator of poor condition.