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Assessment of McKies Stringybark/Blackbutt Open Forest on NSW Crown Forest Estate

The operational map McKies Stringybark/Blackbutt Open Forest (MSBOF) was constructed to resolve long-standing issues surrounding its identification, location and extent within the NSW State Forest estate covered by the eastern Regional Forest Agreements. The project’s Threatened Ecological Community (TEC) Reference Panel (the Panel) reviewed the determination for MSBOF and agreed upon a set of diagnostic parameters for its identification. These parameters included the presence of lateritic soils and the characteristic eucalypt species Eucalyptus mckieana and Eucalyptus andrewsii. Using these diagnostic parameters, we assessed whether MSBOF is present within more than 150 000 hectares of state forests within the Upper and Lower North East IFOA areas of the Nandewar and New England Bioregions. We began the assessment process by examining the distribution of Eucalyptus mckieana records in NSW Bionet and other available systematic plot data characterising regional vegetation patterns. We then used the results of a recently completed vegetation mapping in the region (OEH, 2015) to provide an indicative map of related vegetation communities within State Forests. From this initial investigation, we identified three state forests as candidate areas for MSBOF within the Project Study area – Mount Topper, New Valley and Clive State Forests. We collected systematic plot data from these state forests in mapped communities related to the TEC and from within stands of vegetation dominated by the primary eucalypt species described in the determination. On this basis we identified four plots within Mount Topper State Forest as being MSBOF TEC and went on to construct an operational map at a scale commensurate with the needs of forestry field operations. In total, we mapped a total of 201 hectares of MSBOF, 101 hectares of which were contained in the IFOA area.

Operational TEC Mapping have been derived by API at a viewing scale between 1-4000 using ADS40 50 cm pixel imagery and 1 m derived LIDAR DEM grids for floodplain EECs.

Data and Resources

Metadata Summary What is metadata?

Field Value
Language English
Alternative Title McKies Stringybark Blackbutt Open Forest: Survey, Classification and Mapping Completed for the NSW Environment Protection Authority
Edition Version 1
Purpose Native Forestry Regulation in State Forests
Frequency of change Irregular
Keywords Threatened Ecological Community,Endangered Ecological Community,Vegetation,State Forest,McKies Stringybark Blackbutt Open Forest,EEC,TEC,Environment Protection Authority,EPA
Field of Research (optional) Environmental Science and Management not elsewhere classified
Metadata Date 2016-04-11
Date of Asset Creation 2016-10-01
Date of Asset Publication 2016-01-11
License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
Equivalent Scale 4000
Vector representation
Record 1
Object type
Curve
Object count
Geospatial Topic Biota
Extent

Dataset extent

Temporal Coverage From 2016-01-10
Datum GDA94 Geographic (Lat\Long)
Legal Disclaimer Read
Attribution Environment Protection Authority (EPA) asserts the right to be attributed as author of the original material in the following manner: "© State Government of NSW and Environment Protection Authority (EPA) 2016"