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.