Determining the Distribution of The Platypus (Ornithorhyncus anatinus) in the Eden Region Of South Eastern New South Wales Through Community-Based Surveys.

1998 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 239
Author(s):  
D. Lunney ◽  
T. Grant ◽  
A. Matthews ◽  
C. Esson ◽  
C. Moon ◽  
...  

The distribution of Ornithorhynchus anatinus in the Eden region of south-east New South Wales is defined based on information from two community-based surveys. In 1986-87 a state-wide questionnaire survey was distributed to field staff from various government departments. A search for historical reports was also carried out. Fifty-five reports of platypuses were obtained from the Eden region, including 30 sightings on agricultural land. The second approach was through a joint National Parks and Wildlife Service and State Forests householder postal survey in 1991. The survey returns yielded 273 locations of O. anatinus of which 76% were on freehold rural land, 19% were in State Forests and 5% were in National Parks or Nature Reserves. Records from both surveys, spread from 1930 to the early 1990s, were from all parts of the region. The surveys showed that platypuses have been widespread in the region, but their now fragmented distribution indicates a reduction in the regional population of the species. Management of waterways and catchments are crucial to its long-term survival. The public awareness of the platypus shown by the number of questionnaire returns, is an encouraging sign that local plans to conserve or restore its habitat are likely to be well received if produced through the cooperative approach initiated by community-based surveys.


2002 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harry F. Recher

REGARDLESS of the merits and values of individual national parks and nature reserves, Australia's conservation reserves do not ensure the survival of the continent's biota. There are many reasons for this. Reserves, even the largest, are too small and vulnerable to broad area disturbance. Consider that, in January 2003, fires burnt more than two-thirds of Kosciuszko National Park, which at 690 000 ha is the largest park in New South Wales and one of the largest in Australia. This shows how even the largest conservation reserves are at risk of catastrophic disturbance. The much smaller Nadgee Nature Reserve (21 000 ha) in southeastern New South Wales has burnt almost in its entirety twice in the 35 years I have worked there. The Nadgee fires and those in Kosciuszko were started by lightning and were the result of prolonged drought, events common across the continent. When small size is coupled with isolation, the long-term survival of populations and the exchange of propagules within the reserve system becomes problematical. Small size and isolation do not leave much scope for plants and animals to adapt to long-term climate change, either through dispersal or by evolution. Even reserving 10 or 15% of land for nature conservation, as recommended by some international conservation agencies, will be inadequate; a target of 30% would have better ecological credentials, but even this could prove inadequate unless the nature conservation reserve system was designed to allow for long-term evolutionary change, which it is not (see Archer 2002; Recher 2002a,b).



1997 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Lunney ◽  
Carol Esson ◽  
Chris Moon ◽  
Murray Ellis ◽  
Alison Matthews

A community-based postal survey (questionnaire and map) was undertaken in the Eden region of south-eastern New South Wales in 1991–92 to help determine the local distribution of koalas and to obtain information on which to base a regional plan of management for koalas. The 1198 replies from the II 600 households in the region represented all parts of the area surveyed. The survey responses suggest that koalas are rare in the Eden region, and that the number of koalas has been constantly low for the last four decades. The records are scattered both chronologically and geographically. National Parks and Nature Reserves have never been the stronghold of local koala populations, and freehold land, particularly farmland, is not a major reservoir of koalas. Most koalas reported were in, or adjacent to, State Forests, particularly Murrah–Berrnagui and Tantawangalo–Glenbog–Yurammie. These areas appear to contain the core of the surviving koala population of the region. An assessment of the vegetation where koalas were sighted indicated that dry forest is the preferred habitat. The once abundant and widespread local koala population of late last century has been reduced by habitat loss and fragmentation to a few small, isolated populations. This regional survey, which was undertaken by use of a carefully constructed questionnaire, revealed an invaluable source of records and contributed 70% of the records in the database used for this study. This study also laid a basis for assessing koala management options in south-eastern New South Wales.







2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derrick Stone

For the first time in a single volume, this book brings together more than 140 of the best walks, tracks or trails in New South Wales, which can be walked by the moderately fit individual. They are located in national parks, coastal parks, state forests, conservation reserves, historic parks and local government and public easements. Other routes follow state highways, minor roads, coastal cliffs, old gold routes, or pass bushranger haunts and back roads linking towns and historical features. Most routes do not require specialist navigation or bushcraft skills, and vary in length from a 45-minute stroll to a 4-day, 65-kilometre camping trip. Walks, Tracks and Trails of New South Wales highlights the best the state has to offer, from an outback ghost town and ancient lake beds, to Australia’s highest mountain, coastal environments and World Heritage rainforests. Easy-to-interpret maps are included to help you navigate, and the book’s size makes it convenient to bring with you on your adventures.



1999 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 177
Author(s):  
T.R. Grant ◽  
P.C. Gehrke ◽  
J.H. Harris ◽  
S. Hartley

Data from the New South Wales Rivers Survey on the occurrence of platypuses have provided the most recent and comprehensive record of platypus distribution in the State. The species was most commonly reported from the montane and coastal regions, being less common on the western slopes and uncommon in the rivers of the western lowlands. The observations confirmed those from earlier community-based surveys. In contrast to the distribution of native fish species, there appears to have been little change in the overall state-wide distribution of the platypus in response to degrading processes in the rivers of New South Wales, although nothing is known of the stability of their population numbers.



1986 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 36
Author(s):  
M.D Young ◽  
R.J Delforce

Sixty licensed kangaroo shooters were interviewed in New South Wales to determine their social characteristics, incomes and shooting preferences. Two groups of shooters were identified: those who take kangaroos only for immediate, maximum short term economic gain and those who attempt to husband local kangaroo populations to their long term benefit. Amongst the latter group there is both a lack of agreement and a general uncertainty about the optimal shooting strategy to achieve the long term economic benefits they desire. New directions in research and extension are suggested with a view to rectifying this dilemma. Data on the strategies used to take kangaroos for commercial purposes and the accuracy of certam information reported to the National Parks and Wildlife Service are also described.



2003 ◽  
Vol 48 (7) ◽  
pp. 157-164
Author(s):  
R.T. Jayasuriya

The management of water resources across Australia is undergoing fundamental reform in line with the priorities identified by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) in 1994. This includes reforms to the specification of property rights, the way the resource is shared between the environment, irrigators and other users, charges for water use and the operational management of the river systems. In New South Wales (NSW), a series of water sharing plans (WSPs) is being developed for each water source in the State including regulated rivers, unregulated rivers and groundwater aquifers. These plans, which are the mechanisms by which COAG reforms are being implemented, are being developed by community-based water management committees (WMCs). The role of the WMCs is to develop a plan that achieves a balance between environmental, economic and social outcomes. NSW Agriculture has assisted a number of WMCs by quantifying the economic impact of proposed WSP options on the irrigation community. This paper outlines the approach taken by NSW Agriculture to quantifying economic impacts on irrigators in regulated catchments and provides results of case studies in the Lachlan River Catchment which is heavily developed for irrigation.



1991 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 331-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Charles Wescott

Australia possesses a distinctive national parks and conservation reserves system, in which it is the State Governments rather than the Federal Government which owns, plans, and manages, national parks and other conservation reserves.Most Australian States declared their first national parks in the latter quarter of last century, Australia's first national park being declared in New South Wales in March 1879. These critical declarations were followed by a slow accumulation of parks and reserves through to 1968. The pace of acquisition then quickened dramatically with an eight-fold expansion in the total area of national parks between 1968 and 1990, at an average rate of over 750,000 ha per annum. The present Australian system contains 530 national parks covering 20.18 million hectares or 2.6% of the land-mass. A further 28.3 million hectares is protected in other parks and conservation reserves. In terms of the percentage of their land-mass now in national parks, the leading States are Tasmania (12.8%) and Victoria (10.0%), with Western Australia (1.9%) and Queensland (2.1%) trailing far behind, and New South Wales (3.92%) and South Australia (3.1%) lying between.The Australian system is also compared with the Canadian and USA systems. All three are countries of widely comparable cultures that have national parks covering similar percentage areas, but Canada and the USA have far fewer national parks than Australia and they are in general of much greater size. In addition, Canada and the USA ‘resource’ these parks far better than the Australians do theirs. The paper concludes that Australia needs to rationalize its current system by introducing direct funding, by the Federal Government, of national park management, and duly examining the whole system of reserves from a national rather than States' viewpoint.



Author(s):  
Grahame Simpson ◽  
Virginia Mitsch ◽  
Margaret Doyle ◽  
Marcella Forman ◽  
Denise Young ◽  
...  


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