NSW WILDERNESS RED INDEX
Published by the Colong Foundation for Wilderness Ltd
(September 1999)
2/332 Pitt Street Sydney NSW 2000 ph 02 9299; 7341; fax 02 9261 2144
email keith@colongwilderness.org.au web site
colongwilderness.org.au
| NAME: | Pilliga |
| NOMINATED BY: | Neighbouring landholder (6 June 1994). |
| LOCATION: | 20 km north of Coonabarabran |
| SIZE: | 126,415 ha in two areas separated by the Newell Highway |
| TENURE: | Pilliga Nature Reserve 77,114 ha State Forest 32,475 ha Crown Leasehold land 8,465 ha Freehold land 8,365 ha |
Wilderness Declared:
None
Wilderness Not Declared:
Pilliga Nature Reserve;
| Size: | 77,114 ha |
| Percentage of entire nomination: | 61% |
State Forest;
| Size: | 32,475 ha |
| Percentage of entire nomination: | 26% |
Crown Leasehold land;
| Size: | 8,465ha |
| Percentage of entire nomination: | 7% |
Freehold land;
| Size: | 8,365 a |
| Percentage of entire nomination: | 7% |
DESCRIPTION:
The Pilliga region is a vast expanse of flat to undulating alluvial plains with occasional outcrops of Triassic and Jurassic sandstones and conglomerates. In the south of the area, the landscape rises towards the volcanic features of the Warrumbungle Range and becomes more characterised by gorges, escarpments and ridge mosaics. The area forms a major aquifer recharge for the Great Artesian Basin. Creeks drain north or north-westwards to eventually join the Namoi River. The Pilliga Scrub is the largest remaining area of continuous semi-arid woodland in temperate eastern Australia.
Palaeobotanical evidence from swamp deposits at Ulungra Springs has provided indications of a humid to arid shift in vegetation types during the last glacial maximum (18,000 years before present), with recovery to the present subhumid forest and woodland associations during the early Holocene and general consistency of vegetation through to the late Holocene.
The woodlands are dominated by stands of Black Cypress (Callitris endlicheri) and Narrow-leaved Iron Bark (E. creba), with some representation of boxes, gums, angophoras and bloodwoods. On stony ridges Broad-leaved Ironbark (E. fibrosa) becomes dominant, along with E. dealbata and Cypress, while creeklines feature a dominance of angophoras. The woodlands are interspersed with heathlands dominated by Melaleuca uncinata with coastal and arid zone elements. Research in 1991 by Norris et al indicates that the area’s woodland associations and canopy densities had not changed substantially since European settlement through to the onset of intensive forestry in the last 20 years, and much of the Nature Reserve was in old growth condition.
Macropods are quite common and the area supports a number of reptile species. The woodlands provide substantial habitat for endangered species such as the Koala, Mallee Fowl, Glossy Black Cockatoo, Turquoise Parrot, Regent Honeyeater, Brush-tailed Phascogale, Rufous Bettong and Pale Headed Snake. The most notable feature of the area’s fauna is the occurrence of the rare Pilliga Mouse (Pseudomys pilligaensis).
The Pilliga Scrub also potentially provides an intact link between the Warrumbungle and Mt Kaputar National Parks.
LAND USE HISTORY:
| Aboriginal | The area was occupied by the Kamliaroi people of the Liverpool Plains. Norris et al. note that, based on the limited evidence to date of occupation sites, it appears likely that Aboriginal activity was centred around the main creeks and only rarely if at all in the forest core. |
| Grazing | The area was settled by squatters from the 1830s and low densities of cattle were grazed throughout the marginal rocky land. |
| 1870-80s | Sheep or cattle grazing areas were taken up by pastoralists by the 1880s but it appears that the core forested area east of Baradine was not heavily, nor entirely, occupied. |
| Forestry | State Forests were gazetted from around 1920 over much of the Pilliga Scrub. Logging of hardwood species was selective and small scale, while the cypress species were more actively logged for building frames and flooring. |
| 1979 | The logging of hardwoods such as iron bark becomes more intensive. The forest species with less straight growth habit, previously spared from most sawlog harvest, and also providing prime habitat, are now selected for electric fence post manufacture by Insultimber of Baradine. |
| 1999 | 4 June: A proposed charcoal plant at Dubbo by
Boral Mineral Industries and Portman Mining, part of the Lithgow Silicon Project Joint
Venture, is called in for assessment and determination by the Minister for Urban Affairs
and Planning, the Hon. Andrew Refshauge. The proposal would use up to 150,000 tonnes of
ironbark eucalypts in the Pilliga State Forests as well as elsewhere. 2 August: Minister for Forestry, Kim Yeadon, announces that the NSW Government permits trees (thinnings, forest and sawmill wastes) to be burnt in the state’s power stations for the generation of so-called ‘green energy’. The fuel is claimed to produce zero Greenhouse Gas emissions. The first 12 months of the program will use Cypress Pine sourced from Baradine sawmills obtaining logs from the Pilliga area. |
| Fire management | |
| 1997 | November: A major fire burns about 70% of the Pilliga forests through substantial areas of the proposed wilderness and delays the release of the assessment report for the Pilliga Wilderness. Existing firetrail network is widened and the ‘Blue Line’ is constructed largely on private lands, to the west of the nominated wilderness area. The fire causes a significant reduction in wildlife populations, most notably koalas, although macropods are less affected. Some limited rehabilitation of widened fire trails is undertaken to recourage revegetation. |
HISTORY OF CONSERVATION MEASURES:
| 1968 | Pilliga Nature Reserve is dedicated under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1968. The reserve has since been expanded to 80,240 ha. |
| 1992 | 20 March: A 4,400 ha acquisition by National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) gazetted as part of the Nature Reserve. |
| 1994 | June: Local landholder, Richard Rickert,
submits a nomination under section 7 of the Wilderness Act 1987 for around 35,000 ha of
Pilliga Nature Reserve, Timber Reserves, State Forests and threatened bushland on freehold
land. July: NSW Peak Environment Groups raise objections to the Coonabarabran Shire Council approval for a subdivision of a 4,500 ha property into 60 small hobby farms within the wilderness nomination. Government acquires 4,132 ha, the freehold lots (3 & 7 Parish Cooper), for addition to the Nature Reserve. |
| 1995 | March: ALP wilderness policy includes a commitment to declare the Pilliga Wilderness during its first year of office. |
| 1996 | 19 April: Government gazettes 4,150 ha of former freehold within the nomination area as an addition to Pilliga Nature Reserve. |
| 1999 | 19 March: The Carr Government releases a further wilderness policy. The Government indicates that the Pilliga assessment is almost complete and exhibition and determination of the area for declaration would occur during 1999. |
| 20 March: The Carr Government commits to fund the Dunphy Wilderness Fund beyond its anticipated expiry in 2001 and maintains a logging moratorium over wilderness leasehold lands, including leasehold State Forest areas. |
THREATS:
| Logging | The logging of hardwood and native pine has escalated with no consideration given to the forest’s conservation values or inadequacy of current reserves in the region. The forestry operations have not been subject to Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act, 1979. These processes have been employed to assess the logging impact on forests in eastern NSW since 1992 or earlier. Logging is known to have disturbed areas of koala habitat - a breach of NPWS license conditions. |
| The charcoal plant scheme currently under proposal for the Pilliga and other Ironbark forests could instead utilise arthracite coal from New Zealand which has very low ash content, but the joint venture company claims this is not financially viable. The project is entirely at odds with the Carr Government’s policies on: protecting the Pilliga Wilderness; land clearing; and protection of threatened species, such as the nationally endangered Regent Honeyeater The Silicon Project Joint Venture will lead to heavy logging of the Pilliga state forests and must be subject to a detailed environmental impact statement, public comment and review. | |
| Recommendations : The Dubbo charcoal plant aspect of the Lithgow Silicon Valley project should be immediately rejected by the Carr Government as environmentally unsustainable. | |
| Use of native forests, particularly old growth forests and wilderness, for electricity generation, is inappropriate as it is no solution to the greenhouse problem and will lead to more intense logging. Electricity suppliers burning native forests in furnaces should not receive the premium price paid for ‘renewable’ electricity nor be awarded green ‘credit’ inducements paid to help meet the Federal Government’s target of increasing Australia’s generation of renewable energy. | |
| A Comprehensive Regional Assessment (CRA) should be undertaken for Western New South Wales as part of a land use review of the outback. In the meantime, the NPWS Pilliga Wilderness Assessment Report should be placed on public exhibition and determined in accordance with Government policy. | |
| Fire trails | The areas of wilderness currently within
Pilliga East State Forest contain a greater concentration of management trails than is
necessary for ecologically appropriate fire management. Recommendations: The opportunity to manage part of the largest remaining temperate woodland in eastern Australia as a roadless natural refugia should be actively pursued. The following trails in the Nature Reserve or proposed additions should be allowed to revegetate: Punks Track (8 km); Badham Track (eastern 7 km); South-east Track (12 km); Old No. 1 Break Road (20 km); Dipper road (10 km); Dangar Road (12 km); and Boronia Track (8 km). The following trails should be restricted to vehicular access for management, authorised research and owners of private inholdings only:
The protection of wilderness values in fire management plans needs to be a priority. Decisions on damaging suppression practices should be addressed during management planning, not in a fire crisis. Except for fire trails in perimeter areas, trails constructed during fire fighting operations should be closed and rehabilitated immediately following the operation. |
CONTACT ORGANISATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS
Colong Foundation for Wilderness Ltd
2/332 Pitt Street
SYDNEY NSW 2000
Contact: Keith Muir (Director) Ph: 02 9261 2400
FAX: 02 9261 2144
email keith@colongwilderness.org.auNorth East Forest Alliance/
Big Scrub Environment Centre
123 Keen Street
LISMORE NSW 2480
Contact: Susie Russell Ph: 02 6550 4481
Mob: 018 672 044
FAX: 02 6550 4433
email gladeys@tpgi.com.au