NSW WILDERNESS RED INDEX

Published by the Colong Foundation for Wilderness Ltd (September 1999)
2/332 Pitt Street Sydney 2000 ph 02 9261 2400; fax 029 299 5713
email keith@colongwilderness.org.au web site colongwilderness.org.au

Wilderness Declared:

Kunderang Wilderness (part);

Werrikimbe Wilderness;

Willi Willi Wilderness;

Wilderness Not Declared:

National Park/ Nature Reserve;

State Forest;

Vacant Crown land;

Leasehold lands;

Freehold land;

DESCRIPTION:

The wilderness embraces: the southern half and eastern edge of the Carrai Plateau, an easterly projection of the Northern Tablelands, with an elevation of 1,000 metres; and the heavily dissected country to the south and north. From the Plateau, the land falls sharply away into the catchments of the Hastings River Valley in the south, the Macleay Valley to the north and Stockyard Creek to the east. The tributaries of these rivers have cut steep-sided valleys, with a local relief of up to 700 metres. The wilderness is contiguous with the Macleay Gorges Wilderness through the Kunderang Gorge to the north. The two areas combined form the third largest area of wilderness in the State.

The wilderness area lies over parts of two major geological blocks, the Hastings Block, in the north and east and the Central Block, in the south-west. The Kunderang Fault, which separates these two blocks, traverses the area, producing localised fault zone complexes of serpentinite and dolerite. The underlying Lower Devonian rocks of the Central Block are Woolamin Association metasediments, known locally as Myra Beds. In the Hastings Block the thick deposits of early Carboniferous sedimentary rocks known as the Boonganghi Bed are evident in the Toorumbee Creek basin, extending south-east through Banda Banda Flora Reserve and down the Wilson River. South of these, along Pappinbarra Creek, the deposits of the Byabbarra Bed overlay the metasediments. Rhyolitic and rhyodactic representatives of the Middle Triassic Gundle granite cover much of the eastern half of Werrikimbe National Park and Carrai Plateau, parts of Mount Boss State Forest and Fenwicks Scrub Flora Reserve produce localised soils of high fertility. Along and north of Warbro Brook the Lower Permian Yessabah Limestone Belt is exposed. It includes many natural karst features such as the Natural Arch and the Castles, just outside the wilderness, and some limestone caves within Willi Willi Caves Nature Reserve and Werrikimbe National Park.

The Werrikimbe Wilderness contains the upper reaches of the Hastings and Forbes Rivers which have been identified as wild and scenic river systems by the NPWS.

The area is part of a broad, virtually unbroken belt of mostly undisturbed forested land extending north to south along the eastern escarpment and plateau margins from north of Dorrigo, through national parks and state forests to the Hastings Valley. Thus, together with the partly declared Macleay Gorges and declared New England wilderness areas, it forms one of the largest significant refuges for forest dependent fauna in the north-east part of the state.

The wilderness supports a complex pattern of plant communities and a diverse array of plant species. These communities include rainforest, wet sclerophyll forest, tall open forest, open forest, woodland, heath, grass-tree scrub, sedge swamp and meadow swamp. Five species found in the area are classified as rare, one is endangered, and four are vulnerable. Several plants and plant communities are considered inadequately conserved and several species of biogeographic importance are found in the area.

Warm temperate rainforest occurs in Werrikimbe National Park near Mount Werrikimbe and in Fenwicks Scrub. The dominant species are Coachwood and sassafras, making up 98% of the overstorey. Subtropical rainforest is found only in a few sheltered locations, mainly along streams. Warm temperate/subtropical rainforest variant is found at altitudes above 700 metres, in locations too cool and exposed for pure subtropical rainforest, in the upper Parrabel, Kunderang, Hastings and Forbes Catchments. Dominant trees are Black Booyong (Argyrodendron actinphyllum), Coachwood (Ceratopetalum apetalum), Sassafras (Doryphora sassafras) and Yellow Carabeen (Sloanea woollsii). Rosewood (Dysoxylum fraseranum), Corkwood (Caldcluvia paniculosa), Prickly Ash (Orites excelsa), Crabapple (Schizomeria ovata) and Lilly Pilly (Acmena smithii) are also common. The rainforests of Jacobs Mount contain thirteen species of epiphytic orchid.

Cool temperate rainforest, dominated by Antarctic Beech (Nothofagus moorei), is found in Werrikimbe National Park and forms the largest compact beech forest in existence. These forests also contain the only examples of the Filmy King Fern (Leptopteris fraseri) known to occur in northern New South Wales.

Dry rainforest is found in Kunderang Brook and Parrabel Creek Basins and the Willi Willi - Carrai region. Giant Stinging Tree (Dendrocnide excelsa) and Black Booyong are found on the moister sites, and Grey Myrtle (Backhousia myrtifolia) and Shatterwood (B. sciadophora), on steep hot dry aspects.

Wet and dry sclerophyll forest are the main vegetation types in the drier parts of the area. Dominant species include Blue Gum (Eucalyptus saligna), Tallowwood (E. microcorys), New England Blackbutt (E. campanulata), Boastal Blackbutt (E. pilularis), Turpentine (Syncarpia glomulifera), Diehard Stringybark (E. cameronii), New England Messmate (E. obliqua) and Brush Box (Lophostemon confertus).

Small and large patches of sedge and meadow swamp and sphagnum bog occur on the flatter parts of the high plateau surface, where impeded drainage causes the ground to be waterlogged for most of the year.

Twenty-two species listed in the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 are known to occur in the wilderness area. These include nine marsupials (Squirrel Glider, Yellow-bellied Glider, Koala, Tiger Quoll, Parma Wallaby, Long-nosed Potoroo, Red-legged Pademelon, Rufous Bettong and Brush-tailed Phascogale), two native rodents (Hastings River Mouse and Broad-toothed Rat), three bats (Little bent-winged Bat, Bent-winged Bat and Great Pipistrelle), four birds (Olive Whistler, Rufous Scrub Bird, Glossy Black Cockatoo and Sooty Owl), three amphibians (Sphagnum Frog, Litoria subglandulosa and Giant Barred Frog) and one snake (Carpet/Diamond Python). Several more threatened species are expected to be found within the nominated wilderness addition. The Eastern Quoll, long thought to be extinct on the mainland, has been reliably sighted on the Carrai Plateau. Logging continued in its likely old growth forest habitat since these sightings until 1995.

LAND USE HISTORY:

European Settlement

Mooraback property on the tableland was settled in the 1860's. Alan Youdale, first occupied the upper Kunderang Brook area and built Youdale's Hut in the early 1930's . After clearing the flats along the upper Kunderang Valley, cattle grazing became his main source of income. Grazing ceased after the area was added to Werrikimbe National Park in the 1980's.

Logging

HISTORY OF CONSERVATION MEASURES:

THREATS:

Recommendations: These areas of state forest should be gazetted as Crown Reserves, with the Director General of NPWS appointed as trustee, while the Department of Mineral Resources objections are overcome. The logging moratorium over wilderness leasehold, including leasehold state forest lands, should continue until these lands can be acquired through voluntary negotiations with the owner using the Dunphy Wilderness Fund.

Recommendations: The CRA exploration license should not be renewed upon expiry and no further exploration licences should be issued. Roads leading to the Ivy Creek site should be ripped and allowed to revegetate.

Horseriding undermines wilderness values and its environmental impacts are well known. These include: introduction of exotic weeds contained in droppings as seeds; soil compaction, erosion and widening of walking tracks; clearing associated with pickets and corral construction; and disturbance of native wildlife and wilderness solitude.

Locating the Trail through wilderness areas is completely contrary to the promise given by the National Trail organisation that: "In all cases where the Trail passes through or near national parks, the route has been determined through consultation with National Parks and Wildlife Service staff to ensure that the Trail does not encroach on any existing or future wilderness areas" (emphasis added).

Recommendations: The Bicentennial National Trail should be re-routed around the Werrikimbe Wilderness. The Travelling Stock Route from the Hastings Valley to the Cobcroft Road should also be added to the National Park and Wilderness.

Recommendations: No vehicle access should be permitted within the wilderness area. Tour licences inside the wilderness should not be renewed upon expiry. Licences for tours to enter Werrikimbe National Park should not also be renewed on expiry. The Coachwood, Youdales, Kunderang and McCoys Roads which presently divide the wilderness into separate declarations, should be closed and allowed to revegetate (see also, the fire management section below).

Recommendation: The minimal interference approach proposed for wilderness zones in the Draft Fire Management Plan should be adopted and hazard reduction measures should be confined to off park areas on the adjacent property subject to fire risks. 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

North East Forest Alliance
C/- Big Scrub Environment Centre
123 Keen Street
LISMORE NSW 2480
Contact: Susie Russell Ph: (W) 02 6550 4481
Mob: 018 672 044
Fax: 02 6550 4433
email gladneys@tpgi.com.au

Colong Foundation for Wilderness
2/332 Pitt Street
SYDNEY NSW 2000
Contact: Keith Muir (Director) Ph: 02 9261 2400
FAX: 02 9261 2144
email keith@colongwilderness.org.au

RELEVANT ARTICLES:

Colong Bulletin 72 June 1982, "Meeting with Rainforest Subcommittee of State Cabinet" p 3.

Colong Bulletin 76, Jan 1983, "How to save Rainforests", p 2-6

Colong Bulletin 129, November 1991, "Rainforest Revisited", p 7-8.

Colong Bulletin 142 January 1994 p10, "Forest Minister Ignores Premier over Wilderness Logging".

Colong Bulletin 147, November 1994, p5, "The Fahey Government’s Wildernesses".

Colong Bulletin 151, July 1995 p6, "Labor’s Wilderness Moratorium".

Colong Bulletin 156, May 1996 p8, "Wilderness Protection - Navigating the way forward".

Colong Bulletin 157, July 1996 p3, "Wilderness Protection Scheme".

Colong Bulletin 159, p7, "Major advances in Wilderness and Forest Protection".

Colong Bulletin 170, p7, "Green Fire".

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