Director
Conservation Incentives and Design Section
Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities
Canberra ACT 2601
Draft National Wildlife Corridors Plan
I wish to support a recommendation that the whole of the Mt Warning Caldera within the Tweed Shire, far
northern NSW, be evaluated, and prioritized under the Corridor Plan.
The Caldera is listed as an iconic landscape, the 2nd largest erosion caldera in the world. It has one of the highest
biodiversity values in Australia with a significant percentage of threatened species. As a birdwatcher and student
of Ornithology (having completed a Graduate Certificate in Ornithology through Charles Sturt University in 2011)
I am keenly aware of the high biodiversity of this area and in particular of its birds. However fragmentation and
isolation of habitat suitable for native birds is increasing in this area, and the rapid influx of feral species such as
Starlings and Indian Mynas across the rural landscape is putting further pressures on native birds.
Within the Mt Warning Caldera are 3 World Heritage listed National Parks, linked by areas of pristine and nearpristine wildlife habitat and more degraded and/or immature ecological communities. All such linkages are vital
as wildlife corridors, and can only become more so as time goes on. I commend the draft Corridor Plan for its
understanding of the importance of degraded habitat and isolated paddock trees within the matrix around more
pristine vegetation. Lack of a 'pristine' condition of native vegetation is frequently used by lay people as an
excuse to devalue it in ecological and conservation terms, yet it frequently can contain within it an even higher
diversity of birds than does more intact habitat, due to its ecotone effect. This diversity however may not persist
due to predator infiltration, edge effects, and the unknown future impacts of an 'extinction debt'; that is, we do
not yet know how populations respond long-term to reduction and isolation of suitable habitat. Corridors
between the most intact habitats are vital to minimize this effect.
The DECCW, Coffs Harbour, has already mapped out significant wildlife & climate change corridors within the the
Caldera. Tweed Shire Council is currently preparing a report on the possibility of the area being nominated as the
“Border Ranges Biosphere”, which would encompass and support the National Wildlife Corridors Plan.
Yet, due to the rapid urban expansion in this shire much of this landscape is now under threat of habitat
destruction, with natural corridors threatened and a resulting loss of species. For example, the Tweed Councilowned Byrrill Creek corridor which links the World Heritage Mt Warning/Wollumbin National Park, Mebbin
National Park is currently under threat as a proposed Dam site for water supply for the ever expanding urban
developments in the north & east of the shire. It is an area far too valuable to be clear felled & inundated, and
has been identified as being an important conservation area with the:


Border Ranges Rainforest Biodiversity Management Plan

The Northern Rivers Catchment Management Authority, as a Priority Implementation
Area

NSW Stressed Rivers Assessment – Tweed Catchment, NSW Land and Water
Conservation

Tweed Riparian Restoration Prioritisation Report (2003) Ecosure, Burleigh Heads

Tweed Shire Vegetation Management Strategy (2004)

NRCMA Byrrill Creek Riparian Rehabilitation Project 2006
PAS Key Corridor Connections Project 2009 & 2010
I specifically recommend that this major corridor linkage of the Byrrill Creek area be recognised and nominated
as extremely important and protected from deliberate destruction. The Mt Warning/Wollumbin site is a
significant & major Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Site, as are the ridges and surrounding areas radiating out from
it, as the ancestral song lines.
Funding of approximately $560,000 has already been spent on the Byrrill Creek Subcatchment on riparian repair,
weed management, and the local Landcare Group is committed to ongoing maintenance & revegetation of
riparian corridors.
Dr S. Phillips of “Biolink” Ecological Consultants, identified 45 Threatened Fauna species, 26 Flora Species & 3
Endangered Ecological Communities in a 5km radius of Byrrill Creek. 24 species of Flora & Fauna are listed under
the Federal EPBC Act
An: form-data; name="fBcc" --s nomination and protection within Tweed Shire links the Burringbar Range with
Mooball National Park and the Cudgen Nature Reserve. Within this corridor “Kings Forest”, a new urban
development of 12,000 residents has been approved. The development is located within core koala habitat &
koala migratory corridors. There is an estimated 144 coastal Koalas left in Tweed Shire and there is a dwindling
chance of their survival without stringent protection measures.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the draft plan.I would appreciate an acknowledgement that you
received this submission.
Yours sincerely,
Faye Hill
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