Following summer surveys of Nyah Vinifera Park, in partnership with the Wadi Wadi community and ecologists at Australian Ecosystems, an indepth report of the flora of Nyah Vinifera Park has shown a large number of threatened or previously unrecorded native flora in this new Red Gum Park. Read the recently completed full ecological report here or read more for report highlights.
Significant observations from this first round of surveys include:
• Two Ecological Vegetation Classes (EVCs), Aquatic Sedgeland and Floodway Pond Herbland/Riverine Swamp Forest Complex, observed during this survey had not been previously recorded in the area. Centipeda cunninghamii (Old Man Weed) is a particularly important species for Wadi Wadi, and is prevalent in Floodway Pond Herbland areas.
• Sedgy Riverine Forest is mapped as being widespread in the Nyah-Vinifera Forest. Over much of its distribution the understorey dominant Carex tereticaulis (Poong'ort) has been severely depleted, most likely due to lack of regular flooding between 1996 and 2010.
• There is evidence of a decline in tree health in both River Red Gum and Black Box on the Nyah-Vinifera floodplain
• Ten rare and threatened flora species were recorded, 3 of which represent the first records of these species within the study area
• The broad array of land forms in such a relatively small area provides habitat for a high diversity of indigenous flora and fauna and EVCs, many of which are of high conservation significance. Of the thirteen EVCs supported by the Floodplain Complex, eight are regionally depleted, two are vulnerable and at least one is endangered.
• The Dry Plain (a relatively high point on the floodplain) supports a high concentration of culturally significant sites, including middens and traditional living areas
Recommendations from the surveys include:
• The long term survival of floodplain systems will depend on the delivery of environmental flows and the reinstatement of a more typical flooding regime;
• Additional surveys should be conducted in Spring and following inundation of water (floods or planned flows), and a permanent representative sample of vegetative sites established
Background information on the project can be found here