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Sydney Turpentine–Ironbark Forest

Critically endangered forest in Australia


Critically endangered forest in Australia

FieldValue
nameSydney Turpentine–Ironbark Forest
imageWallumatta Nature Reserve.jpg
image_captionEntrance to Wallumatta Nature Reserve, North Ryde
biogeographic_realmAustralasia
biomeTemperate broadleaf and mixed forests
border1Cumberland Plain Woodland
border2Blue Gum High Forest
border3Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub
border4Sydney Sandstone Ridgetop Woodland
elevation30 –
countryAustralia
coordinates
geologySandstone, shale, laminite and siltstone
climateHumid subtropical climate (Cfa)

The Sydney Turpentine–Ironbark Forest (STIF) is a wet sclerophyll forest community of [Sydney], New South Wales, Australia, that is typically found in the Inner West and Northern region of Sydney. It is also among the three of these plant communities which have been classified as Endangered, under the New South Wales government's Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995,{{cite web

As of 26 August 2005, the Australian Government reclassified Sydney Turpentine–Ironbark Forest as a "Critically Endangered Ecological Community", under the Commonwealth's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. The original extent of the forest was 26,516 ha, but now only 1,182 ha (or 4.5% of original extent) remains. It is a transitional biome between Cumberland Plain Woodland in the drier areas and Blue Gum High Forest on neighboring higher rainfall ridges.

Characteristics

Sydney Turpentine–Ironbark Forest contains trees which are around 20–30 metres tall, with ground cover composed of flowering shrubs and native grasses. This type of forest prefers a fertile clay soil derived from shale, with undulating hills and moderate rainfall. Its range does not extend to drier Cumberland Plain Woodland, or high-rainfall ridges (where it meets with Blue Gum High Forest, also endangered), or areas with less fertile, sandy soil.{{cite web |access-date = 2007-07-02 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070930041109/http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/PDFs/EECinfo_Sydney_Turpentine_Ironbark_Forest.pdf |archive-date = 2007-09-30

The main canopy trees in this forest community are Turpentine (Syncarpia glomulifera, can grow over 30 metres high), and a number of different species of Ironbark, which vary depending on local environmental conditions. Grey Ironbark (Eucalyptus paniculata), Narrow-leaved Ironbark (Eucalyptus crebra), Red Ironbark{{cite web |access-date = 2007-07-01 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070827020104/http://www.ryde.nsw.gov.au/environment/ironbark.htm |archive-date = 2007-08-27

Understorey plants include wattles such as Parramatta Green Wattle (Acacia parramattensis) and Sydney Golden Wattle (Acacia longifolia), the Common Hop Bush (Dodonaea triquetra), as well as native grasses, herbs and flowers such as Kangaroo Grass (Themeda australis) and Australian Bluebell (Wahlenbergia gracilis).{{cite web |access-date = 2007-07-01 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070827020104/http://www.ryde.nsw.gov.au/environment/ironbark.htm |archive-date = 2007-08-27

Plant species growing in Sydney Turpentine–Ironbark Forest typically number upwards of 70, although fewer species are found in the smaller surviving pockets, and some may not be visible above ground, awaiting climatic conditions favourable for seed germination.{{cite web |access-date = 2007-07-01 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070905083539/http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/npws.nsf/Content/Sydney+turpentine+ironbark+forest+endangered+ecological+community+listing |archive-date = 2007-09-05

Plant species of Sydney Turpentine–Ironbark ForestCommon nameBotanical nameApprox. heightPlantnet
Turpentine*Syncarpia glomulifera*
Grey ironbark*Eucalyptus paniculata*
Grey box gum, or grey gum*Eucalyptus punctata*
Woollybutt*Eucalyptus longifolia*
White mahogany*Eucalyptus acmenoides*
Smooth-barked apple, Sydney red gum, or rusty gum*Angophora costata*
Thin-leaved stringybark*Eucalyptus eugenioides*
Broad-leaved, or red ironbark*Eucalyptus fibrosa*
White stringybark*Eucalyptus globoidea*
Parramatta (green) wattle, or Sydney green wattle*Acacia parramattensis*
Sicle wattle*Acacia falcata*
Forest oak*Allocasuarina torulosa*
White feather honey-myrtle*Melaleuca decora*
Coffee bush*Breynia oblongifolia*
Sydney golden wattle*Acacia longifolia*
Myrtle wattle, or red-stemmed wattle*Acacia myrtifolia*
Sweet bursaria, blackthorn, or boxthorn*Bursaria spinosa*
Gorse bitter-pea*Daviesia ulicifolia*
Large mock olive, large-leaved olive*Notelaea longifolia*
Common hop bush, large-leaf hop bush*Dodonaea triquetra*
Cherry ballart, or native cherry*Exocarpos cupressiformis*
Elderberry panax (*Myrsine variabilis*)*Rapanea variabilis*
Yellow pittosporum, wild yellow jasmine, rough fruit P.*Pittosporum revolutum*
Muttonwood, (*Myrsine howittiana*)*Rapanea howittiana*
Orange bark, narrow-leaved orangebark, orange bush*Denhamia silvestris*
Pale vanilla lily*Arthropodium milleflorum*
Dumplings, apple berry, hairy apple berry*Billardiera scandens*
Blue trumpet, blue yam*Brunoniella australis*
Swamp pennywort, Indian pennywort, gotu cola*Centella asiatica*
Old man's beard, or headache vine*Clematis glycinoides*
Sedge, slender flat-sedge*Cyperus gracilis*
Blue flax lilly*Dianella caerulea*
Rare plume grass*Dichelachne rara*
Love grass, or paddock lovegrass*Eragrostis leptostachya*
Love creeper*Glycine tabacina*
Violet-leaved goodenia, forest goodenia, ivy goodenia*Goodenia hederacea*
Kangaroo grass*Themeda australis*
Australian bluebell, or sprawling bluebell*Wahlenbergia gracilis*
Wallaby grass*Danthonia linkii*
Wallaby grass*Danthonia racemosa*
Wallaby grass (*Austrodanthonia tenuior*)*Danthonia tenuior*
False sarsparilla, purple coral pea, waraburra*Hardenbergia violacea*
Wonga vine*Pandorea pandorana*
Slender Stackhousia*Stackhousia viminea*
*Acacia decurrens* • *Acacia implexa* • *Angophora floribunda* • *Aristida vagans* • *Cheilanthes sieberi* • *Clematis aristata*
*Clerodendrum tomentosum* • *Commelina cyanea* • *Corymbia gummifera* • *Dichondra repens* • *Dodonaea triquetra* • *Echinopogon caespitosus*
*Elaeocarpus reticulatus* • *Entolasia marginata* • *Entolasia stricta* • *Eucalyptus resinifera* • *Glycine clandestina* • *Goodenia hederacea*
*Goodenia heterophylla* • *Imperata cylindrica* • *Indigofera australis* • *Kennedia rubicunda* • *Kunzea ambigua* • *Lepidosperma laterale*
*Leucopogon juniperinus* • *Lomandra longifolia* • *Microlaena stipoides* • *Oplismenus aemulus* • *Oxalis exilis* • *Ozothamnus diosmifolius*
*Panicum simile* • *Pittosporum undulatum* • *Poa affinis* • *Polyscias sambucifolia* • *Pomax umbellata* • *Poranthera microphylla*
*Pratia purpurascens* • *Pseuderanthemum variabile* • *Rubus parvifolius* • *Smilax glyciphylla* • *Stipa pubescens* • *Vincetoxicum barbatum* (syn. *Tylophora barbata*)
*Veronica plebeia* • *Zieria smithii*
List sources: Ryde City Council{{cite weblast = OCULUS Environmental Planning

Distribution

The natural distribution of Sydney Turpentine–Ironbark Forest is limited to the Sydney Region, and occurs in areas with deep clay soils derived from Wianamatta shale, or shale layers within Hawkesbury sandstone.{{cite web |access-date = 2007-07-01 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070905083539/http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/npws.nsf/Content/Sydney+turpentine+ironbark+forest+endangered+ecological+community+listing |archive-date = 2007-09-05

STIF grew in clay soils overlaying the sandstone of the Hornsby plateau, as well as in Sydney’s inner-west where the annual rainfall is between 900 and 1,000mm. Because the land favoured by Sydney Turpentine–Ironbark Forest plant species is very fertile (more so than the sandy soils derived from Hawkesbury sandstone), after British settlement much of the land was cleared for its timber, as well as for subsequent farming activity. Much of this forest type's area of distribution is now occupied by suburban dwellings.{{cite web

Very few remnants of Sydney Turpentine–Ironbark Forest still exist. The most substantial undisturbed area is the Wallumatta Nature Reserve on the corner of Twin and Cressy roads North Ryde, which is owned and managed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service. Progressively smaller remnants can be found in Stewart Park, Marsfield (at the intersection of Epping and Vimiera roads), in the grounds of Macquarie University, and at Meadowbank Park, Meadowbank. Another known remnant of significance surviving in Australia is the Newington Forest near Sydney Olympic Park at Homebush.{{cite web While Queen Elizabeth II Park contains a mixture of Sydney Turpentine–Ironbark Forest and non-indigenous species, there is other Sydney Turpentine–Ironbark Forest bushland in the City of Canada Bay area, located on the Department of Health estate surrounding Concord Hospital at Concord West. Located to the south of the main hospital, a relatively intact area of Sydney Turpentine–Ironbark Forest species may be found in the Dame Eadith Walker Reserve at the Yaralla Estate (private grounds of the Dame Edith Walker Hospital).{{cite web |access-date = 2007-07-02 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070829062523/http://www.canadabay.nsw.gov.au/environment_and_health/natural_environment/remnant_bushland.html |archive-date = 2007-08-29

Outside these few remaining areas, scattered fragments of Sydney Turpentine–Ironbark Forest have been identified in the local government areas of Ashfield, Auburn, Canterbury, Concord, Drummoyne, Leichhardt, Marrickville, Bankstown, Ryde (Darvall Park and Brush Farm Park),{{cite web |access-date = 2007-07-01 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070905083539/http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/npws.nsf/Content/Sydney+turpentine+ironbark+forest+endangered+ecological+community+listing |archive-date = 2007-09-05 |access-date = 2007-07-01 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070905083539/http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/npws.nsf/Content/Sydney+turpentine+ironbark+forest+endangered+ecological+community+listing |archive-date = 2007-09-05

Ryde City Council is aware of the near-extinction of this indigenous forest environment, and requires that if any tree becomes unsafe and requires removal, that a replacement must be chosen from the list of tree species indigenous to the particular area. The council's website also encourages local residents in appropriate areas to choose trees, shrubs and ground covers indigenous to the Sydney Turpentine–Ironbark Forest.{{cite web |access-date = 2007-07-01 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070827020104/http://www.ryde.nsw.gov.au/environment/ironbark.htm |archive-date = 2007-08-27

File:Eucalyptus paniculata Glebe.JPG|veteran Ironbark at Glebe, inner Sydney File:Sydney Turpentine-Ironbark Forest, Yaralla Estate, Concord West NSW 1.JPG|Sydney Turpentine–Ironbark Forest, Concord West, NSW. File:Sydney Turpentine-Ironbark Forest, Yaralla Estate, Concord West, NSW, 2.JPG| File:Wallumatta 02.jpg|Tree canopy at Wallumatta Nature Reserve, North Ryde

References

References

  1. [https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/-/media/OEH/Corporate-Site/Documents/Animals-and-plants/Scientific-Committee/Determinations/2019/sydney-turpentine-ironbark-forest-final-determination-CEEC.pdf NSW Threatened Species Scientific Committee. 31 May 2019. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
  2. ''[http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/tsca1995323/ Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995]'' (NSW Act of Parliament, online edition).
  3. ''[http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/epabca1999588/index.html Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999]'' (Commonwealth of Australia Act of Parliament, online edition).
  4. [https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/nature/RecoveringCumberlandPlain.pdf Recovering bushland on the Cumberland Plain] Department of Environment and Conservation (NSW). (2005). Recovering Bushland on the Cumberland Plain: Best practice guidelines for the management and restoration of bushland. Department of Environment and Conservation (NSW), Sydney. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
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