The Australian Supersite Network (ASN) has chosen the Great Western Woodlands to be part of an Australian Government initiative the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN).

This initiative aims to collect, store, manage and share scientific data about Australian ecosystems. By setting up a nationally consistent network of multidisciplinary and intensive research facilities the ASN is investigating how key ecosystems will respond to future environmental change.

Each of these ecosystem observatories termed “supersites” examine the status and processes of one Australia’s many ecosystems. Located across a range of Australian biomes, the sites have a main central study area and at least one topographical or ecological transect. Detailed data sets on flora, fauna and biophysical processes are collected from each Supersite.

Credo, a former pastoral lease, now managed by DEC is located about 70 km North West of Kalgoorlie and has been chosen as a supersite in the Great Western Woodlands.

While Credo comprises of a mosaic of  vegetation types, most importantly it has a relatively large area of uncut old growth woodland where the central ‘Oz Flux’ climate station can monitor energy, water and carbon balance.

This is representative of the iconic vegetation type of the Great Western Woodlands, the largest remaining intact temperate or 'Mediterranean' woodlands in the world. Due to the lack of rainfall and harshness of this environment the region has remained virtually intact. Similar ecosystems around the world have been largely affected by habitat fragmentation and removal for agriculture and development.

The Great Western Woodlands provides a unique opportunity to study how semi-arid woodland ecosystems function at site and landscape scales, and how naturally functioning, intact ecosystems can adapt to climate change. The Woodlands research also offers significant potential to inform climate-resilient restoration for the Western Australian Wheatbelt, and can contribute to policy and practice around mine dewatering and post mining rehabilitation.

The key research questions for the TERN site relate to the impacts of climate change and management on the fundamental flows of energy, carbon, water and nutrient stocks, and on biodiversity, in semi-arid woodland ecosystems nationally and globally.

In particular;

• Are old-growth semi-arid woodlands carbon sources or carbon sinks?
• Where do woodland eucalypts obtain their water from?
• How do topographic mosaics regulate floristic composition and provide resilience to climate change?
• What are the ecological determinants of the Menzies line (the striking boundary between the GWW and mulga dominated shrublands to the north) and will it shift under climate change?

For more information, visit TERN

Sweetwater Lagoon in Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park, Cape York Peninsula, Queensland. Photograph: Kerry Trapnell

While conservationists, Traditional Owners and parts of the Queensland Government have been working towards a World Heritage listing for stunning Cape York Peninsula, mining companies want to turn the region into a giant dirty coal mine.

If the mines were approved, they would threaten whole ecosystems, including the Great Barrier Reef.

See a map of the Cape York coal exploration plans »

The coal plans, recently revealed by the Wilderness Society, shows one of Cape York’s largest national parks is now totally surrounded by land targeted for coal mining as companies snap up exploration permits, with one tenement even covering a nature refuge.

The only way to transport the coal out of the area would be to build a huge port right in the World Heritage listed Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, or to build a road or large conveyor belt right through Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park or Jack River National Park.

"These are deeply disturbing revelations,” said Gavan McFadzean, our Northern Australia Campaigner. “Cape York Peninsula has become the next big target for the coal industry.”

“The sick irony is that while the community has been working hard on protecting the World Heritage values of Cape York Peninsula, the coal industry is busy plotting to dig up the very same areas. Cape York Peninsula deserves to be protected, not plundered for short-term coal profits.”

There are 19 coal exploration tenements on Cape York Peninsula, with 12 applications being made in the past month-and-a-half alone. The area covered by coal exploration tenements is now 1,420,000 hectares – about seven times the size of Fraser Island.

We will fiercely oppose any coal mining plans in the area and are calling for bi-partisan rejection of coal exploration permits and mining leases on Cape York Peninsula, from both Queensland Premier Anna Bligh and LNP Leader Campbell Newman.

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Coal mining exploration permits surround national parks on Cape York and threatens ecosystems including the Great Barrier Reef.

The weekend’s carbon package announcement had some very good outcomes for nature and forests, which the Wilderness Society and our supporters have long campaigned for.

Firstly there was there was the long-overdue recognition that burning native forests to generate electricity does not constitute renewable energy by any stretch of the imagination. And secondly nearly a $1 billion has been set aside to protect carbon held in nature.

"The Australian Government has finally come to its senses by ruling that turning native forests into a power source is not renewable and should not be supported," National Campaign Director Lyndon Schneiders said.

The Wilderness Society has long opposed the classification of native forest wood as a source of renewable power, arguing that trees left growing in the ground are more effective carbon sinks than trees cut down and burned to create power.

The announcement casts into doubt the future of the proposed wood powered biomass power plant at Eden, on the majestic NSW south coast, which would have burned up to 51,000 tonnes of wood per year. Proposed plants in Western Australia are now also questionable.

Billion dollar fund

We also welcomed the creation of an ongoing biodiversity fund worth $948 million over the first six years to directly support projects that establish, restore, protect or manage biodiverse carbon stores.

The protection of carbon stocks in nature including through the protection of our forests and woodlands is the easiest way to reduce emissions and we welcome this funding commitment. The carbon tax package also finally embraces our belief that the economic cost of pollution and the value of the environment is taken into account in any economic modelling.
  
For more than 30 years, the need to change our economy to conserve the life support mechanisms of our planet through reduced emissions, has been resisted by government and industry. This package is not perfect, but it is a start. The details of the package are less important than the message these reforms send and the direction these reforms take our economy.

"These reforms will change the game and have confirmed that the protection of nature makes sense both environmentally and economically," Lyndon concluded.

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Mertens falls, Mitchell Plateau. Photo: Jiri Lochman. Copyright: Lochman Transparencies

Ecologists are increasingly alarmed at a wave of extinctions of native mammals across northern Australia, and the Kimberley is last refuge for species such as the Golden Bandicoot and the Golden-backed Tree Rat. Yet the same threats that have caused declines and extinctions elsewhere in Australia are increasingly affecting the Kimberley– unsuitable fire and grazing regimes, weeds and predation by feral animals such as cats.

A new project commissioned by the Wilderness Society investigates the future faced by Kimberley’s native animals and identifies the priority conservation actions and funds needed to avoid losing many of these species. The work, published by CSIRO was carried out by scientists from CSIRO, current and former members of the WildCountry Science Council and The Wilderness Society.

It drew on the expertise of many of the region’s ecologists and conservation managers in projecting the effects of these threats and likely success and costs of conservation actions, recognising the need to use conservation resources cost-effectively.

Dr Josie Carwardine, of CSIRO says that “A cost-effectiveness approach is simply about getting the best benefits for every dollar spent – in this report we are indentifying how to spend conservation funds to maximise the chances that wildlife will persist across their natural range, based on currently available expert knowledge.”

The report finds that without effective management of fire, introduced herbivores, weeds and feral predators, some 45 wildlife species are at risk of being lost from the region over the next 20 years. The analysis showed that these wildlife species are likely to be secured with an initial and immediate investment of $95 million, followed by an ongoing investment of $40 million per year, spent effectively on conservation action.

According to Josie “The most important landscape-scale actions indentified are to manage fire and introduced herbivores and control feral cats and weeds. The full details of these activities are provided in the report, but one of the most cost-effective actions is predicted to be reducing dingo baiting, as dingoes appear to suppress cat activity."

"Apart from protecting 45 species from possible local or global extinction - many of these species do not occur anywhere else in the world - the report found that there is the potential to create a range of other benefits, such as increased carbon sequestration and improved livelihood and employment opportunities.”

The report’s authors recognise that the addition of other pressures, such severe climate change or large scale water extraction were not taken into account in their analysis and will likely increase the challenges to save the region’s wildlife. The authors also note that there is still work to be done, for example, building partnerships for planning and implementation with Traditional Owners, pastoralists and other land managers and incorporating priorities for plants, invertebrates, connectivity with marine areas and uncertainty around climate change.

Josie says “What we’ve provided is a costed set of ‘best-bet’ priority actions for protecting Kimberley native mammals from the most pervasive, current, mainland-based threats, based on current knowledge. The approach can be modified to consider broader priorities and perspectives. We hope it will be useful to decision makers for prioritising funds for wildlife conservation and to managers for prioritising their conservation efforts in the Kimberley.”

The report is available for download from the CSIRO website >>