Copyright

© ACT Natural Resource Management Council 2009

Disclaimer
This work is copyright. Apart for any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cwlth), no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission from the ACT Natural Resource Management Council, GPO Box 158, Canberra City ACT 2601.

The ACT Natural Resource Management Council is appointed by the ACT Government to develop and maintain a natural resource management plan for the ACT and oversee funding directed at addressing the targets set out in the plan.

For further information on the ACT natural resource management plan contact:

Mapping: Territory and Municipal Services

Photographs

Front cover and title page: left – near-pristine wilderness, Booroomba Rocks in the Brindabella Range (E Beeton); middle – older established Canberra suburbs (Sarah Ryan); right – recent urban development with smaller block sizes and encroaching on grassy woodlands (Sarah Ryan)

Part 1: Top – Water in an urban landscape – Yerrabi Pond, Gungahlin (Sarah Ryan). Bottom – Grassland plain from Mt Ainslie (Sarah Ryan).

Part 2: Top – Red-anther wallaby grass (Joycea pallida) on slope of Mt Majura (Sarah Ryan). Bottom – Managing stormwater and providing water views – Yerrabi Pond, Gungahlin (Sarah Ryan).

Part 3: Top – Learning about the Molonglo (Sarah Ryan). Bottom – Planning for rural and urban land uses together (Sarah Ryan).

Part 4: Top – Managing stormwater with broad shallow swales. (Sarah Ryan).
Bottom – Bearded dragon on lower slopes of Mt Majura (Sarah Ryan).

Part 5: Top – Urban housing abutting a Canberra Nature Park (Sarah Ryan).
Bottom – Regeneration in the Lower Cotter (Sarah Ryan).

Printing: Printed on Monza Satin. Monza is manufactured from 55% recycled fibre (25% post-consumer waste, 30% preconsumer). The remaining 45% pulp is sourced from Forestry Stewardship Council certified sources, which guarantees all fibre comes from well managed forests and is manufactured by an ISO 14001 certified mill.

October 2009

The N(g)unnawal people

Acknowledgements

The ACT NRM Council has developed this natural resource management plan with the assistance of stakeholders in the ACT and generous technical input from a large number of contributors. The Council thanks all those who have contributed to its development and welcomes their ongoing contribution to its continuous improvement and implementation.

The Council urges the whole community to use the plan as a focus to achieve the natural resource management targets it sets out.

Scope

This plan has been written for and applies to the ACT only. It acknowledges that major catchments of the ACT (the Molonglo and Murrumbidgee) arise in neighbouring New South Wales and drain from the ACT via the Murrumbidgee back into that state.

The Council also acknowledges that the Indigenous people of the ACT have broader natural resource management interests and influence than just being confined to the jurisdictional boundary of the ACT.

Foreword

The health of natural systems – soils, water, biodiversity and landscapes - is an integrated measure of human impacts on the environment. The health of these natural systems, tell us how well we are balancing what we humans take from the environment, against the capacity of the environment to continue to provide this natural capital.

Paradoxically, the health of our natural systems is increasingly reliant on human capital.  This reliance includes the knowledge that underpins sustainable management of natural systems; and the effort of individuals, communities, governments and business in looking after the environment.

The 2007 ACT State of the Environment Report found that while the state of the ACT environment is generally good, we continue to face challenges such as improving land and water quality, maintaining and improving environmental flows of rivers, reducing the rate of biodiversity loss and reducing the ACT’s ecological footprint.

The Bush Capital Legacy – iconic city, iconic natural assets provides a road map for prioritising and addressing these challenges. Like our natural systems – it is integrative - it draws together all the threads – community, biodiversity, land and water into a comprehensive long-term plan for managing and improving the Territory’s natural resources.

I acknowledge the work of the ACT Natural Resource Management Council in consulting extensively with the ACT community in preparing this Plan.   I understand that the Council views the Plan as a stimulus to debate and as a contribution to policy setting in natural resource management in the Territory. 

The Bush Capital Legacy proposes 16 intermediate and long-term targets for repairing and maintaining the landscape of the ACT.  I will be particularly interested in progress to reduce the Territory’s ecological footprint, as well as improving the condition of our catchments, rivers and wetlands.

These targets challenge us all to work hard towards their achievement in how we live our lives, how we work and through the many decisions that government, business, land managers and the community make.

I commend the ACT Natural Resource Management Council for the extensive work it has done in bringing Bush Capital Legacy to publication. It will be a valuable contribution to direction setting for natural resource management in the ACT.

Simon Corbell
Minister for the Environment, Climate Change and Water

Abbreviations

Summary

Natural resources in the ACT are at risk. Despite more than half the territory being protected in conservation reserves, some 31 plant and animal species and two ecological communities are either vulnerable or endangered. These species and habitats occur mostly in the lowland open woodland and grassland areas where the city is located and rural activities take place. At the same time, the population of the ACT is increasing, placing a higher burden on the territory’s land, water and biodiversity.

The ACT also imposes a very high (by world standards) ecological footprint on the Earth – higher than any other city in Australia. It was measured at 2.65 million hectares in 2003/04 which is more than 11 times its actual size.

Wildflowers in an urban setting: Xerochrysum viscosum on Mount Majura. Photo Sarah Ryan

This plan is about repairing and maintaining the landscape of the ACT so that it is sustainable. It is integrated with other ACT plans that take account of natural resources, and recognises the ACT’s place in the local Murrumbidgee catchment and the wider Murray–Darling Basin.

This plan for managing the ACT’s natural resources is a revision of the territory’s first plan published in 2004. It takes account of progress made since that plan, and changes in values and environmental status.

Management of natural resources needs to be sustainable ensuring that land, water and biodiversity remain healthy and viable,
to support a healthy and viable ACT community. Issues of immediate concern in the ACT include:

• urban expansion – threatening remaining areas of woodland and grassland, and species that depend on them, and placing an ever greater pressure on water resources
• fragmentation – resulting in at-risk plants and animals only occurring in less viable isolated pockets
• pest plants and animals – threatening ecological communities particularly at the edges of developments
• climate change – increasing demands on water and energy, and severely affecting the ability of native plants and animals to survive
• water extraction and waterway modification – threatening natural river flows and reducing water quality and quantity for downstream users
• bushfire hazard – ensuring hazard is reduced while not threatening natural values and strengths.

In this plan, the management of natural resources has been divided into the categories of community, land, water and biodiversity. Sixteen targets have been developed addressing issues of concern. These targets are to guide natural resource management actions for government and community. They do not impose data collection responsibility on any specific agency. The targets will also be used to support funding proposals.

Land Targets

Vision: Land is recognised as the foundation of ACT landscapes and is used and managed in a way that is consistent with its capability, sensitive to catchment health, responsive to climate change, adaptable to the carbon economy and contributing to sustainable community development

6. Urban land health

Intermediate

Achievement of urban soil health at above the average for large Australian cities and preservation of vegetation cover on buffer land (2015)

Long-term

Maintenance of urban soil health at above the average for large Australian cities (to 2030)

7. Rural land health

Intermediate

80% of rural land meets the top standard for land health in relation to land capability (2015)

Long-term

95% of rural land consistently meets the top standard for land health in relation to land capability (2030)

Target timelines

Both intermediate and long-term targets are proposed in this plan. Intermediate targets are intended to be achieved by the year 2015; long-term targets by 2030. Targets and progress towards them will be reviewed at regular intervals.

Community engagement in natural resources.
Photo Sarah Ryan

Road upgrade disturbing soil
Photo Colin Chandler

 

Biodiversity Targets

Vision: Biodiversity decline is halted, then sustainably managed to ensure resilient ecosystem functioning

14. Communities and habitat

Intermediate

Fire hazard management is improved so that it is more compatible with protection of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (2015)

A strategy is in place to guide management and conservation of biodiversity threatened by climate change (2015)

Long-term

The integrity, condition and resilience of native terrestrial and aquatic communities and related habitats is as good or better than it was in 2008 (2030)

15. Endangered species and communities

Intermediate

Trajectories show that endangered species and communities are becoming less threatened (2015)

Long-term

The conservation listing status of endangered species and communities improves by 20% (2030)

16. Urban biodiversity

Intermediate

Provision for enhancing urban biodiversity values and functions is incorporated into development decisions, management plans and local neighbourhood actions (2015)

Long-term

Healthy and resilient urban biodiversity, at local and landscape scale (2030)

Canberra has established a strong international reputation as a ‘bush’ capital and is widely used as a best practice case study (2030)

Ginini Flats – a harbour of biodiversity

Photo Parks Conservation and Land

Stream in the Orroral Valley, Namadji National Park Photo Mark Stewart