Darwinia fascicularis subsp. oligantha population, Baulkham Hills and Hornsby Local Government Areas - endangered population listing
The Scientific Committee, established by the Threatened Species Conservation Act, has made a Final Determination to list the population of Darwinia fascicularis subsp. oligantha in the Baulkham Hills and Hornsby Local Government Areas as an ENDANGERED POPULATION on Part 2 of Schedule 1 of the Act. Listing of Endangered Populations is provided for by Part 2 of the Act.
NSW Scientific Committee - final determination
The Scientific Committee has found that:
1. Darwinia fascicularis subsp. oligantha (Family Myrtaceae) is a decumbent shrub to 0.3 metres high with branches often prostrate and producing adventitious roots. Flowers usually only 4, rarely 2 or 6 in distinct pairs (Flora of New South Wales Volume 2, Harden 1991).
2. Darwinia fascicularis subsp. oligantha is not listed on Schedule 1 of the Act, so that populations are eligible for listing.
3. An isolated population of Darwinia fascicularis subsp. oligantha occurs in the Maroota area in the Baulkham Hills and Hornsby Local Government Areas, disjunct from other populations in the upper Blue Mountains and is at the eastern edge of its range.
4. Plants are found around rock platforms and in rocky heath associated with friable sandstone. Rock outcrops reduce competition from common shrubs such as Leptospermum trinervium and Banksia ericifolia.
5. Darwinia fascicularis subsp. oligantha habitat appears to have been impacted and reduced to small isolated remnants by sand mining which has been extensive in the Maroota area and which is still continuing. The rock platforms that Darwinia fascicularis subsp. oligantha is restricted to are either within this mining zone or on the edge of it. Habitat is also being isolated and fragmented by clearing for rural activities and degraded by bush rock removal, goats and recreation vehicle use.
6. The Maroota population of Darwinia fascicularis subsp. oligantha is known from 3 remnant sites. The total population appeared to be about 500 individuals in 1999.
7. In view of 2,3,4,5 & 6 above, the Scientific Committee is of the opinion that the population of Darwinia fascicularis subsp. oligantha in the Baulkham Hills and Hornsby Local Government Areas is eligible to be listed as an endangered population because its habitat has been so drastically reduced that it is in immediate danger of extinction and it is not a population of a species already listed in Schedule 1 and it is disjunct and at or near the limit of its geographic range.
Proposed Gazettal date: 3/3/00
Exhibition period: 3/3/00 - 7/4/00