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Conservation - preserving the birds we love
Shanes Park Airservices site for Nature Reserve - Fact Sheet (2 Feb 2012)
The Shanes Park Airservices Australia (ASA) site, situated just north of the suburbs Willmot and Shalvey in western Sydney, is one of the largest, most diverse, and intact remnants of the scarce natural vegetation of the Cumberland Plain in western Sydney. It has a total area of 558 ha, and has remained relatively undisturbed by the public due to having restricted access for many years. Another factor aiding in preserving its environmental integrity is its large area to boundary ratio, usually rare in urban native vegetation remnants. The ecological values of this site have only become recognised (or recognised anew) fairly recently. It has remained a more-or-less "hidden jewel", which we consider to be worthy of the highest level of protection, as Nature Reserve.
Future of the site
The site is presently owned by the Federal Government, but is now "surplus" to their needs. There has been a proposal for some time to hand it over to NSW Government management on the condition that it is managed by the National Parks Service (NPWS) for conservation. This sounds positive, BUT in a clause in the current Deed of Agreement for the exchange, the Federal Government has stipulated that the site should be designated as Regional Park upon its transfer. This was the wish of the previous Labor State Government, which wanted to simply add the site to the nearby Wianamatta Regional Park on the former ADI site to the south-west.
It is likely the exchange of this site to NSW will happen soon. Thus, it is now urgent for many people to lobby the State and Federal Governments to remove this condition of handover, and replace the requirement for Regional Park status with a requirement for Nature Reserve status - see addresses to contact politicians, below. Only this highest level of secure conservation status would protect the great natural values of the site long-term. If it were to become Regional Park, inappropriate recreational development is likely which would destroy or degrade valuable natural areas and drive out several shyer bird species, especially those that need undergrowth or feed on the ground, such as the Speckled Warbler - see next section.
Note that large areas of the 900 ha Wianamatta Regional Park are already earmarked for recreation development. There are no doubt additional areas of degraded Cumberland Plain vegetation that can be developed for the recreation needs of future residents without threatening rare fauna.
Value of Shanes Park Airservices site for birds
Some members of Cumberland Bird Observers Club (CBOC) know the birdlife of the site well. From surveys over several years, a valuable summary of birds found there has been compiled (thanks mainly to Edwin Vella). These records include an impressive 105 species, of which 79 were noted in 2011.
Rarer species (listed as Vulnerable under the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995) recorded there are:
Square-tailed Kite, Little Eagle, Speckled Warbler, Scarlet Robin, Varied Sittella, and White-browed Woodswallow.
All of these have been seen within the last year or two. The site also has stands of trees that, when flowering, are likely to attract two nationally Endangered species - Regent Honeyeater and Swift Parrot. It is probably the best stronghold left in Sydney for the Speckled Warbler - up to 8 have been seen on a single visit (recently). This attractive bird has declined greatly in Sydney over the past 50 years. It could well be used as a "mascot" for this site.
Also recorded at Shanes Park are a number of overall less rare bird species, dependent on more western woodland environments, which are nevertheless declining in Sydney due to habitat destruction: Painted Button-quail, Peaceful Dove, Pallid Cuckoo, Striated Pardalote, Weebill, Buff-rumped Thornbill, Fuscous Honeyeater, White-winged Triller, White-winged Chough, and Double-barred Finch. The wide range of habitat types has resulted in some unusual bird occurrences - Noisy Pitta in 2009, Western Gerygone (Warbler) in 2011, and 15 Spotless Crakes at a small lake in 2011 (after a wet summer).
In terms of bird conservation at least, in this part of western Sydney, Shanes Park ASA site is regarded as a vital component in a chain of fairly large conservation reserves that exist already or could be created and linked by corridors - see details in section on Important Bird Area below.
Shanes Park in relation to Richmond Woodlands IBA
Shanes Park Airservices site is very close to the currently poorly defined eastern boundary of the Richmond Woodlands Important Bird Area (IBA). This IBA presently covers about 33,000 ha, extending from Wilberforce, Pitt Town and Scheyville in the north-east to south of Penrith in the south-west. It is one of 10,000 IBAs identified in over 200 countries, one of 314 in Australia, and one of 45 in NSW. All these IBAs have been identified using a set of global criteria under the auspices of BirdLife International.
The Shanes Park site is likely to attract the nationally Endangered Swift Parrot and the Critically Endangered Regent Honeyeater during their post-breeding dispersal. These are the two key 'flagship species' of this IBA, and in recent years they have occurred from time to time within it. There have also been numerous records of Swift Parrots in a variety of other locations just to the east of the present IBA during this time. Other notable regionally rare bird species that the Richmond Woodlands IBA aims to protect, which also occur at Shanes Park, include Speckled Warbler, Scarlet Robin, Square-tailed Kite, and Little Eagle.
In the light of the current high bird diversity and good quality habitat at the Shanes Park Airservices site, serious consideration is likely to be given in the near future to a proposal to extend the eastern boundary of the Richmond Woodlands IBA to include this site. Particularly if it is reserved as Nature Reserve, the site would form a very important extension to the existing network of woodland conservation reserves that currently extends from Scheyville National Park in the north, through Windsor Downs and Agnes Banks Nature Reserves, to Castlereagh Nature Reserve and the proposed Cranebrook Nature Reserve (ex-Airservices site). If all these lands can be secured for nature conservation and linked by corridors, there is some hope of retaining the rich birdlife of the area and preventing the local or regional extinction of several of the more "western" bird species dependent on the shale forests and woodland in the Sydney area.
Additional issues
- A fairly large area of natural vegetation (c 80-90 ha) on private land adjoining the eastern end of the Shanes Park ASA site is proposed to be purchased by the State for conservation under the Sydney Growth Centres plan. It is logical and most desirable that this land be incorporated in a Shanes Park Nature Reserve (if that eventuates) and managed as part of it. The extra land would increase the nature reserve's resilience.
- The proposed RTA Castlereagh Road Corridor cuts through the entire southern section of the Shanes Park site. This easement needs to be removed, or at least relocated to minimise its impact on the site, whatever status the land is given.
- Future housing developments surrounding the Shanes Park site should be required to have a 25-m wide buffer zone (setback) for fire control between the reserve edge and any development, not the totally inadequate 2.5 m buffer in existing precinct plans, which would lead to edges of the reserve being eroded by firebreaks.
- The smaller Cranebrook Airservices site (180 ha) west of Shanes Park was also handed to NSW control quite recently. It was also destined to become Regional Park, but the incoming Liberal Government committed to declaring it Nature Reserve instead. This site, while valuable, is considered by 'birdos' and others to have a somewhat lower value for fauna and flora conservation than Shanes Park, as well as being much smaller. Logically, the larger and ecologically richer Shanes Park site also deserves Nature Reserve status.
- Fairly large areas in the western portion of Shanes Park site are grassland, including some "derived native grasslands" from past clearing. Such open patches, especially where interspersed with clumps of trees, should be protected as they form a valuable habitat for some fauna such as raptors (e.g. Little Eagle), Robins, and macropods, as well as rare flora.
Contacts
Politicians to lobby re transferring the site to NSW management as Nature Reserve, NOT as Regional Park:
Hon. Robyn Parker MP, NSW Minister for the Environment - responsible for National Parks
Phone: (02) 9228 5253
Email: office@parker.minister.nsw.gov.au
Post: Level 32, Governor Macquarie Tower, 1 Farrer Place, Sydney 2000
Hon. Tony Burke MP Federal Minister for the Environment etc
Phone: (02) 6277 7640
Email: Tony.Burke.MP@aph.gov.au
Post: PO Box 6022, House of Representatives, Parliament, Canberra ACT 2600
Hon. Brad Hazzard MP, NSW Minister for the Planning and Infrastructure - responsible for freeway easements, revocation
Phone: (02) 9228 5258
Email: office@hazzard.minister.nsw.gov.au
Post: Level 33, Governor Macquarie Tower, 1 Farrer Place, Sydney 2000
Website
See the excellent website shanespark.com for much more detail about Shanes Park site and its issues.
Some other conservation activities Cumberland members have been involved with.
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