Defining the corridor
- Background
- Biodiversity planning
- What do biodiversity corridors represent
- How the Flinders Karawatha Corridor boundary was decided
- Areas excluded from the Flinders Karawatha Corridor
- Future refinements to the Flinders Karawatha Corridor boundary
- Flinders Karawatha Corridor Overview
Background
The forested corridor between Boonah and Karawatha Forest Reserve in Brisbane City comprises the largest area of intact lowland eucalypt forest in South East Queensland (SEQ). The environmental, cultural and recreational values of the area have been reported in numerous studies. The area is represented as a landscape corridor and regional landscape and rural production area of the SEQ Regional Plan 2009–2031.
In determining the extent of the corridor, numerous layers of information were considered including a Biodiversity Planning Assessment (BPA) for SEQ. The Flinders Karawatha Corridor (the corridor) captures the key environmental, recreational, economic, social and cultural values of this regional landscape area.
Biodiversity planning
The Biodiversity Assessment and Mapping Methodology (PDF, 535K)* (BAMM) provides a consistent and transparent approach for assessing biodiversity values in Queensland bioregions. The Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) is using this mapping system to generate BPA’s for each of Queensland’s bioregions. Supporting the BAMM is vegetation mapping (regional ecosystems) and a range of other biodiversity related data including flora and fauna records. BPAs are used by DERM staff, other government departments, local governments and members of the community to assist with land use planning and identifying conservation priorities.
The biodiversity significance of an area is given according to its ecological value such as rarity, diversity, fragmentation, habitat condition, resilience, threats, and ecosystem processes. The BPA assigns three levels of overall biodiversity significance:
- State significance—areas assessed as being significant for biodiversity at the bioregional or State scales. They also include areas assessed by other studies/processes as being significant at national or international scales.
- Regional significance—areas assessed as being significant for biodiversity at the subregional scale. These areas have lower significance for biodiversity than areas assessed as being of State significance.
- Local significance and/or other values—areas assessed as not being significant for biodiversity at state or regional scales. Local values are of significance at the local government scale.
Expert panels have considered landscape corridors for the BPA using defined criteria and in the context of a proposal for a state wide terrestrial landscape corridor network. These corridors would be assigned State significance and are also complemented by riparian and regionally significant bioregional corridors.
For more information on the BAMM mapping methodology see Biodiversity Planning Assessments.
What do biodiversity corridors represent
Bioregional and subregional conservation corridors have been identified in the more developed bioregions of Queensland through the Biodiversity Planning Assessments (BPAs), using an intensive process involving expert panels. The Flinders Karawatha Corridor (the corridor) has been identified by an expert panel as being part of a state significant terrestrial bioregional corridor.
Corridors are identified based on their role in:
- facilitating seasonal movement (migration, altitudinal migration);
- facilitating movement through highly modified landscapes and access to unexploited habitat;
- improving dispersal success;
- increasing the effective size of meta-populations by allowing for the exchange of genes between subpopulations ;
- allowing colonisation of empty patches and prevent and reverse local extinction;
- providing habitat for resident populations; and
- maintaining landscape scale ecological and evolutionary processes along geological, hydrological, altitudinal and climatic gradients and provide for ecological responses to climate change.
A strategic corridor network should function effectively for a large range of species, particularly threatened species. Corridor selection should address issues of dimensionality (length/width), habitat type, quality and diversity, habitat patchiness within the corridor and consider potential edge effects when prescribing corridor widths.
Terrestrial bioregional corridors, in conjunction with large tracts of remnant vegetation, maintain ecological and evolutionary processes at a landscape scale, by:
- Maintaining long term evolutionary/genetic processes that allow the natural change in distributions of species and connectivity between populations of species over long periods of time;
- Maintaining landscape/ecosystems processes associated with geological, altitudinal and climatic gradients, to allow for ecological responses to climate change;
- Maintaining large scale seasonal/migratory species processes and movement of fauna;
- Maximising connectivity between large tracts/patches of remnant vegetation;
- Identifying key areas for rehabilitation and offsets
The location of the corridors is determined by the following principles:-
- Complement riparian landscape corridors (i.e. minimise overlap and maximise connectivity);
- Follow major watershed/catchment and/or coastal boundaries;
- Incorporate major altitudinal/geological/climatic gradients;
- Include and maximise connectivity between large tracts/patches of remnant vegetation;
- Include and maximise connectivity between remnant vegetation in good condition
How the Flinders Karawatha Corridor boundary was decided
The boundary of the corridor was determined by utilising BPA values, up-to-date landsat imagery, aerial photograph, regional ecosystem mapping and regrowth vegetation mapping (refer to source data versions below).
To define the corridor, planners first considered the BPA values. The boundary was refined using property boundaries and linear features such as railway lines, roads, ridgelines and creeks. Further refinements were made by considering suburb boundaries. The southern boundary was determined by identifying the southern extent of the Wyaralong Dam catchment.
Areas excluded from the Flinders Karawatha Corridor
Any approved or committed development such as Springfield Lakes was excluded from the Flinders Karawatha Corridor (the corridor) footprint. Greenfield communities in Greater Flagstone and Ripley Valley were excluded from the corridor boundary. These new urban areas were still being planned during the refinement of the corridor boundary. It was determined that any green space incorporated into the final approved plans for these urban areas could be considered as enhancing the corridor, particularly if they provide connectivity into the wider SEQ landscape.
Future refinements to the Flinders Karawatha Corridor boundary
Future refining of the corridor boundary will need to be conducted after public consultation. Creating a corridor boundary or ‘identity’ focuses attention and action on an area. It is not intended to indicate that areas outside of the boundary are not valuable to the functioning landscape. The corridor can be viewed as a core area which enhances connectivity in the wider SEQ landscape.
Flinders Karawatha Corridor Overview
An overview of the Flinders Karawatha Corridor planning area (PDF, 1.8M)*.
* Requires Adobe Reader
Last updated 20 January 2012