Recovery Action Plan for Grey Box community


Grey Box Woodland State and Transition Model



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1.6.Grey Box Woodland State and Transition Model


Prescott and Turner (2010) developed a State and Transition Model for the Grey Box dominated association that occurs on clay loam to sandy loam soils on the plains and western facing foothills of the southern Mount Lofty Ranges. State and Transition models are a way of documenting understanding of how processes create patterns observed in an ecosystem. They define the different discrete types of vegetation States that occur as a result of a site’s characteristics like climate, soils, history, or disturbances. States vary in their ability to resist change and one state can Transition to another as a result of natural processes - like succession or bushfire, or management practices like grazing or weed removal.

The different States of Grey Box woodland are provided below. Appendix D provides a summary of all States, including a new State (1b) prepared as a result of this project.

State 0 – Pre-European intact Grey Box woodland

State 1 – Remnant intact woodland

State 1b – Remnant depauperate woodland

State 2 – Woodland impacted by inappropriate fire events

State 3a – Woodland with grazing impacts, but no / little added fertiliser

State 3b – Woodland with grazing impacts and with nutrients

State 4 – Woodland impacted by pasture species understorey

State 5a – Woodland impacted by neglect – recoverable

State 5b – Woodland impacted by neglect after disturbance –recoverable?

State 5c – Woodland impacted by neglect / tree death

State 5d – Woodland impacted by neglect / tree death after disturbance with nutrients

State 6 – Woodland impacted by Phytophthora root fungus

State 7 – Woodland replaced by pasture, without trees

State 8 – Woodland lost through alienation

State 9 – Woodland reconstructed

State 10 – Woodland impacted by climate change

State 11 – Woodland best-option conservation surrogate

1.7.Assigning State to Mapped Remnants


Whilst there are a series of indicators for each State, there is no definitive method to differentiate states. As noted by Prescott and Turner (2010): “Indicators should be considered as evidence for a site being in a given State, but not in an absolute sense. That is, the greater the number of indicators agreeing with a particular State, the higher the likelihood of a site being in that State, albeit natural complexity means there will potentially be some exceptions. In many cases appropriate application of the indicators will allow for the State of a site to be identified.”

The State and Transition Model described in Appendix D was used to assign a state to sites where there was known information on current condition. This included information from the following sources:

Nield, C. and Sinel, A. (2010). Field Validation of the State and Transition Model for Grey Box Woodlands. Prepared by EBS Ecology for the Department for Environment and Heritage. In this document the authors visited sites and assigned current State by the indicators from the State and Transition Model.

Milne, T. (2013). Rapid Assessment of poorly known Grey Box (Eucalyptus microcarpa) remnants in the Southern Mount Lofty Ranges. Prepared by EAC- Ecological Evaluation for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. In this document, Milne used the BushRAT (DEWNR 2013) assessment methodology to assess and map Grey Box woodland sites. Post hoc review was used to assign these to a State, and the depth of information gathered in each site means this allocation could be made with relative confidence.

Brown T (2006) Strategic Plan for the Restoration of Hills Face Zone Grassy Woodlands Department for Environment and Heritage, South Australia. Brown assigned a condition value based on the degree of weed infestation in the site. Post hoc review of the data was used to assign state, but given that this assessment focussed on weed infestation, there were many indicators criteria required to assign State that were not assessed. It should also be noted that this assessment was undertaken in 2006, and the State of some sites may have changed due to management intervention.

Figure 1.7 shows point source State data for each of these areas assessed. Bearing in mind the points made above, this map should be considered as illustrative rather than definitive. Polygon data could not be mapped, as polygons were not explicitly mapped for each assessment (and thus some polygons had two or more States). The map shows there are many sites yet to be assessed. It also supports the anecdotal observation of Nield and Sinel (2010) that the Onkaparinga Hills and Willunga Basin areas would more commonly have 3b, 4, 5a, or 5b state, whereas the hills face zone sites on steeper slopes with moderate depth soil were mostly 5b, 5c, 5d, 7, 8, and 9.



Figure 1.7: Location and State of Grey Box patches assessed in the Mount Lofty Ranges


1.8.Management Requirements for Different Grey Box Woodland States

Turner and Prescott (2010) provided some suggestions regarding the potential management actions for each State of Grey Box woodland in the State and Transition model. These have been reviewed and consolidated, and are included in Table 1.8. This management matrix provides useful information on the degree of management intervention required by State. They range from maintenance (State 1) to full reconstruction (States 7,8). All of the management actions are described in more detail in section 1.9.


State 0 – Pre-European intact Grey Box woodland

State 1 – Remnant intact woodland

State 1b – Remnant depauperate woodland

State 2 – Woodland impacted by inappropriate fire events

State 3a – Woodland with grazing impacts, but no / little added fertiliser

State 3b – Woodland with grazing impacts and with nutrients

State 4 – Woodland impacted by pasture species understorey

State 5a – Woodland impacted by neglect – recoverable

State 5b – Woodland impacted by neglect after disturbance –recoverable?

State 5c – Woodland impacted by neglect / tree death

State 5d – Woodland impacted by neglect / tree death after disturbance with nutrients

State 6 – Woodland impacted by Phytophthora root fungus

State 7 – Woodland replaced by pasture, without trees

State 8 – Woodland lost through alienation

State 9 – Woodland reconstructed

State 10 – Woodland impacted by climate change



State 11 – Woodland best-option conservation surrogate

Table 1.8: Priority Management Actions by State Type: Grey Box Woodlands

Management Action

S0

S1

S1b

S2

S3a

S3b

S4

S5a

S5b

S5c

S5d

S6

S7

S8

S9

S10

S11

Prevention of Anthropogenic Impacts






































Woody weed control

NA

M

M

M

P

P











NA







P

NA

NA

Herbaceous weed control

NA

M



M















NA







P

NA

NA

Grassy weed control

NA





















NA









NA

NA

Broad Acre weed control

NA










P

P

P

P

P

P

P

NA










NA

NA

Baling to remove nutrients

NA




P




P

P

P

P

P

P

P

NA
















Grazing management

NA




P








P

P

P

P

P

NA










NA

NA

Slashing

NA




P








P

P

P

P

P

NA










NA

NA

Fire management

NA

P

P



P

P

P

P

P

P

P

NA










NA

NA

Natural recovery native grass1

NA



~






~

~



~

~

~

NA










NA

NA

Natural recovery native forb1

NA



~






~

~



~

~

~

NA










NA

NA

Natural recovery native shrub layer1

NA



~






~

~



~

~

~

NA










NA

NA

Natural recovery native tree layer1

NA



~






~

~



~

~

~

NA










NA

NA

Supplementary planting2: Grass and Forb

NA




P




P



P

P

P





NA










NA

NA

Supplementary planting2: Shrub layer

NA




P




P






P

P





NA










NA

NA

Supplementary planting2: Tree layer

NA










P



P

P

P





NA










NA

NA

Reconstruction3: Grass and Forb

NA































NA








NA

NA

Reconstruction3: Shrub layer

NA






























NA








NA

NA

Reconstruction3: Tree layer

NA































NA








NA

NA

1Whilst not a management action per se, this has been included to identify which condition states which, if threats were removed, would be expected to be able to recover structural layers without the need for supplementary planting

2Supplementary planting: to either increase density or diversity of a lifeform that is present but is depauperate compared to State 1 and is unlikely to recover naturally.

3Reconstruction: planting required as the lifeform is no longer present and will not regenerate naturally

4if natural recovery occurs, maximum achievable state may be State 1b.

~ whilst some recovery may occur, it is likely to be limited and supplementary planting may be required to reach maximum state achievable

M: Ongoing monitoring and removal as required

P: possible that this management intervention may be required, but will require assessment following removal of threats and time for recovery



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