Comments on this assessment closed 20 August 2021. The text and documents below remain available for reference only.
Comment on Listing Assessments
About the nomination and assessment
Each year on behalf of the Threatened Species Scientific Committee, the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment invites public nominations for items that merit listing as threatened under national environment law. The “Drooping Sheoak (Allocasuarina verticillata) grassy woodland on calcrete of the Eyre Yorke Block Bioregion” was nominated for listing as a threatened ecological community and prioritised for assessment in 2018.
The Committee’s assessment and advice to the Minister is due by 30 November 2021.
Proposed Conservation Status: Critically Endangered
Distribution: Eyre and Yorke Peninsulas in South Australia.
Invitation to comment
The EPBC Act requires the Threatened Species Scientific Committee to undertake public consultation on nominations accepted for a full scientific assessment. The Committee particularly seeks comments on whether the Drooping Sheoak grassy woodland is eligible for listing under the proposed conservation status, but also invites other relevant comments and information.
How can I get involved?
Read the consultation documents
The draft scientific assessment, known as the draft Conservation Advice, recommends that the ecological community may be eligible for listing as critically endangered, based on evidence that it has declined in extent by approximately 97%; it has a very restricted geographic distribution, based on small patch sizes, coupled with demonstrable threats throughout the range; and a severe to very severe reduction in integrity through clearance, fragmentation, heavy grazing, loss of native fauna and weed invasion. This has affected ecological processes and resulted in a major decline and/or change to flora and fauna within the ecological community.
Draft Conservation Advice for the Drooping Sheoak (Allocasuarina verticillata) Grassy Woodland on Calcrete of the Eyre Yorke Block Bioregion (PDF - 1.39 MB)
Draft Conservation Advice for the Drooping Sheoak (Allocasuarina verticillata) Grassy Woodland on Calcrete of the Eyre Yorke Block Bioregion (DOCX - 6.45 MB)
Indicative map of distribution (PDF - 660.48 KB)
Although the Conservation Advice is technical, the following Consultation Guide is in plain language to help the public understand what this ecological community is and what listing ecological communities under the EPBC Act means for land managers who may have patches on their property.
Drooping Sheoak (Allocasuarina verticillata) Grassy Woodland on Calcrete of the Eyre Yorke Block Bioregion - Consultation guide (PDF - 2.53 MB)
Drooping Sheoak (Allocasuarina verticillata) Grassy Woodland on Calcrete of the Eyre Yorke Block Bioregion - Consultation guide (DOCX - 3.52 MB)
Guidelines for Nominating and Assessing Threatened Ecological Communities
The Guidelines for Nominating and Assessing Ecological Communities are also available to explain the criteria and concepts by which an ecological community can be determined as threatened in a particular conservation category.
Send your comments
The Committee welcomes the views of experts, land managers, First Nations peoples, other stakeholders and the general public on the draft Conservation Advice for the ecological community.
The public consultation period closes on 20 August 2021.
You are welcome to forward this request to advise other relevant key people or groups in your networks about this opportunity for comment. We would greatly appreciate your help to get input from other agencies and groups involved with biodiversity conservation, land management, primary industries and planning.
Questions to guide comments can be found within the Draft Conservation Advice.
Please support your comments with information and data, preferably supported by published studies or observations. If some of that information is not published, please indicate if you are willing to be quoted as an expert or source (“personal communication”).
Responses are to be provided in writing either by email to: epbc.nominations@environment.gov.au
or by mail to:
The Director
Ecological Communities section
Protected Species and Communities Branch
Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment
GPO Box 858
Canberra ACT 2601
Privacy
Personal information that you provide will only be used for these purposes. Personal information may be disclosed to employees of Australian Government agencies assisting the Committee for the purposes outlined above. The Department will deal with personal information contained in, or provided in relation to, responses in accordance with its Privacy Policy.