Gingin Wax (Chamelaucium sp. Gingin) Interim Recovery Plan 2003-2008
Gillian Stack and Val English
Department of Conservation and Land Management, WA, 2003
|Scientific Name:||Chamelaucium sp. Gingin||Common Name:||Gingin Wax|
|Dept Region:||Swan||Dept District:||Swan Coastal, Perth Hills|
|Shire:||Gingin, Chittering||Recovery Team:||Swan Region Threatened Flora and Communities Recovery Team (SRTFCRT)|
Illustrations and/or further information: A. Brown, C. Thomson-Dans and N. Marchant (Eds) (1998) Western Australia's Threatened Flora;
Current status: Chamelaucium sp. Gingin was declared as Rare Flora under the Western Australian Wildlife Conservation Act 1950 in September 1986 and ranked as Critically Endangered (CR) in November 1998. It is also listed as Endangered under the Commonwealth Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act 1999. It is now to be recommended for listing under World Conservation Union (IUCN, 2000) Red List category 'VU' because it meets criterion B1ab(iii)+2ab(iii) for Vulnerable and no longer meets criteria for Endangered. The six populations of Chamelaucium sp. Gingin are highly fragmented. The main threats are road, track, firebreak and fence maintenance activities, road construction projects, mining, inappropriate fire regimes, grazing, weed invasion, chemical drift and potentially disease.
An Interim Recovery Plan was written for Chamelaucium sp. Gingin in 1999 (Evans and English 1999). This plan is based on that document, includes additional information compiled since 1999, and replaces that plan.
Habitat requirements: Chamelaucium sp. Gingin is endemic to Western Australia and is apparently confined to the Gingin / Chittering area, where it is known from a range of only 3 km. The six known populations contain a total of approximately 4700 adult plants and 1800 juveniles. The species occurs on white/yellow sand supporting open low woodland with Eucalyptus todtiana, Banksia attenuata and Hibbertia sp.
Critical habitat: The critical habitat for Chamelaucium sp. Gingin comprises the area of occupancy of the known populations; similar habitat within 200 metres of known populations; corridors of remnant vegetation that link populations and additional nearby occurrences of similar habitat that do not currently contain the species but may have done in the past and so may be suitable for translocations.
Habitat critical to the survival of the species, and important populations
Given that this species is endangered it is considered that all known habitat is habitat critical. In addition all populations are considered important to the survival of the species as genetic variation between populations and/or individual plants has not been determined.
Benefits to other species/ecological communities
Population 1a is also located within an occurrence of a Threatened Ecological Community (TEC) listed as Endangered in Western Australia. Recovery actions implemented to improve the quality or security of the habitat of Chamelaucium sp. Gingin Population 1a are likely to improve the status of the TEC in which this population is located.
This plan is fully consistent with the aims and recommendations of the Convention on Biological Diversity, ratified by Australia in June 1993, and will assist in implementing Australia's responsibilities under that Convention. However, as Chamelaucium sp. Gingin is not listed under any international agreement, the implementation of other international environmental responsibilities is not affected by this plan.
Role and interests of indigenous people
There are no known indigenous communities involved in the management of areas affected by this plan. Therefore no role has been identified for indigenous communities in the recovery of this species.
Social and economic impacts
There are mineral leases over the area that contains population 1a of Chamelaucium sp. Gingin (refer Table 1); however, negotiations are in train with relevant State Agencies and lease holders with regard the future management of these areas. There are also populations located on private land. Recovery actions refer to continued negotiations between stakeholders with regard these areas.
Evaluation of the Plan's Performance
The Department of Conservation and Land Management, in conjunction with the Recovery Team will evaluate the performance of this IRP. In addition to annual reporting on progress with listed actions and comparison against the criteria for success and failure, the plan is to be reviewed within five years of its implementation.
Existing Recovery Actions: The following recovery actions have been or are currently being implemented -
- Relevant land managers have been made aware of the location and threatened status of the species.
- DRF (Declared Rare Flora) markers have been placed at all roadside locations.
- Populations 1b, 2a and 5 have been fenced from stock.
- Purchase of two parcels of private land on which the species occurs is complete, and both areas are in the process of becoming Nature Reserves.
- Seed has been collected from some populations by the Department's Threatened Flora Seed Centre (TFSC).
- The species has been successfully cultivated by several nurseries.
- The Botanic Garden and Parks Authority currently have 86 plants of Chamelaucium sp. Gingin from 3 clones.
- An information sheet for Chamelaucium sp. Gingin has been produced.
- Staff from the Department's Swan Coastal and Perth Hills Districts regularly monitor populations of the species.
- The Swan Region Threatened Flora and Communities Recovery Team is overseeing the implementation of this IRP and will include information on progress in an annual report to the Department's Corporate Executive and funding bodies.
IRP Objective: The objective of this Interim Recovery Plan is to abate identified threats and maintain or enhance in situ populations to ensure the long-term preservation of the species in the wild.
Criteria for success: The number of individuals within populations and/or the number of populations have increased by ten percent or more.
Criteria for failure: The number of individuals within populations and/or the number of populations have decreased by ten percent or more.
|1. Coordinate recovery actions||6. Monitor populations|
|2. Map critical habitat||7. Collect seed and cutting material|
|3. Seek long-term protection of habitat||8. Conduct further surveys|
|4. Complete reservation process||9. Promote awareness|
|5. Develop and implement fire management strategy||10. Obtain biological and ecological information|