Vegetation mapping of Cape Byron State Conservation Area and Arakwal National Park, 2013. VIS_ID 4385

A vegetation survey, classification and mapping program of Cape Byron State Conservation Area and Arakwal National Park was carried out during 2007-8 by Andy Baker of Wildsite Ecological Services Pty Ltd. It was a North Coast NPWS Region contract, mapped at 1:25000 scale. The mapping was revised and the report finalised in 2013. The mapping was clipped to the SCA and NP boundary in 2013 and hence the mapping covers a slightly smaller area. This is perhaps why both the 2008 and 2013 versions have been retained.

Cape Byron SRA (101 ha) and Arakwal NP (200 ha) are situated on the far North Coast of NSW immediately east of Byron Bay in the Byron Shire local government area. The reserves fall within the NSW North Coast biogeographic region of Thackway and Cresswell (1995), and the North Coast botanical subdivision of Anderson (1961). Cape Byron SCA and Arakwal NP consists of a contiguous area of coastal vegetation that extends from the headland hill complex of Cape Byron in the north, and onto the Quaternary barrier deposits and adjoining low coastal hills and slopes to the south. A separate western section of Arakwal NP includes estuarine deposits and lower hill slopes. Some additional small areas of contiguous vegetation on adjoining lands, and managed by Byron Shire Council Land and the NSW Department of Lands, are included in the study area. The total extent of the study area is 302.8 ha.

The main aims of the study were to identify, classify and map all extant vegetation within the study area, identify vegetation and flora of conservation significance, and also identify any processes currently threatening the vegetation. To this end, all vegetation has been surveyed and mapped via aerial photographic interpretation, extensive ground truthing and data analysis. Targeted sampling was undertaken using 62 survey plots each of 0.04ha. Examination of floristic relationships and refinement of the final classification was undertaken using the PATN hierarchical clustering program.

VIS_ID 4385