New South Wales Government

Department of

Environment and Climate Change

Skip links | Contact us | Help

Search: Advanced

You are here: Home > Conserving biodiversity > NSW Biodiversity Strategy > About the first strategy 1999-2003 > Knowledge and information

Knowledge of the State's biodiversity

Many government agencies have their own databases and information relating to biodiversity. By linking these information systems, conservation planners, land managers and members of the public can now get a good picture of biodiversity across the state.

The NSW Biodiversity Strategy contributed through a range of projects to improve access to information, it also helped to address the fundamental biodiversity knowledge gaps. Key projects contributed to:

• A whole of government online biodiversity information system, known simply as BioNet (Project 1.3). This on-line resource links agency biodiversity databases and compliments the Community Access to Natural Resource Information (CANRI) program.
• The development of the Threatened Species Survey and Assessment Guidelines to help with the assessment of development proposals (a copy will be available here when finalised). View a draft version of the Threatened Species Survey and Assessment Guidelines. 
• The preparation of draft Regional-scale Biodiversity Survey and Assessment Guidelines (PDF - 996KB) that provide information about how to approach survey and assessment of biodiversity to inform regional planning.
• The development of Survey guidelines for non-vascular plants (Project 130.2)
• Detailed taxonomic research which expanded our biological and ecological knowledge of several groups of terrestrial invertebrates and non-vascular plants. This work resulted in a range of scientific journal articles describing new species and knowledge and also helped inform the Master list of taxonomic names for inclusion on BioNet (Projects 122.1-122.5)
• An integrated biodiversity conservation assessment across NSW which assessed the conservation status of biodiversity at different scales, helped to fill gaps in information and produced assessment tools for State and bioregional conservation assessments. The information captured as part of this project is now readily available and has helped to inform recent biodiversity planning and management decisions. The key products from the Integrated Biodiversity Conservation Assessments package include:

• Compilation of a statewide map of native vegetation coverage, resulting in the publication of Ocean shores to desert dunes: the native vegetation of New South Wales and the ACT by Dr David Keith, published by the NSW Government see http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/publications/ostdd.htm. (Project 13.11).
• A comprehensive vegetation classification and assessment of the plant communities across the state with particular focus on western NSW (Project 13.8).
• Classification of landscapes in NSW as a surrogate for biodiversity, this work formed part of the statewide project to monitor conservation across NSW and resulted in the publication "Atlas of NSW landscapes".
• The Bioregional assessments included a series of projects focused on gathering information for bioregions with identified knowledge gaps. In some cases, biodiversity surveys had already been undertaken in particular areas and the Strategy projects helped to extend this work, complementing work initiated through the Natural Heritage Trust funded projects and/or the Comprehensive Regional Assessment (CRA) process. The most significant outcomes of this work were the following publications:
• The guide "How to carry out a bioregional assessment" which can help local groups carry out bioregional assessments, including tips on how to collect and analyse information and how to incorporate the findings of their assessments into plans for natural resource management (Project 13.1).Download this Guide
• Introduction and Section 1(PDF format - 1.8MB)
• Sections 2 to 3 (PDF format - 1.9MB)
• Sections 4 to 6 (PDF format - 1.7MB)
• Sections 7 to 9 (PDF format - 1.5MB)
• Section 10 and appendices (PDF format - 2.3MB)
• The Bioregions of NSW, an on-line publication which provides a snapshot of the conservation character and significance of the 17 bioregions of NSW (Project 13.17).

Other products include biodiversity survey reports, datasets and information suitable for use by conservation planners and other related natural resource managers and conservation programs operating in each bioregion. You can view the range of assessment reports available to download below.

Bioregion documents to download:

Brigalow Belt South documents:

• Brigalow Belt South Scoping Study report (Project 13.3.) (PDF - 5.3MB)

Cobar Peneplain and Lower Murray-Darling documents:

• Cobar Peneplain and Lower Murray-Darling: Habitat requirements of selected faunal groups (Project 13.15) (PDF - 2.4MB)

Darling Riverine Plains documents:

• Darling Riverine Plains Project Stages 1 and 2: carrying out a conservation assessment (Thursday, 1 May 2003)
• Background report (PDF - 2.6MB)
• Terrestrial arthropod survey report was produced by the Australian Museum as part of the biodiversity assessment.
• Darling Riverine Plains Biodiversity survey report - the biodiversity survey report is available in two versions. If you have a fast internet connection, you may wish to download the complete file Biodiversity survey report (PDF - 2.9MB).
• Landholder Guide Life in the Darling Riverine Plains: a landholder's guide to native wildlife and their habitats (PDF - 1.8MB)
• Factsheets from this project:

Factsheet 1: Mosquitoes (PDF - 151KB)

Factsheet 3: Survey techniques (PDF - 198KB)

Factsheet 4: Economic values of conserving native vegetation (PDF - 121KB)

Factsheet 5: Bats of the Darling Riverine Plains (PDF - 100KB)

Factsheet 6: Creating habitat for birds (PDF - 106KB)

Factsheet 7: Frog friendly habitat (PDF - 117KB)

Factsheet 8: Forrest's mouse (PDF - 150KB)

Factsheet 9: Survey results (PDF - 115KB)

Factsheet 10: Conserving biodiversity (PDF - 121KB)

Factsheet 11: Habitat facts (PDF - 198KB)

South West Slopes documents:

• NSW South West Slopes scoping study - draft report (Project 13.4) (PDF - 3.9MB) for fast connections. If you have a dial-up internet connection, the draft report has been broken into smaller sections. Just download the sections you need:
  Report summary (PDF - 22KB)
  Main body of report (with maps 1 to 8) (PDF - 2.0MB)
  Remaining maps and all of appendices (PDF - 1.8MB)
• The importance of paddock trees for regional conservation in agricultural landscapes - a discussion paper for consideration by the Riverina Highlands Regional Vegetation Committee (PDF - 655KB). This report is Appendix 3 of the scoping study. If you have downloaded the scoping study, you will not need to download this report.
• The Native Vegetation of Boorowa Shire (PDF - 1.9MB)
• Methods for Classification and Modelling of the Vegetation of Boorowa Shire (PDF - 396MB)

Sydney Basin documents:

• Sydney Basin: developing a framework for assessing conservation priorities (Project 13.6) (Monday, 10 March 2003)
• Strategy and guidelines for establishing biodiversity conservation priorities for the Sydney Basin - Report summary (PDF - 15KB)

Riverina documents:

• The Riverina Project Stage 1: A foundation for conservation in the Riverina (Friday, 13 September 2002)
• A foundation for conservation in the Riverina bioregion(PDF - 4MB)