Foundation for Conservation in the Riverina Bioregion VIS_ID 984

"Vegetation coverage derived for the NSW Component of the Riverina Bioregion (IBRA). Data layer was prepared as part of the project ""A Foundation for Conservation in the Riverina Bioregion"" by K. A. Eardley (NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, 1999). Riverina Bioregion Vegetation Map (NSW component) covers the following 1:250 000 map sheets: POONCARIE, BALRANALD, SWAN HILL, BOOLIGAL, HAY, DENILIQUIN, IVANHOE, CARGELLIGO, NARRANDERA and JERILDERIE. The vegetation coverage for the Riverina was derived from a number of map sources, mainly the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney (Porteners, 1993) Hay Plain: Booligal-Hay and Deniliquin-Bendigo 1:250 000 maps; (Porteners et. Al., 1997) Pooncarie 1:250,000 map; (Scott, 1992) Balranald - Swan Hill 1:250,000 maps; and NPWS extension mapping from Landsat imagery for the northern periphery and eastern portion of the Bioregion within NSW. This map was derived from mapping prepared by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney and therefore, the original publications should be reviewed. The mapis reliable for information regarding woody vegetation but limited in its capacity to describe Grasslands. The extension mapping is very broad due to the rapidity with which it was undertaken and the constraints associated with visual interpretation of satellite imagery and the lack of field survey. The main limitation to the extension mapping is the grouping of all Grasslands into one category. The constraint with using satellite imagery meant that native grasslands could not be accurately distinguished from improved pasture. Therefore, the 'Grassland' vegetation type includes the continuum from relatively undisturbed native grassland to improved pasture with few native species; similarly, Boree Woodland (Acacia pendula) with scattered individuals, is also classified as Grassland. Vegetation types were derived by omitting structural detail and grouping common floristic categories. This was a pragmatic decision to provide consistency between the various maps and to enable comparison at the coarse level without losing floristic detail. Nevertheless, it is acknowledged that the removal of the structural and species dominance information reduces the usefulness of the mapping for predicting species and habitat distribution. For example, it could not be used to predict Plains Wanderer habitat because this species is reliant upon vegetation structure as well as floristic composition." VIS_ID 984