Animals and plants that are rare in NSW are listed under the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 as either vulnerable or endangered and refered to as threatened. There is also a category for critically endangered fauna and flora, the provision for threatened populations (eg. our coastal emu is an endangered population) and threatening processes (eg. invasion of cane toads, removal of bushrock, predation by foxes, etc). Once you open the Act from the link above, scroll down to the bottom to see the schedules, which is where these are all listed for NSW.
Powerful Owl - Australia's largest owl is listed as vulnerable under the NSW Threatened Species Act 1995. Thanks to Roger Fryer for permission to use this amazing photo. Taken at Station Creek.
The best thing you can do is get to know the threatened species in your area and how to identify each one. You can then record sightings and help monitor them. If you would like to get more involved in threatened species recovery work, email thspp@cvcia.org.au and tell us what’s on your mind. In the meantime, check out the links below to learn more about threatened species.
Links
- DECC Threatened Species Website – unfortunately this website is no longer being updated, but is an excellent resource with profiles on all threatened species that were listed in 2005. Many profiles have a sound link for the particular species, which is incredibly handy for identification purposes. You can search by species, habitat, location, etc.
- Atlas of NSW Wildlife – the quintessential collection of flora and fauna records in NSW. I am a big supporter of the Atlas database. You can search by species (not just threatened) or area. Find out what species are listed in your area. Then find out which of these species is threatened. You can produce a map or report. Awesome.
- Once you get used to searching and loving the Atlas NSW Database, you can start contributing (ie. sending in your sightings). See the About the Atlas page for more information on how you can contribute.
- The Atlas Spreadsheet for data entry.