Letter from Dr Justin Billing from the Department of the Environment regarding the EPBC threatened ecological communities.
Dear Respondents,
Thank you for your engagement with the process for listing EPBC threatened ecological communities. In particular, we appreciated the submissions and advice you provided on the listing assessment, and the communication implemented within your networks when the draft advice was open for comment. Your contributions had a significant bearing on the description and extent of what was eventually proposed.

I am pleased to let you know that the Commonwealth Environment Minister, Hon. Greg Hunt MP, recently listed ‘Cooks River/Castlereagh Ironbark Forest of the Sydney Basin Bioregion’ (endangered) and ‘Castlereagh Scribbly Gum and Agnes Banks Woodlands of the Sydney Basin Bioregion’ (critically endangered) under the EPBC Act.

The approved conservation advices (incorporating the Threatened Species Scientific Committee’s listing advice) are on the Internet at:http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publiclookupcommunities.pl.

A recovery plan for these two ecological communities and six other threatened ecological communities in the region is currently being prepared. The recovery plan for ‘Multiple ecological communities of the Cumberland Plain and surrounds’ will bring together eight ecological communities with similar threats and pressures to help coordinate recovery actions at both a landscape and local scale. It will target actions at the different level of implementation, from site managers and local community groups doing work on the ground, through regional bodies and councils undertaking strategic planning and development and state and commonwealth land management agencies coordinating cross-jurisdictional involvement. Consultation will be undertaken in coming months.

I also draw your attention to the Australian Governments conservation funding programs, because EPBC-listings are regularly targeted for conservation grants to support activities that benefit matters of national environmental significance. More information and applications can be found at: http://www.nrm.gov.au/.

Regards

Justin
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Dr Justin Billing
Ecological Communities
​Protected Species and Communities Branch | Wildlife Heritage and Marine DivisionDepartment of the Environment