An endangered shrub with a penchant for roadside reserves near Kandos has received a boost with $5150 monitoring program under way this week.
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Member for Bathurst Paul Toole said the monitoring program was part of the NSW Government’s Saving our Species Program.
“We are fortunate that the Capertee Valley has an abundance of wildlife with many native plants and animal species making their homes on roadside reserves,” Mr Toole said.
“I’m pleased this small local shrub is one of the beneficiaries of NSW Government’s Saving Our Species program.”
Senior Threatened Species Officer at the Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH), David Coote, said the funds will be used to continue monitoring roadside populations of the endangered shrub Grevillea obtusiflora in the Capertee Valley.
“Grevillea obtusiflora, a small, multi-stemmed shrub with narrow leaves and pink to pinkish red flowers, is listed as an endangered species under both NSW and Commonwealth legislation,” Mr Coote said.
Subspecies obtusiflora occurs as scattered groups in the understorey of low open eucalypt forest at altitudes of around 730 metres above sea level.
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Subspecies fecunda occurs in clusters within low, open scrub beneath open, dry sclerophyll forest, on orange, sandy loam soils with sandstone boulders, at altitudes of above around 550 metres.
“The new funding is important as it helps track the status of this rare species, which is known from two disjunct areas: a small area in Clandulla State Forest, near Kandos, and from numerous locations in the Capertee Valley,” he said.
Subspecies obtusiflora flowers sparsely in winter and spring with flowering peaking in October. Fruits, seeds and seedlings have not been recorded, indicating that it may be wholly dependent on root suckering for reproduction.
The high degree of clonality of subspecies obtusiflora makes it difficult to identify and count individual plants.
“Monitoring programs are very important for endangered species as they gauge changes in populations under differing conditions, which informs land management, and in this case road maintenance activities,” he said.
“The SoS program has funded monitoring of Grevillea obtusiflora populations on Port Macquarie Road and Home Hills Road in the northern Capertee Valley since 2016.”