Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2023L01376:reg:3:p5
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2023L01376
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 3 (pt 5/13)
Character Range: 97503–100650

wildfire in extreme conditions or after prolonged drought. Planned burns should not create a running fire into vine forest. Ensuring conditions of good soil moisture and moisture of litter in surrounding communities will limit fire behaviour/intensity. ISSUES: Fire sensitive and not normally flammable. Some preliminary work suggests rainforest seedling germination from planned burning activities will assist the establishment of seedlings in newly burnt areas, especially due to smoke. There may be issues with lantana (Lantana camera) and other weeds from fire and other disturbance. Remnants may be limited by frequent fire at the margins; this requires further research.
Fire regimes that cause declines in biodiversity is Listed as a Key Threatening Process under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth).
Fire is identified as a Key Threatening Process under the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (NSW).

Unmanaged livestock
When access is available, livestock will utilise Macadamia habitat for shade, water (gallery and riparian rainforests) and grazing. Unmanaged this has the potential to:
    * modify the vegetation structure and floristic composition,
    * cause loss of habitat diversity,
    * initiate and exacerbate soil erosion (with consequent effects on water quality),
    * facilitate the introduction and spread of invasive weeds, particularly exotic pasture grasses and legumes, and
    * alter the amount and distribution of fuel throughout the landscape, potentially increasing the incidence, intensity and extent of fires.
The impacts of livestock management activities, such as fencing, mustering activities, hard crossings, access roads and other infrastructure can also have an adverse direct impact.

Climate change
It is widely predicted that climate change will significantly alter the distribution and composition of rainforest ecosystems in Australia (Hilbert et al. 2001; Williams et al. 2003; Hilbert et al. 2007). In south east Queensland, subtropical rainforest communities are predicted to experience upslope migration in range and increasing rates of turnover (Laidlaw et al. 2011). Mean annual temperature increases of up to 3°C and more variable precipitation regimes are predicted for the region occupied by Macadamia species. These changes will place additional environmental stress on those Macadamia populations already under pressure from the impacts of habitat fragmentation, especially those located in areas of marginal soil moisture availability and/or in exposed locations which are at greater risk of fire.
Climate change is predicted to affect the phenology of Macadamias (Williams et al. 2006) including the initiation of flowering and the maturation of fruit, and potentially that of pollination vectors. Since both onset of flowering and maturation of fruit are known to be determined by climatic parameters, elevated temperatures in late autumn decreasing the probability of suitable conditions for flower bud initiation and/or decreased rainfall in summer affecting nut maturation, are likely to reduce the reproductive capacity of natural populations,