Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00006:reg:3:p24
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00006
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 3 (pt 24/58)
Character Range: 68613–71835

habitat for native species (Legge at al. 2021; 2022). Bain et al. (2021) estimated 9% of the central and southern Eastern Bristlebird populations are thought to have been killed by the 2019–2020 wildfires; while a separate analysis by Legge et al. (2022) estimated an 11% (80% confidence limits: 0.5–28%) loss.

           At the time of preparing this Recovery Plan, population and habitat assessments in response to the 2019–2020 wildfires were incomplete. However, preliminary assessments for the fire-affected Nadgee subpopulation showed signs of habitat
           recovery and detected the presence of Eastern Bristlebirds (Oliver & Malolakis 2020; Oliver et al. 2021).

           The Action Plan for Australian Birds 2020 (Bain et al. 2021; Charley et al. 2021) and Legge et al (2022) reports the following overlaps of subspecies ranges with the 2019–2020 wildfires:

           2019–2020 wildfires: Northern population:
•      Except for the possible Mt Barney subpopulation, the fires appear to have missed all Eastern Bristlebird subpopulations (D Charley unpublished cited in Charley et al. 2021; Legge et al 2022). However, it has been noted that the impact of the 2019–2020 wildfires on Queensland subpopulations has likely
             been underestimated due to limited survey effort (L Gould pers. comm. 2022). A minimum three-year expanded survey program is needed to gain confidence of current abundance and distribution.

           2019–2020 wildfires: Central and southern populations:
•      15% of all 1x1 km squares from which Eastern Bristlebird have been recorded since 1990 were burnt (G Ehmke, unpublished cited in Bain et al. 2021). Legge et al (2022) found that 23% of the range of this subspecies was burnt, including 7% burnt at high severity.

•      Less than 10% of the habitat is remaining at Nadgee (NSW, southern population) (Oliver & Malolakis 2020).

           The development of emergency response protocols may assist during future wildfire events (see Selwood et al. 2021).

           Wildfire regimes interact with other threats. For example, the risk of predation by foxes (Lindenmayer et al. 2009) and cats may increase after fire due to reduced cover to elude or evade predators, increased access to unburnt sites by predators, and concentration of Eastern Bristlebirds in refugia.

 2019/2020 wildfires photographed from Jervis Bay, NSW © Copyright, Chris Grounds

 Regenerating heath at Nadgee NP following the 2019/2020 wildfires © Copyright, BirdLife Australia

                 3.2.3.2             Management

           Inappropriate fire management regimes, including fire exclusion, threaten Eastern Bristlebirds by causing direct and indirect mortality, reducing population size, exacerbating habitat fragmentation, reducing habitat availability, reducing population size and increasing vulnerability to stochastic events and other
           threatening processes (e.g. predators, loss of genetic diversity). Although specific fire regimes have previously been suggested (OEH 2012), appropriate fire regimes are site and context dependent (Bain et al. 2008). Therefore, site-specific management at the local population scale is essential. However, given Eastern