Cambewarra Range Nature Reserve

Cambewarra Range Nature Reserve Part of Yuin Nation
Geography
Location	Camden, South Coast of NSW, Australia
Coordinates	34°46′23″S 150°31′50″E / 34.77306°S 150.53056°E / -34.77306; 150.53056Coordinates: 34°46′23″S 150°31′50″E / 34.77306°S 150.53056°E / -34.77306; 150.53056
Area	1,400 hectares
Status	Nature Reserve
Established	2001
Visitation	Open Year Round
Governing body	NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service
Website	www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/visit-a-park/parks/Cambewarra-Range-Nature-Reserve

The Cambewarra Range Nature Reserve, part of the Kangaroo Valley Group of Nature Reserves, is a protected nature reserve that is located on the cliffs, plateaus and floor of the Kangaroo Valley in the Southern Highlands and South Coast regions of New South Wales in eastern Australia. The reserve is situated approximately 150 kilometres (93 mi) south of Sydney, 50 kilometres (31 mi) southwest of Wollongong and 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) northwest of Nowra.^[1] The reserve has a total area of 1684 hectares, which includes 11 privately owned properties; the reserve was established in 2001. The reserve is ecologically representative of the local Shoalhaven area which is home to temperate rainforest and threatened species such as the Brush-tailed rock-wallaby and tiger quoll. It has a protective covenant placed upon it, with ultimate purpose to ensure the protection of the natural heritage of the area.^[1]

In 2003, Devils Glen, Red Rocks and Black Ash Nature Reserves were amalgamated into Cambewarra Range Nature Reserve. It is a part of the Kangaroo Valley National Parks, consisting of the smaller refuges of Kangaroo River, Cambewarra Range, Barrengarry and Rodway Nature Reserves covered by the Southern Regional Forest Agreement. Kangaroo valley itself is part of system of conservation reserves, which include Kangaroo River Nature Reserve and Barrengarry Nature Reserve. National parks in the area include the Morton National Park, Budderoo National Park and Barren Grounds Nature Reserve.^[1]

Geology and soils

The Cambewarra Range Nature Reserve is located in the southern part of the Sydney Basin. The Sydney Basin is located on the central east coast of New South Wales, and it covers an area of 36240 km². The geological basin is filled with sandstones and shales from the Permian to Triassic period that overlie older basement rocks of the Lachlan Fold Belt.^[2]

The southern part of the Sydney basin, the Permian deposits are subdivided into two major units, the Shoalhaven Group and the Illawarra Coal Measures.The Shoalhaven Group consists of a thick succession of fine to medium-grained clastics passing upwards into a number of lava flows and interspersed volcanic flows into the sandstones that comprise the Gerringong Volcanics. The Cambewarra Latite, which comprises highly feldspathic sparsely porphyritic lava, is the highest unit of the group in the Cambewarra region. The Illawarra Coal Measures originate from a fluvial environment but has recognizable marine strata. The group is made up of lithic sandstones, siltstones, shales, and coal seams. Above the Permian deposits overlie Triassic sediments, which are of fluvial origin. The Triassic deposits are subdivided into three major units: the Narrabeen Group, the Hawkesbury Sandstone and the Wianamatta shale. These groups are made up of volcanic rocks and lithic sandstones, with occasional dark coloured shales, but there is no presence of coal found in these groups.^[3] Also, soils of the Cambewarra Range Nature Reserve have good water holding capacity and are fertile.

Climate

The average annual rainfall is found above than 1200mm around the South Coast. Snowfalls are very common above than 1000m on the Central and Southern tablelands all through winter. The heavy ice rate is common in South-east highlands during wintry weather. The mean yearly temperature remains nearly 16 °C along the Coastal plains.^[4] Occasional heat waves occur when the conditions like temperature inversion, especially in Kangaroo Valley, which acts as a basin, trapping air with inversion layers. The southern region ^[5] coastal section around Kiama shows the highest rainfall in summer, whereas the western region has more rain in winter. The climate of the coastal region remains calmer and warmer than high rainfall in Kangaroo Valley.^[4] The most winds during summer come from north-east onshore, whereas winds come from the west and south-west throughout the winter season, particularly in July and August. North Westerly winds occasionally arise in November, bringing dangerous bushfire conditions. The Coastal face of the region is colder in summer and less vulnerable to mist during winter than Kangaroo Valley, which is enshrouded in mist each morning until the sun lifts the inversion layer. The South facing cliffs and plateaus of many sites receive scant sunshine and so are damp and cold in winter.^[6]

Rivers and water quality

There are numerous small creeks, such as Nugent's Creek and O’Hares Creek, flowing through Cambwearra Range Nature Reserve that eventually flow into the Shoalhaven River and Kangaroo River and onto Lake Yarrunga that is created by Tallowa Dam. The Berry Mountain Section of Cambewarra Range Nature Reserve has dams that provide water to nearby residences. The Kangaroo River Sub-catchment is part of the drinking water catchment for Sydney and Shoalhaven Regions.^[7]

A water quality survey of benthic macroinvertebrates in Nugent's Creek and O’Hares Creeks conducted by students from the University of Wollongong in April 2016 revealed the presence of Mayfly, Stonefly, Caddisfly and Dragonfly larvae. The largest number of larvae found were that of the mayfly and stonefly; these two species are sensitive to pollution and are therefore only found in areas where water is of high to good quality.^[8]

History

The range was first in use in the 1800s for red cedar cutting.^[9] Mr Richard Brooks, who was a soldier-settler in the Kangaroo Valley, held the first licence to cut red cedar in the area in 1836; it is said that cedar was cut from the many arms of the Kangaroo Valley,^[9] with the Cambewarra Range likely to have been one such arm. Logging, burning and trampling of the soils continued with farming and stock. The land was cleared in 1861 with increasing settlements. Around the 1960s, it was partially used for gravel extraction. Today, the area is not under economical use anymore.^[1]

Habitat

Cambewarra Range Nature Reserve has mixed habitats but is dominated by coastal hinterland subtropical warm temperate rainforest consisting mainly of coachwood, which occurs in protected slopes and gullies. The Red Rocks and Black Ash segment of the reserve is also covered in parts by the lowland dry shrub forest, northern coast and hinterland moist heath shrubland. The Red Rocks Plateau in small areas also include Northern Coastal Hinterland Heath Shrub Dry Forest^[1] and a survey conducted in the area found seven forest communities categorized as: Coachwood rainforest, Open heathland, Brown barrel (E. fastigata)/Sydney blue gum tall open forest, Silvertop ash woodland, Heathland sedge land, Sydney peppermint open forest and Open woodland-heathland.^[10] The Berry Mountain section of the reserve comprises three types of rainforest: mixed subtropical/warm temperate rainforest, warm temperate rainforest and dry rainforest. The reserve is providing suitable habitat for a large number of threatened animal species and regionally rare plant species.^[1]

Flora

The Cambewarra Range Nature Reserve, a large portion of which is old growth forest, most commonly comprises coachwood (Ceratopetalum apetalum), Lilly pilly (Syzgium smithii), native laurel (Cryptocarya glaucescens) and sassafras (Doryphora sassafras). Other common trees include red bloodwood (Corymbia gummifera), scribbly gum (Eucalyptus sclerophylla), brown barrel (E. fastigata), Sydney peppermint (E. piperita), silver quandong, brown beech (Pennantia cunninghamii), soapy box (Citronella moorei), and giant stinging tree (Dendrocnide excelsa). Two endangered plant species Solanum celatum and Cryptostylis hunteriana (vulnerable orchid) were also recorded in the Cambewarra Range Nature Reserve.^[1]

Fauna

Cambewarra Range Nature Reserve provides suitable habitat for diverse species of animals as it has a combination of different types of habitat; the diversity is particularly high in the case of birds and herpetofauna. Fauna surveys conducted in the area has revealed a total of 61 species in the Red Rocks section of the Reserve. Several endangered native animal species are found in Camberwarra Range Nature Reserve which includes eastern bristlebird (Dasyornis brachypterus), brush-tailed rock-wallaby (Petrogale penicillata), sooty owl (Tyto tenebricosa), powerful owl(Ninox strenua), giant burrowing frog (Heleioporus australiacus), olive whistler (Pachycephala olivacea), spotted-tailed quoll (Dasyurus maculatus), eastern bent-wing bat (Miniopterus schreibersii), yellow-bellied glider (Petaurus australis)and long-nosed potoroo (Potorous tridactylus).^[1] Faunal surveys (using remote cameras and hair funnel traps) conducted by citizen scientists (staff and students from the University of Wollongong) since 2014 have revealed the following common native species in abundance: swamp wallaby (Wallabia bicolor), bush rat (Rattus fuscipes), Eastern swamp rat (Rattus lutreolus), brown antechinus (Antechinus stuartii), ringtail possum (Pseudocheirus peregrinus), squirrel glider (Petaurus norfolcensis), and sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps).

Human impacts

Cambewarra Range Nature Reserve is larger in area compared to other nature reserves in the same region and it is surrounded by private land. With this urbanization, native faunal and floral diversity has more trends to be influenced by humans. For example, clearing and incursion weed, agricultural pest control and introduced predators such as cats and foxes may affect the fauna and flora in the nature reserve. Lantana is a most common incursion weed type in wet forest margins of Cambewarra Range Nature Reserve. The native species of Brush-tailed rock-wallaby is threatened by foxes, but the fox control has been undertaken within the reserve. Cambewarra Range Nature Reserve has water catchment areas. There are creeks that flow in to Kangaroo river and hence to Lake Yarrunga (Tallowa Dam). That is a part of Shoalhaven Scheme. The dam supplies water for the residences around Cambewarra Range Nature Reserve. Although the nature reserve is known to have limited access and few facilities for public, it already has facilities for walking, bird watching, scenery viewing, horse riding (only on public roads within reserve) and educational use like research. A vehicle park and also publicly available vehicle access are available within the reserve. Leobold Hill road and Red Rocks Trig Trail are the roads across the reserve’s plateau which makes available the access through to the end of the cliff line. It makes significant damage to the trail where it crosses a poorly drained area. This happens especially in wet weather.

Research and Management

Cambewarra range nature reserve has recently attracted attention from students and citizen scientists who conduct regular fieldwork and ecological based research in the reserve because of its high ecological values and refuge for threatened species. Parts of the reserve have been identified for their suitability for long term ecological research (see LTER: Long Term Ecological Research Network), and since 2014 areas in the reserve have been surveyed for its fauna using various techniques such as remote cameras and hair funnel traps by scientists and students from the University of Wollongong. Twice a year (since 2014) the fauna of Cambewarra range nature reserve is surveyed using remote cameras and the data that is collected is represented in the gallery of fauna found on this page.

The legislation and policies for the management of nature reserves in NSW come under National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 (NPW Act), the NPW Regulation, the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 (TSC Act), Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EPA Act), and the policies of the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS).^[1]

The developmental control of this reserve is effectively exercised by the director of the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NSW). Cambewarra nature reserve management objectives are to protect and conserve the biodiversity, geological features and cultural values of landscapes.^[1] There is rural residential transformation pressure on this area as the landscape of Cambewarra range consist of bushland, agricultural and urban elements. Although not as extensive as it once was, there is still some clearing for agricultural use. Other land management issues include encroachment and introduction of weeds, invasion by feral cats, foxes and other introduced animals. There is a degree of difficulty in achieving effective fire protection, in avoiding disturbance from trail bikes and quads, and there can be pollution of streams (spillage, fertiliser runoff) and illegal forest clearing for timber that is sold for firewood.^[6]

References