Managing biodiversity in our cotton 'landscapes'

Walgett local government area

Area of cotton landscape:
910,700 ha

Area of cotton properties:
306,000 ha

Area of remnant vegetation in the cotton landscape:
370,000 ha (41%)

Area of remnant vegetation on cotton properties:
80,600 ha (26%)

Area of threatened ecological communities in the cotton landscape:
286,300 ha (77%)

Area of threatened ecological communities on cotton properties:
65,700 ha (82%)

Area of priority zones for native vegetation restoration and enhancement:
61,910 ha

Area of priority zones for vegetation:
27,860 ha


Main vegetation types on cotton properties:

Black Box woodlands, Coolibah woodlands, Poplar Box woodlands, Weeping Myall woodlands, Leopardwood woodlands, Saline wetlands.

Main threatened ecological communities on cotton properties:

Coolibah-Black Box woodland of the Brigalow Belt South and Darling Riverine Plains bioregions (E).
Weeping Myall woodlands (E).


Named wetlands in the cotton landscape:

Macquarie Marshes, Herding Yard Lagoon, Broadsheet Lagoon, Collytootela Lagoon, Bluebush Swamp.

Area of wetlands in the cotton landscape:
104,800 ha (12%)

Area of wetlands in the cotton properties:
41,400 ha (14%)

Length of major rivers in the cotton landscape:
1,264 km

Length of major rivers on cotton properties:
696 km

Length of minor water courses in the cotton landscape:
1628 km

Length of minor streams on cotton properties:
579 km

Main rivers in the cotton landscape:

Barwon River, Castlereagh River, Gwydir River, Little Weir River, Macquarie River, Mehi River, Moonie River, Namoi River, Narran River, Baradine Creek, Grawan Creek, Marra Creek, Marthaguy Creek, Moomin Creek, Mungaroo Warrambool, Pagan Creek, Pian Creek, Sparkes Warrambool, Thalaba Creek, The Big Warrambool, Turragulla Creek, Womat Creek.


Area of national park in the cotton landscape:
9,862 ha

Area of state forests in the cotton landscape:
18 ha

Area of travelling stock routes in the cotton landscape:
44,467 ha

Examples of public land reserves in the cotton landscape:

Barwon Nature Reserve.


Examples of iconic species in the cotton landscape:

Animals: Koala, Red Kangaroo, Spotted-tailed Quoll, Australian Bustard, Barking Owl, Black Swan, Brolga, Flock Bronzewing, Grey-crowned Babbler, Laughing Kookaburra, Major Mitchell's Cockatoo, Peregrine Falcon, Red-tailed Black Cockatoo, Wedge-tailed Eagle, White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Carpet Python, Woma Python, Sand Goanna, Shingleback, Murray Cod.

Plants: Brigalow, Carbeen, Leopardwood, Old Man Saltbush, River Red Gum, Weeping Myall.

Examples of threatened species in the cotton landscape:

Animals: Koala (V), Little Pied Bat (N), Australasian Bittern (E), Brown Treecreeper (N), Bush Stone-curlew (N), Common Greenshank (M), Diamond Firetail (N), Flock Bronzewing (N), Little Eagle (N), Red-tailed Black Cockatoo (N), Pale-headed Snake (N), Woma Python (N), Five-clawed Worm-skink (V), Darling River Snail (N), Murray Cod (V), Silver Perch (CE).

Plants: Creeping Tick-trefoil (N), Greenhood Orchid (N), Rice Flower (N), Shrub Sida (N), Phyllanthus maderaspatensis (N)

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