This layer contains the most current information on the distribution of potential ACT and EPBC listed Box Gum Grassy Woodland in the ACT. Yellow box-Blakely's red gum grassy woodland and derived grassland is an Endangered Ecological Community under the Nature Conservation Act 2014. White box - Yellow box - Blakely's red gum grassy woodland and derived grassland is a Critically Endangered Ecological Community under the EPBC Act 1999. The criteria for the EPBC community is slightly different to the ACT listed of the community Yellow box-Blakely's red gum grassy woodland and derived grassland community. As the listing of this community is based on condition that requires site assessment to inspect the ground layer and forb diversity, mapped polygons indicate potential distribution of this community.

Grasslands of the Territory include a rich assemblage of flora and fauna species that combine into a unique ecosystem. These grasslands are a priority for protection and management as they contribute to our natural biodiversity, our history and heritage, and local amenity and community. Natural Temperate Grasslands are an Endangered Ecological Community in the ACT (Nature Conservation Act 2014) and Critically Endangered Ecological Community under the EPBC Act 1999. Other native and exotic grasslands in the ACT can also have some conservation significance as they support important populations of threatened fauna and flora.Natural Temperate Grassland occurs in areas where few trees grow because of factors such as low temperatures, low rainfall and infertile or clay soils. Only 2% to 10% of the lower elevation grasslands in south-eastern Australia remain in high ecological condition, eight grassland species of the ACT are listed as endangered or vulnerable and some of the constituent plants and animals are under threat. Temperate grasslands are considered one of the most threatened Australian ecosystems. https://www.act.gov.au/environment/animals-and-plants/act-threatened-species. Extensive areas of native grassland in Namadgi National Park are to be field checked to determine whether they qualify as Natural Temperate Grassland. More information on threatened species occurring in grasslands in the ACT can be found at: https://www.act.gov.au/environment/animals-and-plants/act-threatened-speciesThe 2017 ACT Native Grassland Conservation Strategy and associated action plans guide the protection, management and restoration of native grasslands and its component species for the next 10 years. See a summary of the strategy. This strategy supersedes Action Plan 28 ACT Lowland Native Grassland Conservation Strategy (Environment ACT, 2005).Fit for purpose: This mapping is fit for use at a 1:10000 scale. Significant advances are being made towards a high resolution vegetation map for the ACT that is suitable for use at scales ranging from broad regional planning to local planning and property planning. However, Natural Temperate Grassland condition can fluctuate widely depending on seasonal conditions and thus boundaries and presence may fluctuate.Disclaimer: While all care is taken to ensure accuracy, the ACT Government does not warrant that the layers are free from error. © ACT Government

ACT Climate refugia are core areas of the landscape most likely to support persistence of dominant trees, shrubs and grasses of the Capital Region under climate change. The data identify refugia expected to support climate sensitive species characteristic of each vegetation community, both now and into the future, based on distribution modelling using NARCLiM climate projections (MacKenzie et al 2019). The areas shown (refugia) highlight where the most stressed subset of dominant plant species today (i.e., common trees, shrubs and grasses modelled to lose >= 75% of their current distribution) are more likely to persist under a wide range of future climate scenarios. These refugia can be used to prioritise management actions to minimise further stresses to those communities (e.g. prescribed burning within tolerable fire intervals; climate-adaptive revegetation programs, etc). Note: Areas smaller than 0.5 hectares have been removed to enable quicker map drawing, contact officeofnatureconservation@act.gov.au for the full dataset, including ensemble forecasts for individual plant species (n=151). Source Technical Report: MacKenzie, J.B., G. Baines, L. Johnston & J. Seddon. 2019. Identifying biodiversity refugia under climate change in the ACT and region. City and Environment Directorate, ACT Government, Canberra. https://www.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/2539628/identifying-biodiversity-refugia-under-climate-change-in-the-act-and-region-2019.pdf Mapped originally in GDA1994_MGA_Zone55, transformed to GDA2020_MGA_Zone55 For use as a broad scale product, for example at 1:50,000 scale only. Please read the technical report for data caveats and limitations.

The ACT Vegetation Map 2023 classifies native and derived vegetation across the ACT at 1:10,000 scale into 64 plant communities. Vegetation communities are geographical units with similar association of plant species. The product also includes canopy cover and height variables based on 2015 ACT LiDAR data. Vegetation maps are important tools for characterising the landscape, informing policy and providing information for land and habitat management plans, including to help identify threats and risks to biodiversity and help prioritise protection of important ecological values in our landscape. This 2023 map is an update of the ACT Vegetation Map 2018. Updates have been made to the urban fringe only where development has occurred, or knowledge has increased due to field inspection.This product will enable evidence-based decision-making at a broad regional, local and property planning scale in the ACT. It will also formulate a new baseline for future change detection in the landscape.Method: In the ACT Vegetation Map, native and derived vegetation across the entire ACT was classified into 64 plant communities using the classification described by Armstrong et al 2013, in addition to three newly described ACT specific communities (Baines et al 2013). Mapping was completed using aerial imagery and stereo pair interpretation (2012-2015), extensive field work, collation of consultant reports and supplemental structural and canopy height datasets extracted from the 2015 ACT LiDAR capture at 1-5m grid resolution (van Dijk et al 2017 - in draft). The work expands on the vegetation mapping completed for the Kowen, Majura and Jerrabomberra districts of the ACT (Baines et al 2013). The 2023 update used visual desktop inspection and manual vectorization of 2023 <10cm aerial imagery of Canberra and ACTGOV Cadastral information to update the urban fringe area where development has occurred.The product includes the following attributes :umcID – Upper Murrumbidgee Catchment vegetation ID (unique vegetation code)(after Armstrong et al 2013)vegCommunity – vegetation community name (after Armstrong et al 2013 and Baines et al 2013)tecACT - listing name of the ACT threatened ecological community (may require field inspection to verify)tecEPBC - listing name of the EPBC threatened ecological community (may require field inspection to verify)tecID - ID of ACT threatened ecological communityactConservationStatus - listing status of the vegetation community under the Nature Conservation ActepbcConservationStatus - listing status of the vegetation community under the EPBC ActpctCode - ACT plant community type codetreesp1-3 – dominant tree speciesshrubsp1-3 – dominant shrub speciesgroundsp1-3 – dominant ground cover speciescanopyCover – canopy cover % (based on 1m 2020 LiDAR canopy cover model)height_mean canopy height (>3m) (based on 1m 2020 LiDAR canopy height model)underCover – understory/shrub cover % (1-3m) (based on 1m 2020 LiDAR shrub model)structure – overall vegetation community structure – e.g. woodland, forest, grasslandformation – Keith Formation - broad classification of native vegetation type in NSW and ACT. Formation can be further divided into Keith Class (Keith 2004)class – Keith Class- vegetation class (Keith 2004).hectares - area of polygon unit in hectares.lastVegCommunity - community as it was last mapped (ACT Veg Map 2018)landscape - upland or lowlandgrassyStructure - whether the community is associated with a grass woodland, derived (other) or grassland community in its reference state e.g. secondary grassland associated with box gum woodland, exotic grassland that occurs within the original temperate grasslands.This product should be used in conjunction with ACT Soil Landscapes, Hydrogeology and Land hazard mapping available on ACTMapi, geological mapping provided by Geoscience Australia, and ACT derived LiDAR products including digital elevation model (DEM), slope and aspect (available CCBY 4.0).Updates: The product will be