Expert advice on threatened bird species (NSW OEH)

NSW Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) Revised Threatened Species Program (Priorities Action Statement, Phase 2) Call for species experts

The NSW OEH is redeveloping the Threatened Species Priorities Action Statement (PAS), which outlines recovery strategies for threatened species in NSW. The revised program aims to develop cost-effective, spatially explicit recovery projects and define priorities for investment that will maximise conservation benefit across the 1000+ listed threatened species.

To achieve this goal threatened species have been categorised by distinct recovery strategies, ensuring that management is targeted and relevant to the species’ requirements. The majority of threatened species have been categorised as ‘Site-managed’ – indicating that they are predominantly distributed within NSW, there is available knowledge on their ecology and threats, and they require site-based management for recovery (aqua shading in the attached document).

For every site-managed species a recovery project will be developed in consultation with relevant scientific and conservation management experts. Each recovery project will outline the minimum critical set of sites and management actions required to ensure the species’ viability in NSW over the next 100 years. Projects will then be prioritised for implementation based on benefit to the species, their likelihood of success, and the cost (using a decision-support algorithm designed by the AEDA group, University of Queensland).

We are currently in the preliminary stages of identifying relevant experts for all bird species to assist with project development. Appropriate experts are those who have good knowledge of the species’ distribution, ecology, and threats across its NSW range.

If you consider yourself or anyone you can recommend, an expert on any species listed in the attached document, please annotate the document with names and contact details against the relevant species to james.brazillboast@environment.nsw.gov.au. Also, we would appreciate any comments with respect to the allocation of species to different recovery strategies (definitions for each recovery strategy are included on a separate worksheet).

Once identified, all experts will receive more detailed information about the process leading up to interviews.

Sincerely,

Dr James Brazill-Boast Conservation strategy unit | Landscapes & ecosystems conservation branch Office of Environment and Heritage | NSW Dept of Premier and Cabinet | PO Box A290 Sydney South NSW 1232

t 9995 6758 f 9995 6791 m 0439 475 270 | Email: james.brazillboast@environment.nsw.gov.au

PAS2 Birds.xls