Sussex Inlet One Tree Bay East

Overview

  • Size: 370.41 hectares
  • Location: approx. 1 kilometre west of Sussex Inlet, Shoalhaven LGA, NSW south coast

The site occurs entirely within the Jervis sub-region of the Southern Rivers Major Catchment Area and the Jervis IBRA sub-region of the Sydney Basin IBRA region. The majority of the site is located within the Wandandian Coastal Plains Mitchell Landscape.

Sealark’s One Tree Bay East biodiversity site is accessed from Sussex Inlet Road via an unsealed access track. On it, the natural beauty of St Georges Basin’s water scenery, large trees and its diverse native vegetation communities is on full display.

Located on a peninsula, next to the One Tree Bay West site, the site is surrounded by healthy estuarine waterways and drained by freshwater streams with largely unmodified fringing riparian and shoreline vegetation.

The St Georges Basin foreshore forms the eastern and northern boundaries of the site, and it is bordered by large rural lots in the west and south. The northern and eastern tips of the site are named One Tree Point and Kangaroo Point respectively.

Flora

Jew Fish Bay is located along the south-eastern foreshore of the peninsula and is fed by Bae-el Creek, which flows through swampy and forested vegetation on the site. Seven plant community types (PCTs) have been identified including:

  • Swamp Oak swamp forest fringing estuaries, Sydney Basin Bioregion and South East Corner Bioregion (PCT1234)
  • Swamp Paperbark – Swamp Oak tall shrubland on estuarine flats, Sydney Basin Bioregion and South East Corner Bioregion’ (PCT1236)
  • Bangalay – Old-man Banksia open forest on coastal sands, Sydney Basin Bioregion and South East Corner Bioregion (PCT659)
  • Needlebush – Banksia wet heath on sandstone plateaux of the Sydney Basin Bioregion (PCT978)
  • Swamp Mahogany swamp sclerophyll forest on coastal lowlands of the Sydney Basin Bioregion and South East Corner Bioregion (PCT 1231)
  • Red Bloodwood – Hard-leaved Scribbly Gum – Silvertop Ash heathy open forest on sandstone plateaux of the lower Shoalhaven Valley, Sydney Basin Bioregion (PCT 1082)
  • Red Bloodwood – Blackbutt – Spotted Gum shrubby open forest on coastal foothills, southern Sydney Basin Bioregion (PCT 1079).

There are also three threatened ecological communities (EECs) under the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 mapped within the site.

One of the EECs, Swamp Oak Floodplain Forest of the NSW North Coast, Sydney Basin and South East Corner bioregions is represented by two different PCTs (PCT 1234 and PCT 1236). The remaining EECs are: Swamp Sclerophyll Forest on the Coastal Floodplains of the New South Wales North Coast, Sydney Basin and South East Corner Bioregions (represented by PCT 1231) and Bangalay Sand Forest, Sydney Basin and South East Corner bioregion (represented by PCT 659).

The Sussex Inlet One Tree Bay East site hosts three threatened plant species, Cryptostylis hunteriana (Leafless Tongue Orchid), Pterostylis ventricosa and Triplarina nowraensis (Nowra Heath Myrtle).

Fauna

There are a range of vegetation types in both the One Tree West and East biodiversity sites which are in excellent condition and support habitats for threatened animal species, such as the Glossy Black Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus lathami), Gang-gang Cockatoo (Callocephalon fimbriatum) and Little Lorikeet (Glossopsitta pusilla). These sites are also contiguous with the important Jervis Bay Marine Park marine conservation area (Jervis Bay Habitat Protection Zone).