Scale and Extent of Surveys

Scale and extent of vegetation mapping in the Northern Territory varies. Compared to other States, vegetation mapping across the whole NT is generally broad. The Vegetation Survey of the NT (pdf 12Mb) (Wilson et al., 1990) was mapped at 1: 1 000 000 scale to provide an overall ecological perspective for the NT, with the scope of identifying areas for finer scale mapping at a future date. This survey was updated with NVIS Version 3 dataset, a compilation of the original 1:1 000 000 scale map with additional data from more recent finer scale surveys. These two broad scale maps remain the only standard consistent mapping across the whole NT.

Finer scale mapping (regional & local) is lacking for most of the NT. However, fine scale mapping has been undertaken for specific purposes including:

• Mapping areas recognised as priorities due to possible land use change for management purposes eg. Stray Creek Catchment Vegetation Survey (Lewis, 2005).
• Targeting ecological sensitive areas (eg. mangroves and wetlands).
• Delineate broad ecological attributes of particular vegetation types (eg. Paperbark Forests) or habitats (eg. National Parks).
• Ecological characterisation (i.e. Parks & Reserves).
• Specific requests.

Additional surveys were initiated and partly funded by the Commonwealth agencies. The National Forest Inventory (NFI) in collaboration with the NT Government instigated a number of surveys as part of a national repository for forest data including vegetation mapping and inventory information.

Scale	Area km²	% of NT	Reporting Scale
≤ 1:50 000	7 662	0.6 Local	Local
1:100 000 – 1:250 000	100 898	7.5 Regional	Regional
1:1 000 000	1 346 200	100 National	National

Land and Vegetation of NRETA is currently tasked to provide vegetation map data to the NTG. Other organisations responsible for vegetation survey and mapping in the NT include:

• Primary Vegetation Datasets

  Biodiversity Conservation (NRETA)
• Bush Fires Council (NRETA)
• Natural Resource Management and Pastoral (NRETA)
• CSIRO (Commonwealth)
• Private Environmental Consulting Agencies
• Defence (Commonwealth)
• Charles Darwin University (CDU)

The need for additional regional and local scale vegetation mapping has been recognised under the Integrated Natural Resource Management Plan (INRM) for the NT.

This Adobe PDF document may require a newer version of Adobe Reader than you are currently using. Click here to download the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader.

back to top