• Change text size
• Skip to content

Australian Natural Resources Atlas

• About us
• Contact us

Search

• ANRA home
  • Map maker
  • Natural resource topics
  • Data Library

• Natural resource topics
  • Agriculture
  • Coasts
  • Dryland Salinity
  • Invasive species
  • Irrigation
  • Land
  • Natural resource economics
  • People
  • Rangelands
  • Soils
  • Vegetation and biodiversity
  • Water
  • Publications

• Vegetation and biodiversity
  • Overview
  • Assessment
    • New South Wales
    • Victoria
    • Queensland
    • South Australia
    • Western Australia
    • Tasmania
    • Northern Territory
    • Australian Capital Territory
  • Landscape health
  • NVIS framework
  • Extent
    • New South Wales
    • Victoria
    • Queensland
    • South Australia
    • Western Australia
    • Tasmania
    • Northern Territory
    • Australian Capital Territory

• Clearing
  • New South Wales
  • Victoria
  • Queensland
  • South Australia
  • Western Australia
  • Tasmania
  • Northern Territory
  • Australian Capital Territory

• • Management

Biodiversity and Vegetation - Northern Territory

Specify a region: -- select region -- Arnhem Coast Arnhem Plateau Burt Plain Central Arnhem Central Ranges Channel Country Daly Basin Darwin Coastal Davenport Murchison Ranges Finke Great Sandy Desert Gulf Coastal Gulf Fall and Uplands Gulf Plains MacDonnell Ranges Mitchell Grass Downs Mount Isa Inlier Ord Victoria Plain Pine Creek Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields Stony Plains Sturt Plateau Tanami Tiwi Cobourg Victoria Bonaparte

Northern Territory

Proportion of native vegetation remaining in Northern Territory

The Northern Territory has the most intact native vegetation of all States and Territories. It has not been significantly affected by intense land use pressure. Approximately 0.60 million hectares of native vegetation has been removed, but this is limited to a few areas, mainly associated with the Daly Basin, Darwin Coastal, Pine Creek and Sturt Plateau bioregions in the north and the MacDonnell Ranges bioregion in the south. Major vegetation groups affected are the tropical eucalypt woodlands/grasslands, eucalypt open forests and other eucalypt woodlands and acacia forests and woodlands.

Agricultural expansion is proposed or underway in some regions and a large proportion of the Territory is grazed. Careful land use planning will ensure that many values of the existing vegetation are conserved and that land uses are sustainable.

An assessment of landscape health in the Northern Territory including factors of clearing, grazing, feral animals and weeds provides a summary on a subregional basis of the landscape stresses (NLWRA 2001c).

Table: Area (km²) of pre-European major vegetation groups and major vegetation groups (circa 1997) in Northern Territory

Major Vegetation Group	Pre-European Area (km2)	Circa 1997 Area (km2)	% remaining relative to pre-European area
Rainforest and vine thickets	978	977	100
Eucalyptus open forest	59,346	58,471	99
Eucalyptus low open forest	70	70	100
Eucalyptus woodlands	123,992	123,078	99
Acacia forest and woodlands	30,442	29,866	98
Melaleuca forest and woodlands	19,402	19,244	99
Other forests and woodlands	29,508	29,497	100
Eucalyptus open woodlands	175,842	175,775	100
Tropical Eucalyptus woodland/grasslands	109,430	107,254	98
Acacia open woodlands	48,814	48,703	100
Mallee woodlands and shrublands	35,450	35,450	100
Acacia shrublands	86,272	86,035	100
Other Shrublands	5,473	5,294	97
Tussock grasslands	83,678	83,613	100
Hummock grasslands	490,363	490,232	100
Other grasslands, herblands, sedgelands and rushlands	7,666	7,633	100
Chenopod shrub, samphire shrub and forblands	33,757	33,753	100
Mangroves, tidal mudflat, samphire and bare areas, claypan, sand, rock, salt lakes, lagoons, lakes	5,551	5,410	97

Methods

This analysis is based on a comparison of the present extent of major vegetation groups (circa 1997) and pre-European mapping.

Applications

Analysis at the Australia-wide, State and Territory and regional scales provides information on which to base broad assessments of change in extent and type of vegetation. This is a key input to assessing:

• the representativeness or otherwise of Australia's nature conservation estate and for related interpretations (e.g. setting priorities for retention of native vegetation types);
• opportunities for catchment rehabilitation, whether the issue is catchment hydrology or dryland salinity control;
• the types of vegetation suitable for rehabilitation, restoration and/or revegetation activities in an area; and
• priorities for protection of biodiversity in landscapes under stress.

Limitations

Pre-European vegetation and present native vegetation for many States and Territories do not match in mapping method or scale. Development of pre-European vegetation maps in cleared areas of Australia is usually dependent upon coarse or generalised data on landforms and soils sometimes at 1:250 000 or even 1:1 000 000 scale. Reconstructing the natural complexity of vegetation patterns from such broad interpretations is difficult. Earlier vegetation mapping for areas now cleared may similarly be coarse in scale and/or generalised, with little data from systematic field sampling to support the derivation of mapping units and the allocation of individual patches of native vegetation to mapping units.

Pre-European data is more reliable where:

• impacts of European land use is minimal;
• there is good physical and floristic information (e.g. in Victoria) which can be used for detailed interpolation; and
• the scale of the pre-European mapping and method is similar to that of the current extent mapping (e.g. in Queensland, Victoria, Northern Territory and Western Australia).

Data variability is greatest in New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and South Australia, where the pre-European data does not meet the requirements of the National Vegetation Information System. In Tasmania the pre-European data is not finalised. In these States it is assumed that the present vegetation mapped is an approximate representation of the pre-European vegetation. The Australia wide pre-European major vegetation groups data set is an interim product.

What major vegetation groups have been cleared in Northern Territory since European settlement?

Table: Major vegetation groups cleared in Northern Territory

Major Vegetation Group	Cleared Area (km2)	% cleared across NT as total of clearing
Rainforest and vine thickets	1	0
Eucalyptus open forest	875	14.5
Eucalyptus woodlands	914	15.1
Acacia forest and woodlands	576	9.5
Melaleuca forest and woodlands	159	2.6
Other forests and woodlands	11	.2
Eucalyptus open woodlands	67	1.1
Tropical Eucalyptus woodland/grasslands	2,176	35.9
Acacia open woodlands	111	1.8
Acacia shrublands	237	3.9
Other Shrublands	180	3
Tussock grasslands	65	1.1
Hummock grasslands	131	2.2
Other grasslands, herblands, sedgelands and rushlands	33	.5
Chenopod shrub, samphire shrub and forblands	4	.1
Mangroves, tidal mudflat, samphire and bare areas, claypan, sand, rock, salt lakes, lagoons, lakes	141	2.3

Note: The clearing referred to in table 2 does not include grazing, thinning or other activities. In particular, parts of the rangelands may be heavily disturbed.

Map: Cleared Major Vegetation Groups (circa 1997) in Northern Territory

Source:

Major vegetation groups V1.0 (1km), National Land and Water Resources Audit 2001. Data used are assumed to be correct from suppliers.

© Commonwealth of Australia 2001

The summary maps provide information on Australia's native vegetation collated within the National Vegetation Information System (NVIS) at July 2001 and with additional mapped information. The NVIS will be updated as vegetation mapping becomes available.

The map is a compilation of data collected at different scales by different organisations. Major Vegetation Groups were compiled by Environment Australia based on data collated by the Bureau of Rural Sciences and provided by Environment ACT, Department of Urban Services; NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service; NSW Royal Botanic Gardens; NSW State Forests; NT Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Environment; Queensland Herbarium, Environmental Protection Agency; SA Department for Environment and Heritage; Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries, Water and Environment; Flora Section, Department of Natural Resources and Environment; Agriculture Western Australia; Western Australia Department of Conservation and Land Management and Geoscience Australia, National Mapping Division.

Methods

This analysis is based on the present extent of native vegetation and data on the type and area of these groups cleared in Australia from the pre-European mapping. All summary findings are based on the data sets compiled for the National Vegetation Information System and development of the major vegetation groups.

Applications

This analysis at the Australia-wide, State and Territory and regional scales provides information on which to base assessment of change in land cover and type of vegetation, a key input to vegetation management activities. Loss of particular vegetation types across regions impacts on biodiversity values and landscape function and this analysis highlights those major vegetation groups.

At the regional scale, the National Vegetation Information System compilation provides an excellent basis for regional planning groups to understand the changes in vegetation extent that have occurred and set their regional priorities for vegetation management in the context of this information. The assessment of major vegetation groups across Australia provides a broader context.

Limitations

As detailed previously, issues of attributes, scale and currency of available mapping limits the precision of this analysis. The broad nature of the major vegetation groups masks the distinct vegetation types and regional clearing patterns that would emerge at a finer scale of analysis.

Link to cleared native vegetation information for Northern Territory's bioregions

What sources of information were used?

View the guidelines for the interpretation of vegetation mapping products.

References

View the references used in the Australian Native Vegetation Assessment 2001.

Partnerships

Australian Native Vegetation Assessment 2001 was facilitated and coordinated by the National Land and Water Resources Audit and prepared in partnership with State, Territory and Commonwealth agencies:

Australian Capital Territory

Department of Urban Services
www.urbanservices.act.gov.au

New South Wales

www.dlwc.nsw.gov.au

NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service
www.npws.nsw.gov.au

NSW Botanic Gardens
www.rbgsyd.gov.au

Northern Territory

Department of Natural Resources, Environment and The Arts
www.nreta.nt.gov.au

Queensland

Environment Protection Agency
www.epa.qld.gov.au

South Australia

Planning SA
www.planning.sa.gov.au

Tasmania

Department of Primary Industries, Water and Environment
www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au

Victoria

Department of Sustainability and Environment
www.dse.vic.gov.au

Western Australia

www.calm.wa.gov.au

Agriculture WA
www.agric.wa.gov.au

Commonwealth

www.daff.gov.au

Australian Greenhouse Office
www.greenhouse.gov.au

Department of Environment and Heritage
www.deh.gov.au

Further information

Exit to the Northern Territory Department of Natural Resources, Environment and The Arts

View the Australian Native Vegetation Assessment 2001 report

The National Vegetation Information System Framework

View Landscape Health in Australia 2001 report

View the Australian Catchment, River and Estuary Assessment 2002

View the Australian Terrestrial Biodiversity Assessment 2002

View all Theme Reports from the National Land and Water Resources Audit

Link to dynamic mapping

Link to data available for download