Biodiversity Management

Sydney Olympic Park supports a microcosm of native plants, animals and ecological communities that were once widespread in Sydney but are now quite rare in urban areas.

These ecological values were identified in comprehensive ecological studies during the 1980s and early 1990s. As a result, development of the Park has encompassed a strong commitment to conserving remnant estuarine and woodland communities and building new habitats on remediated and newly fabricated landscapes.

The Park now has a rich biodiversity of over 400 native plant species and 200 native vertebrate animal species. The Park's biodiversity includes 3 endangered ecological communities, over 150 species of native bird, 7 species of frog, 9 species of bat, 7 species of reptiles, native fish species, many thousands of species of invertebrates, protected marine vegetation, and 2 threatened plants. Nearly half (300 hectares) of the Park provides habitat for listed threatened species and communities, and for protected marine vegetation.

This high species diversity and abundance in the centre of a large and modern city gives Sydney Olympic Park its high ecological, aesthetic and educational values. The nature of the Park's habitats - their small size, constructed and altered nature, and many competing management objectives, means that ongoing active and adaptive management is needed to retain their ecological values. Ecological monitoring, the lessons learnt from operational experience, and the input of expert advisors are critical to their conservation.

Species and communities of special conservation significance include:

Sydney Turpentine Ironbark Forest - a 'critically endangered' woodland community
Breeding populations of regionally rare White-striped Mastiff Bats, White-fronted Chats and Red-rumped Parrots
The largest remaining stand of Coastal Saltmarsh on the Parramatta River. This endangered ecological community contains large stands of Wilsonia backhousei (a threatened saltmarsh plant)
One of the largest remaining NSW populations of the engangered Green and Golden Bell Frog
Extensive stands of Mangrove Forest - protected marine vegetation
Remnant Swamp Oak Floodplain Forest - an endangered ecological community
High abundance and diversity of small native birds such as the Superb Fairy Wren that are disappearing from surrounding urban habitats
Extensive waterbird breeding, feeding and roosting habitats, including habitats used by internationally-protected migratory shorebirds such as Sharp-tailed Sandpipers and Latham's Snipe
Newington Nature Reserve, containing remnant forest and wetlands, and gazetted under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974

For the latest ecological news from the habitats of Sydney Olympic Park, see Ecospotlight, updated each spring, summer, autumn, and winter.

Environmental Outcomes

The Sydney Olympic Park Authority's management programs seek to continue to conserve and enhance the biological diversity and ecological integrity of Sydney Olympic Park.

Through implementation of the Environmental Guidelines, Sydney Olympic Park Authority is committed to:

Protecting and enhancing the natural heritage and ecological integrity of Sydney Olympic Park - targeting priority species and communities, places of high biodiversity value, and biodiversity generally;
Applying an adaptive management approach to stewardship of Sydney Olympic Park's biodiversity assets;
Ensuring conservation of biological diversity and ecological integrity is a fundamental consideration for all new developments, activities, levels or types of use, or management practices that affect the ecosystems of Sydney Olympic Park;
Promoting the ecological, aesthetic and educational values of an urban site with high species diversity and abundance
Conserving and enhancing the remnant woodland and wetland habitats of Newington Nature Reserve in accordance with the Newington Nature Reserve Plan of Management, and managing adjoining lands in sympathy with the Reserve; and
Maximising the habitat values of native plantings by promoting priority species and communities, providing structural complexity and plant species diversity, avoiding habitat fragmentation, promoting habitat linkages and large core areas, and prioritising the use of indigenous species in landscape planting schemes in the Parklands.