Vegetation

Vegetation refers to all individual plant species, including grasses, sedges, shrubs and trees and the communities or assemblages they form a part of. The Kempsey Shire has quite a diverse range of individual plant species as well as vegetation communities, ranging from coastal heathland, to sub-tropical, warm temperate and cool temperate rainforests. The Comprehensive, Adequate and Representative (CAR) Assessment, completed in 1999-2000 identified the following major vegetation communities existing in the Shire:

• sub-tropical, warm temperate and cool temperate rainforest
• wet and dry sclerophyll forest
• swamp forest
• woodland eg Melaleuca, Eucalypt and Casuarina spp
• scrubland eg Banksia and Leptospermum spp
• grassland (native and modified) and pasture
• wetland, aquatic and marine eg saltmarshes, rushlands, mangroves, seagrass, etc.
• dunal communities eg littoral rainforest
• wet and dry heathland
• riparian vegetation

For more information on the plant species inhabiting the Kempsey Shire please visit the Atlas of NSW Wildlife on the NSW BioNet at www.bionet.nsw.gov.au