2018 SLATS woody vegetation extent baseline report
Key findings
- In 2018, 96.58 million hectares (ha) or about 56% of Queensland’s land area had woody vegetation with greater than 10% crown cover and a stand size of at least 0.5ha.
- About 80% of the state’s woody vegetation is on land used for production such as grazing, forestry, cropping and horticulture, with a further 16% in conservation and managed resource protection areas.
- The Brigalow Belt (19%), Gulf Plains (17%), Mulga Lands (13%), Cape York Peninsula (12%) and Einasleigh Uplands (11%) bioregions account for about 72% of the state’s woody vegetation.
- About 75% of the state’s woody vegetation is sparse or very sparse, with crown cover of less than 50%.
- Preliminary estimates of the age of the state’s woody vegetation (refer to note) indicate that approximately 96% of it is greater than 15 years old.
Overview—Mapping and monitoring woody vegetation ecosystems
With an area of approximately 173 million hectares, Queensland is the second largest state in Australia. It is nearly five times the size of Japan and seven times the size of Great Britain. It is home to diverse flora and fauna due to its unique habitats, which include extensive arid and semi-arid rangelands and temperate, sub-tropical and tropical environments.
Queensland has more than 1400 regional ecosystems with the majority of these described as woody regional ecosystems. These woody regional ecosystems include the sparse and very sparse shrublands and woodlands of the extensive arid and semi-arid rangelands and the sparse woodlands and mid-dense and dense forests and rainforests along the Great Dividing Range, the coastal plains and in the Cape York Peninsula and Wet Tropics bioregions. These ecosystems play a critical role in supporting biodiversity, maintaining landscape function and water quality, supporting agricultural production, sequestering and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide, and providing recreation and natural amenity. To conserve, protect, and sustainably use these ecosystems in a changing climate, it is essential to have spatial and temporal data and information to characterise their composition and structure and to monitor their dynamics.
In Queensland, the regional ecosystems framework provides the basis for describing the vegetation types and their remnant status. The Statewide Landcover and Trees Study (SLATS) monitors woody vegetation extent, clearing and regrowth using Sentinel-2 satellite imagery as its primary monitoring tool. A Spatial BioCondition framework has also been developed to characterise and map the condition of the state’s regional ecosystems. Combined, these initiatives provide a spatially- and temporally-comprehensive account of Queensland’s ecosystems based on peer-reviewed science.
About this report
The 2018 report provides the initial baseline for future SLATS reporting, which will annually monitor and account for woody vegetation extent and change in Queensland. The revised and enhanced SLATS methodology now monitors and reports change in woody vegetation extent against this baseline. Additional scientific approaches to identify the type of clearing activity and provide estimates of woody vegetation density and age have also been developed to better describe what woody vegetation currently exists, where and how it is being cleared, and where it is regrowing.
A detailed baseline map of woody vegetation extent has been produced for the state that includes all woody vegetation which has a crown cover of greater than 10% and a stand size of at least 0.5ha. It includes all native and non-native woody vegetation that meets these criteria; woody vegetation is included regardless of its height or age. For further information about how this woody vegetation extent baseline map was produced, see SLATS methodology.
The following data and information present the key findings related to the 2018 woody vegetation extent baseline for Queensland. Regional summary data for bioregions are also presented.
Data and information
Additional reporting in this series includes the 2018–19 SLATS report. To access SLATS data and data summaries visit SLATS data.
Woody vegetation in Queensland 2018
In 2018, 96.58 million hectares, or about 56% of Queensland’s land area was mapped as having woody vegetation with greater than 10% crown cover and a stand size of at least 0.5ha.
Based on the most current land use mapping data from the Queensland Land Use Mapping Program, about 80% of the state’s woody vegetation is on land used for production such as grazing, forestry, cropping and horticulture. Around 16% is in conservation and managed resource protection areas, and less than 1% is intensive land use such as urban areas.
Of the state’s 13 bioregions, the Brigalow Belt (19%), Gulf Plains (17%), Mulga Lands (13%), Cape York Peninsula (12%) and Einasleigh Uplands (11%) account for about 72% of the state’s woody vegetation.
About 75% of the woody vegetation is in sparse or very sparse density classes. These are areas that have a crown cover of less than 50% and are widely distributed across the state, characteristic of the rangeland environments which make up a large part of inland and northern Queensland. The remainder are in mid-dense and dense woody vegetation which is largely confined to the coast and ranges.
Preliminary estimates of woody vegetation age (refer to note) indicate that in 2018, approximately 96% of the state’s woody vegetation was greater than 15 years old. This means about 4% (3.9 million ha) of the state’s woody vegetation was estimated to be younger regrowth, less than 15 years old.
Extent of woody vegetation in Queensland in 2018
Density of woody vegetation in Queensland in 2018
Density of woody vegetation in Queensland as Foliage Projective Cover (FPC).
- Dense vegetation has a FPC of 70-100% (>80% crown cover)
- Mid-dense a FPC of 30-70% (50-80% crown cover)
- Sparse a FPC of 10-30% (20-50% crown cover)
- Very Sparse/Isolated a FPC of <10% (0.25-20% crown cover).
Age of woody vegetation in Queensland in 2018
Area of woody vegetation for age classes. Age estimates are preliminary and should be read as indicative only (refer to note).
By bioregion
Extent of woody vegetation in Queensland in 2018, by bioregion
Density of woody vegetation in Queensland in 2018, by bioregion
Density of woody vegetation in Queensland as Foliage Projective Cover (FPC).
- Dense vegetation has a FPC of 70-100% (>80% crown cover)
- Mid-dense a FPC of 30-70% (50-80% crown cover)
- Sparse a FPC of 10-30% (20-50% crown cover)
- Very Sparse/Isolated a FPC of <10% (0.25-20% crown cover).
Age of woody vegetation in Queensland in 2018, by bioregion
Area of woody vegetation for age classes. Age estimates are preliminary and should be read as indicative only (refer to note).
Note: Age estimates should be read as indicative only. SLATS continues to work on refining its age estimation approaches. The current estimates are based largely on data relating to time since cleared derived from SLATS clearing histories, but also includes information derived from time-series analysis of Landsat satellite imagery aimed at detecting disturbance and woody vegetation regrowth. The age estimates use this information where sufficient evidence was available in the time series data. For more information on how the age estimates are derived refer to the SLATS methodology. It is also important to note that woody vegetation that is greater than 15 years is not always considered to be remnant or high value regrowth as additional criteria such as species composition and vegetation height are used to determine remnant or high value regrowth status. This is determined by the Queensland Herbarium as part of the regional ecosystem mapping framework.