PALEOENVIRONMENTS AND HUMAN IMPACT AT BURRAGA SWAMP IN MONTANE RAIN-FOREST, BARRINGTON-TOPS-NATIONAL-PARK, NEW-SOUTH-WALES, AUSTRALIA

Palaeoecological studies have identified the broad patterns of environmental and climate change in highland south-eastern Australia, but the detail of human impact on a variety of parameters and their interlinkages is largely missing. This study compares the erosion, productivity, fire and vegetation history in prehistoric and historical times at Burraga Swamp in montane rainforest in New South Wales. The known human impact is meagre; the major presently sustained impacts involve forestry in the surrounding sclerophyll forests and a low level of visits to the swamp by day-walkers. While no significant changes in largely oligotrophic conditions or in fire frequency were detected, changes in erosion rates and some vegetation change can be attributed to impacts since European settlement. There has been a small decline in eucalypts and a loss of fern cover, while grasses, Urtica and exotic species have expanded. It is clear that upland sites are sensitive to environmental change including low-level human impact.