Ironbark Nature Reserve and the Bornhardtia Voluntary Conservation Area vegetation mapping was undertaken by Dr John T. Hunter in 2002 by contract for the NPWS Northern Tableland Region. Ironbark Nature Reserve and the Bornhardtia VCA are located on the Northern Tablelands 30 km east north east of Barraba and 75 km north west of Armidale. Ironbark Nature Reserve was gazetted on the 29 of November 1985. The original gazetted area included only 1230 ha however an additional 373 ha purchased in 1988 to the east that incorporated a significant Aboriginal site. The Bornhardtia VCA was subdivided and a section purchased from Granite Heights in November 1997.

The vegetation of Ironbark NR and the Bornhardtia VCA is described and mapped (scale 1:25 000). Eleven communities are defined based on PATN analysis with further sub-assemblages are described. These eleven communities were mapped based on ground truthing, air photo interpretation and landform. One community is listed as Endangered on state and federal acts, three are considered here to be vulnerable and all others are considered to be poorly or inadequately reserved across their range. Most communities are of woodland and open forest structure. The communities show considerable variation and intergrade along common boundaries and in particular on intermediate soil types. Drainage, easting, soil depth, physiography and protection from the north were the major correlative influence on community distribution, however northing and rock type were also strongly correlated.

VIS_ID 4719