Vegetation and Flora Surveys of the Oxbow and Junction South West Deposits, Near Yandicoogina
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Vegetation and Flora Surveys of the Oxbow and Junction South West Deposits, near Yandicoogina Prepared for Rio Tinto Pty Ltd January 2010 Vegetation and Flora Surveys of the Oxbow and Junction South West Deposits © Biota Environmental Sciences Pty Ltd 2010 ABN 49 092 687 119 Level 1, 228 Carr Place Leederville Western Australia 6007 Ph: (08) 9328 1900 Fax: (08) 9328 6138 Project No.: 428 Prepared by: Rachel Warner, Preeti Chukowry and Paul Hoffman Checked by: Michi Maier Approved for Issue: Michi Maier This document has been prepared to the requirements of the client identified on the cover page and no representation is made to any third party. It may be cited for the purposes of scientific research or other fair use, but it may not be reproduced or distributed to any third party by any physical or electronic means without the express permission of the client for whom it was prepared or Biota Environmental Sciences Pty Ltd. This report has been designed for double-sided printing. Hard copies supplied by Biota are printed on recycled paper. Cube:Current:541 (Yandi Biological 2009):Documents:Flora:YSW_Oxbow_final_v2.docx 3 Vegetation and Flora Surveys of the Oxbow and Junction South West Deposits 4 Cube:Current:541 (Yandi Biological 2009):Documents:Flora:YSW_Oxbow_final_v2.docx Vegetation and Flora Surveys of the Oxbow and Junction South West Deposits Vegetation and Flora Surveys of the Oxbow and Junction South West Deposits Contents 1.0 Background to the Study 9 1.1 The Proposed Project 9 1.2 Scope and Objectives of this Study 9 2.0 Methodology 11 2.1 Database Searches 11 2.2 Field Surveys 11 2.3 Specimen Identification, Nomenclature and Data Entry 14 2.4 Limitations of this Study 15 3.0 Existing Environment 17 3.1 IBRA Bioregion and Subregion 17 3.2 Conservation Reserves in the Locality 17 3.3 Land Systems 18 3.4 Beard’s Vegetation Mapping 20 3.5 Threatened and Priority Ecological Communities 20 3.6 Flora of Conservation Significance in the Locality 20 4.0 Vegetation 25 4.1 Overview of Vegetation 25 4.2 Descriptions of Vegetation Sub-Associations 25 4.3 Conservation Significance of the Vegetation Types 42 5.0 Flora 45 5.1 Overview of the Flora of the Study Area 45 5.2 Flora of Conservation Significance 45 5.3 Introduced Flora 48 6.0 Summary and Conclusions 51 6.1 Summary of Findings 51 6.2 Potential Impacts 52 6.3 Management Recommendations 52 7.0 Assessment Against the Ten Clearing Principles 53 7.1 Overview 53 7.2 Clearing Principles 53 8.0 References 57 Cube:Current:541 (Yandi Biological 2009):Documents:Flora:YSW_Oxbow_final_v2.docx 5 Vegetation and Flora Surveys of the Oxbow and Junction South West Deposits Appendix 1 Framework for Conservation Significance Ranking of Communities and Species Appendix 2 Vegetation Structural Classification and Condition Ranking Scale Appendix 3 Raw Data from Quadrats and Relevés Appendix 4 Vascular Flora Species Lists Appendix 5 Weed Records Appendix 6 Conservation Significance Assessment Matrix Tables Table 2.1: Locations of quadrats in the Oxbow and JSW study areas. 13 Table 3.1: Extent of land systems within the Oxbow and JSW study area and the percentage this represents of their total extent in the Pilbara bioregion (source: van Vreeswyk et al. 2004; Payne et al. 1988). 18 Table 3.2: Locations of L. catapycnon previously found in the broader Yandi area. 21 Table 4.1: Summary of vegetation units and their area of extent within the Oxbow study area. 31 Table 4.2: Summary of vegetation units and their area of extent within the JSW study area. 39 Table 5.1: Number of native plant species in the dominant plant families and genera within the Oxbow and JSW survey areas. 45 Table 5.2: Location of Lepidium catapycnon in the Oxbow study area. 46 Table 5.3: Location of Goodenia nuda in the JSW study area. 47 Table 5.4: Species of interest and their presence within the study areas. 48 Table 6.1: Summary of vegetation units of High and Moderate conservation significance identified in the Oxbow(†) and JSW(‡) study areas. 51 Table 6.2: Summary of DRF and Priority flora recorded from the Oxbow and JSW study areas. 52 Figures Figure 1.1: Location of the Yandi Oxbow and JSW study areas. 10 Figure 2.1: Monthly rainfall for the Newman recording station for the months preceding the field surveys in 2007, 2008 and 2009, compared to long term monthly average rainfall (data from the WA Bureau of Meteorology, website http://www.bom.gov.au/ accessed 31st July 2009; stars indicate field survey timing). 12 Figure 4.1: Land systems and vegetation mapping for the Oxbow study area, including locations of Declared Rare Flora, Priority flora, and Introduced flora species (weeds). 33 Figure 4.2: Land systems and vegetation mapping for the JSW study area, including locations of Priority flora and introduced species (weeds). 40 6 Cube:Current:541 (Yandi Biological 2009):Documents:Flora:YSW_Oxbow_final_v2.docx Vegetation and Flora Surveys of the Oxbow and Junction South West Deposits Plates Plate 4.1: Vegetation unit EcEvMaMg (OXB06). 26 Plate 4.2: Vegetation unit EvAtuGwRlTErCYpERIt (OXB16). 26 Plate 4.3: Vegetation unit ElAhiTsps (OXB05). 27 Plate 4.4: Vegetation unit ElAiGwAhiTsps (OXB01). 27 Plate 4.5: Vegetation unit ElAiTw (OXB02). 28 Plate 4.6: Vegetation unit ElChAbTw (OXB13). 28 Plate 4.7: Vegetation unit ChGOrRlAtuGwTHtCYa (OXB03). 28 Plate 4.8: Vegetation unit EgAtuAeTpTsps (OXB09). 30 Plate 4.9: Vegetation unit GwHcTsps (OXB10). 30 Plate 4.10: Vegetation unit EcEvMaMg (YSW08). 36 Plate 4.11: Vegetation unit ElGwAdCApAhiTsps (YSW06). 37 Plate 4.12: Vegetation unit ElAprAbERfTwTe (YSW16). 38 Plate 4.13: Vegetation unit GpERfPTrTe (YSW02). 38 Plate 5.1: Lepidium catapycnon: an individual shrub (left) and images from FloraBase (right) showing a close up of a flowering stem (top) and a small flowering herb (bottom). 46 Plate 5.2: Goodenia nuda: flower and habit (image courtesy of FloraBase). 47 Cube:Current:541 (Yandi Biological 2009):Documents:Flora:YSW_Oxbow_final_v2.docx 7 Vegetation and Flora Surveys of the Oxbow and Junction South West Deposits This page intentionally blank 8 Cube:Current:541 (Yandi Biological 2009):Documents:Flora:YSW_Oxbow_final_v2.docx Vegetation and Flora Surveys of the Oxbow and Junction South West Deposits 1.0 Background to the Study 1.1 The Proposed Project The Yandicoogina (Yandi) iron ore project is located approximately 75 km northwest of Newman, in the Pilbara region of Western Australia (see Figure 1.1). This minesite is owned and operated by Rio Tinto Iron Ore (RTIO). RTIO plans to develop iron resources within the Yandi area, including the Yandi Junction South West (JSW) and Oxbow Deposits, which lie to the west of existing operations. Survey work at JSW commenced in June 2007. Following this survey, the original project footprint was altered and consequently two subsequent surveys were conducted in 2008 and 2009. The Oxbow Deposit project area lies adjacent to JSW, on the western boundary, and was surveyed in 2008 and 2009. 1.2 Scope and Objectives of this Study The scope of this study was to describe the vegetation and flora values associated with the Yandi JSW and Oxbow Deposits. The field surveys were planned and implemented as far as practicable according to the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) Position Statement No. 3 “Terrestrial Biological Surveys as an Element of Biodiversity Protection” (EPA 2002) and Guidance Statement No. 51 “Terrestrial Flora and Vegetation Surveys for Environmental Impact Assessment in Western Australia” (EPA 2004). The objectives of this study were to: • describe and map the vegetation types occurring within the study area; • identify any vegetation types of conservation significance (see Appendix 1) within the study area; • document the suite of flora species occurring within the study area; • locate any flora of conservation significance (including Declared Rare Flora (DRF), Priority flora and other flora of interest; see Appendix 1); • make recommendations for management of vegetation types and flora of conservation significance within the study area; and • address the Ten Clearing Principles under Schedule 5 of the Environmental Protection Act 1986 as required to support a Native Vegetation Clearing Permit (NVCP) application. Cube:Current:541 (Yandi Biological 2009):Documents:Flora:YSW_Oxbow_final_v2.docx 9 Vegetation and Flora Surveys of the Oxbow and Junction South West Deposits Figure 1.1: Location of the Yandi Oxbow and JSW study areas. 10 Cube:Current:541 (Yandi Biological 2009):Documents:Flora:YSW_Oxbow_final_v2.docx Vegetation and Flora Surveys of the Oxbow and Junction South West Deposits 2.0 Methodology 2.1 Database Searches A NatureMap search was conducted online1 on the 18th of November 2009 for rare flora in the vicinity of the study area. The search coordinate used was 22°47’30” S and 119°09’37” E (GDA94) with a 20 km buffer surrounding this central point. In addition to the online database search, a DEC database search was requested on the 15th of April 2010. This search comprised two DEC databases. One search targeted rare and priority flora the other targeted Threatened Ecological Communities (TECs) and Priority Ecological Communities (PECs). The search covered a 40 km buffer surrounding a central point. The same co-ordinate was used for both the online and the DEC searches. 2.2 Field Surveys 2.2.1 Field Team and Survey Timing 2.2.1.1 JSW The initial survey was conducted by five botanists (Rachel Warner, Paul Hoffman, Raimond Orifici and Rachel Butler, of Biota; and Brian Morgan, a private consultant) between the 4th and 16th of June 2007. The second survey was conducted by four botanists (Jeni Alford, Raimond Orifici, Rachel Butler and Preeti Chukowry, of Biota) between the 27th of July and the 6th of August 2008.