Cattle Creek Ecological Assessment Report
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CATTLE CREEK CCCATTLE CCCREEK RRREGIONAL EEECOSYSTEM AND FFFUNCTIONALITY SSSURVEY Report prepared for Santos GLNG Feb 2021 Terrestria Pty Ltd, PO Box 328, Wynnum QLD 4178 Emai : admin"terrestria.com.au This page left blank for double-sided printing purposes. Terrestria Pty Ltd, PO Box 328, Wynnum QLD 4178 Emai : admin"terrestria.com.au Document Control Sheet Project Number: 0213 Project Manager: Andrew Daniel Client: Santos Report Title: Cattle Creek Regional Ecosystem and Functionality Survey Project location: Cattle Creek, Bauhinia, Southern Queensland Project Author/s: Andrew Daniel Project Summary: Assessment of potential ecological constraints to well pad location, access and gathering. Document preparation and distribution history Document version Date Completed Checked By Issued By Date sent to client Draft A 04/09/2020 AD AD 04/09/2020 Draft B Final 02/02/2021 AD AD 02/02/2021 Notice to users of this report CopyrighCopyright: This document is copyright to Terrestria Pty Ltd. The concepts and information contained in this document are the property of Terrestria Pty Ltd. Use or copying of this document in whole or in part without the express permission of Terrestria Pty Ltd constitutes a breach of the Copyright Act 1968. Report LimitationsLimitations: This document has been prepared on behalf of and for the exclusive use of Santos Pty Ltd. Terrestria Pty Ltd accept no liability or responsibility whatsoever for or in respect of any use of or reliance upon this report by any third party. Signed on behalf of Terrestria Pty Ltd Dr Andrew Daniel Managing Director Date: 02 February 2021 Terrestria Pty Ltd File No: 0213 CATTLE CREEK REGIONAL ECOSYSTEM AND FUNCTIONALITY SURVEY Table of Contents 1.0 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE.................................................................................................... 1 1.2 PROPOSED WORKS .................................................................................................................... 1 1.3 GENERAL PROJECT AREA DESCRIPTION .................................................................................. 1 2.0 METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................... 2 3.0 RESULTS ........................................................................................................................... 4 3.1 DESKTOP RESULTS .................................................................................................................... 4 3.1.1 Threatened Flora Species .................................................................................................... 4 3.1.2 Threatened Fauna Species ................................................................................................... 4 3.1.1 Threatened Ecological Communities ................................................................................... 4 3.1.2 Geology ................................................................................................................................ 5 3.1.3 Vegetation Mapping ............................................................................................................ 5 3.1.4 Essential Habitat .................................................................................................................. 5 3.2 FIELD RESULTS .......................................................................................................................... 7 3.2.1 Threatened Flora Species Assessment ................................................................................. 7 3.2.2 Threatened Fauna Species Assessment ............................................................................. 11 3.2.3 Vegetation Community Types and Regional Ecosystems ................................................... 15 4.0 DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................... 19 5.0 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................. 19 Terrestria Pty Ltd Page i File No: 0213 Cattle Creek Regional Ecosystem and Functionality Survey Cattle Creek Station, Southern Queensland Prepared for Santos Pty Ltd Figures Figure 1.1: Site Location and Project Area Boundary ................................................................................. 3 Figure 3.1: Detailed Surface Geology........................................................................................................ 20 Figure 3.2: State Regional Ecosystem Mapping ........................................................................................ 21 Figures 3.3 A4 – D2: Field Validated Regional Ecosystem Mapping .......................................................... 22 Tables Table 3.1: Project Area Major Geological Units ......................................................................................... 5 Table 3.2: Herbarium mapped regional ecosystems ................................................................................. 6 Table 3.3: Threatened Flora Species that may occur within the Survey Area. ............................................ 7 Table 3.4: Potential a significant impact on listed fauna species. ............................................................. 11 Table 3.5: Field Validated Regional Ecosystems. ...................................................................................... 16 Appendices Appendix A: WildNet Database Search Appendix B: Protected Matters Database Search Appendix C EVNT Flora Species Habitat Modelling Appendix D EVNT Fauna Species Habitat Modelling Appendix E Regional Ecosystem Code Data Sheets Appendix F Quaternary Site Data Abbreviations EA Environmental Authority ESA Environmentally Sensitive Area RE Regional Ecosystems VM Act Queensland’s Vegetation Management Act 1999 Terrestria Pty Ltd Page ii File No: 0213 Cattle Creek Regional Ecosystem and Functionality Survey Cattle Creek Station, Southern Queensland Prepared for Santos Pty Ltd 1.0 Introduction 1.11.11.1 Background and Purpose Terrestria Pty Ltd has prepared this report for Santos Pty Ltd for the purpose of providing an independent ecological assessment of well pads, access and gathering lines on Cattle Creek Station Southern Queensland (Project area) (FigureFigure 1.11.1). The aims of this report are to provide spatially explicit, field-derived ecological data to assist in appropriate location of gas infrastructure. On-ground and desktop assessments have been conducting in accordance with requirements set out within under the Methodology for Assessing Ecological Values (0007-650-PRO-0007), including: • Likelihood of occurrence assessment for Flora and Fauna EVNT • Habitat Assessment for all EVNT Species • General EVNT flora survey o Note the site is not in a high risk zone so there is only a need to complete to the Qld standard if a EVNT plant is located • RE Mapping for the construction footprint plus a 100m buffer o Opportunistic RE mapping data was taken throughout the CDZ during condition and habitat assessments. Mapping outside of the CDZ focused on regrowth endangered REs where community functionality requires assessment. • BioCondition sites were placed in all assessment units intersected by the CDZ. o In accordance with the Qld habitat quality scoring guide – including survey effort of assessment units The results of this report are based on Project area investigations undertaken by Donovan Sharp and Heath Agnew on 22 – 26 June 2020. 1.21.21.2 Proposed Works The proposed works consists of a series well heads, a work areas and associated gathering flow lines and access tracks. The initial concept design is shown in Figure 11. On site survey in the presence of Santos’ construction team allows for a responsive approach, with detailed well pad position and layout and gathering flow line routes configured to respond to identified ecological values in the field. 1.31.31.3 General Project AAAreaArea Description Set on top of the expedition range plateau the Project area is an undulating set of hills and dominated by cleared grazing lands on soils derived medium to coarse-grained sedimentary rocks. The more fertile valley floors have been extensively cleared and are heavily grazed, with the exception of open-forests and woodlands retained around the central watercourse. The steeper valley sides and watercourses to the north and west retain large expanses of woodlands. Terrestria Pty Ltd Page 1 File No: 0213 Cattle Creek Regional Ecosystem and Functionality Survey Cattle Creek Station, Southern Queensland Prepared for Santos Pty Ltd 2.0 Methodology Field and desktop assessments were carried out in accordance with: • Methodology for Assessing Ecological Values (0007-650-PRO-0007) • Santo’s Procedure for Conducting Vegetation Assessments, Document Number: 0007-650-PRO- 0008, • Procedure for Conducting Preliminary Ecological Desktop Assessments (0007-650-PRO-0009) • Procedure for Conducting Wetland Assessments (3301-GLNG-4-1.3-0016) • Guideline for Conducting Vegetation Community Assessments: A Guide to Using the ‘Procedure for Vegetation Community Assessments’ (0007-650-GDE-0002). Results from the protected matters search tool have been used to build up a picture of the potential values present on or close to the Project area. The field assessment has identified the existence of these values on-ground and