Desktop Review and Risk Assessment of Subterranean Fauna for the Yanchep Rail Extension, Western Australia
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Desktop review and risk assessment of Subterranean Fauna for the Yanchep Rail Extension, Western Australia Report by Invertebrate Solutions for Public Transport Authority May 2018 Dr Timothy Moulds Invertebrate Solutions PO Box 14 Victoria Park, WA 6979 Australia [email protected] www.invertebratesolutions.com Invertebrate Solutions. (2018). Desktop review and risk assessment of subterranean fauna for the Yanchep Rail Extension, Western Australia. Unpublished report to Public Transport Authority, May 2018. Report Number 2018ISJ02_F01_20180531 Prepared for: Public Transport Authority, Western Australia Frontispiece: The troglophilic pseudoscorpion Protochelifer cavernerum that inhabits caves in Yanchep National Park. Image copyright Invertebrate Solutions 2018. COPYRIGHT: This document has been prepared to the requirements of the client identified above, 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 Invertebrate Solutions. Desktop review and risk assessment of subterranean fauna for YRE, Western Australia. Page ii Contents Contents ................................................................................................................................................. iii Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................. v 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Purpose of this report ......................................................................................................... 2 1.2 Study Area ........................................................................................................................... 3 1.3 Documents examined ......................................................................................................... 3 1.4 Conservation Legislation and Guidance Statements .......................................................... 3 1.5 Classifications of subterranean dependence ...................................................................... 5 1.6 Report Limitations and Exclusions ...................................................................................... 6 1.7 Assumptions ........................................................................................................................ 7 2. Desktop Methods .............................................................................................................................. 8 2.1 Likelihood of Subterranean fauna occurrence .............................................................................. 8 2.2 Potential Impacts to Subterranean Fauna .................................................................................... 9 3. Desktop Subterranean Fauna Review .............................................................................................. 10 3.1 Subterranean fauna of the Swan Coastal Plain ................................................................. 10 3.2 Conservation Significant Fauna and Habitats ................................................................... 11 3.3 Subterranean Fauna Habitat in the Study Area ................................................................ 12 3.4 Subterranean Fauna Habitat in the YRE Project Development Envelope area ................ 12 3.5 Likelihood of stygofauna presence ................................................................................... 15 3.6 Likelihood of troglofauna presence .................................................................................. 16 4. Subterranean Fauna Preliminary Impact Assessment ..................................................................... 18 4.1 Groundwater impacts ....................................................................................................... 18 4.2 Local impacts during construction and operation ............................................................ 19 4.3 Regional significance and cumulative impacts ................................................................. 21 5. Conclusions and Recommendations ................................................................................................ 23 5.1 Recommendations ............................................................................................................ 23 6. References ....................................................................................................................................... 25 Appendix 1 Department of Parks and Wildlife Conservation Codes (November 2015) Appendix 2 Protected Matters Search Tool results Page iii YRE Subterranean Fauna Desktop Review Appendix 3 Fauna collected from five caves with aquatic root mat habitats and a surface stream in close proximity to YN 99 (Boomerang Gorge stream) in the Yanchep National Park (Jasinska, 1997 in English et al. 2000). Appendix 4 Components of the Yanchep Rail Extension Project Part 1 and 2 List of Figures Figure 1 Yanchep Rail Extension Project subterranean fauna desktop Study Area. ......................... 4 List of Tables Table 1 Subterranean species likelihood of occurrence definitions ................................................ 8 Table 2 Conservation significant species that may occur in the Study Area. ................................ 11 Table 3 Listed TECs relevant to the subterranean environment within the Study Area. .............. 12 Table 4 Geological units (after Advisian 2017) in the YRE Project Development Envelope and Assessment of Subterranean fauna habitat potential. .................................................... 14 Table 5 Listed TEC likelihood of occurrence within the YRE Project Development Envelope. ...... 14 Table 6 Stygofauna in WAM databases recorded from within the Study Area. ............................ 16 Table 7 Troglofauna in WAM databases recorded from within the Study Area. .......................... 17 Table 8 Risk of direct impacts to subterranean fauna from YRE Project development works ...... 20 Table 9 Risk of indirect impacts to subterranean fauna from YRE Project development works .. 21 List of Plates Plate 1 Karst risk map from City of Wanneroo based upon cave location data from Western Australian Speleological Group Inc. Unshaded areas are all Low risk. The approximate alignment of the YRE Project Development Envelope is shown in red. Parts 1 and 2 refer to the location of the two Parts of the YRE Project (RPS 2018). ...................................... 13 Page iv YRE Subterranean Fauna Desktop Review Executive Summary The Yanchep Rail Extension (YRE) project is a 14.5 kilometre (km) extension of the Joondalup railway line, which includes new stations at 3 locations; Alkimos, Eglinton and Yanchep. The YRE project’s 143.11 hectare (ha) Development Envelope, which encompasses Part 1 and 2 development footprints (including railway extension and stations) and construction and access areas, generally lies between the suburbs of Butler and Yanchep and includes the suburbs of Alkimos and Eglinton. Part 1 of the project proposes to extend the existing Joondalup railway line by 7.3 kilometres from Butler Station to the suburb of Eglinton in the City of Wanneroo. Part 2 of the project proposes to extend the Joondalup railway line from Eglinton Station to Yanchep Station and includes a turnback facility to the north of the Yanchep Station to allow for the turning and stowage of trains. Following referral of Part 1 of the YRE project to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) under Section 38 of the Environmental Protection Act 1986 (EP Act), the EPA decided on 13 March 2018 that the proposal would be assessed on referral and additional information. The EPA issued a Notice Requiring Information for Assessment under section 40(2)(a) of the EP Act, which included the requirement for a desktop subterranean fauna (stygofauna and troglofauna) investigation. The Study Area contains significant subterranean fauna habitat within the Yanchep National Park and immediately adjacent areas, however, the YRE Project Development Envelope intersects lower value habitat to the west of the high risk karst area. The Study Area contains the Threatened Aquatic Root Mat community within the Yanchep National Park, along with associated stygofauna and troglofauna species. None of these species, or aquatic root mat communities are known to occur in the YRE Project Development Envelope. Habitat for both stygofauna and troglofauna does occur within the YRE Project Development Envelope due to the presence of the karstic Tamala Limestone underlying the Safety Bay sands. There is potentially a Low likelihood of overall impact to stygofauna and troglofauna from virtually all aspects of the project as cut and fill activities will generally occur within approximately five metres of the natural ground surface and dewatering is not anticipated to be required. The most significant impact, although still considered Moderate overall is from the excavation directly removing habitat and causing drying of adjacent troglofauna habitat. Contamination of groundwater during construction and subsequent use may also impact significantly upon subterranean fauna habitat, but risks of contamination can be minimised by