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NMBM Glen Hurd Road Upgrade & Baakens River Bridge

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NMBM Glen Hurd Road Upgrade & Baakens River Bridge NMBM Glen Hurd Road Upgrade & Baakens River Bridge – May 2015 NMBM Glen Hurd Road Upgrade & Baakens River Bridge VEGETATION ASSESSMENT AND SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS Prepared for: Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality P.O Box 116 Port Elizabeth 6000 Prepared by: EOH: Coastal & Environmental Services P.O. Box 934 Grahamstown, 6140 046 622 2364 South Africa Also in East London, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Johannesburg and Maputo www.cesnet.co.za May 2015 NMBM Glen Hurd Road Upgrade & Baakens River Bridge – May 2015 This Report should be cited as follows: EOH Coastal & Environmental Services, May 2015: NMBM Glen Hurd Road Upgrade & Baakens River Bridge: Vegetation assessment and Sensitivity Analysis, CES, Grahamstown. REVISIONS TRACKING TABLE EOH Coastal and Environmental Services Report Title: Vegetation assessment and Sensitivity Analysis Report Version: Draft Report Project Number: 226 Name Responsibility Signature Date Ayanda Zide Report Writer April 2015 Craig Sholto-Douglas Report Writer April 2015 Dr Chantel Report Reviewer May 2015 Bezuidenhout Copyright This document contains intellectual property and propriety information that are protected by copyright in favour of EOH Coastal & Environmental Services (CES) and the specialist consultants. The document may therefore not be reproduced, used or distributed to any third party without the prior written consent of CES. The document is prepared exclusively for submission to Nelson Mandela Municipality in the Republic of South Africa, and is subject to all confidentiality, copyright and trade secrets, rules intellectual property law and practices of South Africa. NMBM Glen Hurd Road Upgrade & Baakens River Bridge – May 2015 THE PROJECT TEAM Ms Ayanda Zide, Environmental Consultant and Botanical Specialist Ayanda holds a BSc in Botany, Microbiology and Chemistry and a Bsc (Hons) in Botany where her thesis focused on identifying and characterising galls and gall forming insects and associated pathogens (Fungi) on the mangrove species Avicennia marina. Courses in her honours year included Diversity Rarity and Endemism (DRE), Pollination Biology, Estuarine Ecology, Rehabilitation Ecology, a Stats course and a short GIS course. Her research interests lie in biological invasion, conservation, rehabilitation ecology, plant biotechnology and water research. Ayanda conducts vegetation and impact assessments that guide proposed developments to reduce their impacts on sensitive vegetation. As part of these surveys she identifies and maps the vegetation communities and areas of high sensitivity. She has worked as a botanical assistant on the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority botanical baseline survey and has conducted groundtruthing surveys for developments in the Eastern Cape. Mr Craig Sholto-Douglas, Environmental Consultant Craig holds a BSc (Env Sci and Zoology) and a BSc (Hons) in Environmental Science. He is currently completing his MSc in Environmental Science, focusing on factors influencing survivorship of Portulacaria afra (Spekboom) cuttings, in attempts to restore degraded lands in the Greater Addo Elephant National Park. Craig has consulting experience in the restoration ecology and natural resource management fields, with focus on the Subtropical Thicket Restoration Project (STRP). His academic background includes courses in Urban Forestry and Greening, Non-Timber Forest Products, Community-Based Natural Resource Management and G.I.S. He has been involved in vegetation mapping and the compilation of plant species lists in the Addo, Kabouga and Darlington sections of the Greater Addo Elephant National Park. Dr Chantel Bezuidenhout Chantel holds MSc and PhD degrees in Botany (estuarine ecology) and a BSc degree in Botany and Geography from NMMU. Chantel's main focus is estuarine ecology and she has done extensive work on 13 systems from the Orange River Mouth in the Northern Cape to the Mngazi Estuary in the Transkei. As a result she has been involved in a number of ecological reserve determination studies including the Kromme, Seekoei and Olifants systems. Chantel has been an Environmental Consultant for approximately 5.5 years and as such has been focused on environmental management and impact assessment. Chantel is well versed in environmental legislation and has been involved in large number of environmental impact assessments and management plans in South Africa, Zambia and Madagascar. She is currently employed as Principal Consultant in the CES‘s Grahamstown office. EOH Coastal & Environmental Services iii NMBM Ecological Study NMBM Glen Hurd Road Upgrade & Baakens River Bridge – May 2015 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................. VII 1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Project description and locality ................................................................................... 1 1.2. Objectives and Terms of Reference ............................................................................ 3 2. APPROACH ................................................................................................................. 4 2.1. Assessment ................................................................................................................... 4 2.2. Species of conservation concern ................................................................................ 4 2.2.1. Plant species of conservation concern ..................................................................... 4 2.2.2. Faunal species of conservation concern................................................................... 5 2.3. Sample site selection .................................................................................................... 5 2.4. Vegetation mapping ...................................................................................................... 6 2.5. Sensitivity assessment ................................................................................................. 6 2.6. Impact assessment ....................................................................................................... 7 2.6.1. Impact rating methodology ....................................................................................... 7 2.6.2. Example of an environmental significance statement ............................................. 10 2.7. Limitations and assumptions ..................................................................................... 11 3. RELEVANT LEGISLATION ....................................................................................... 12 3.1. National Environmental Management Act (No. 107 of 1998) .................................... 12 3.2. National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act (No. 10 of 2004)................ 12 3.2.1. National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act (NEM:BA) 2004 (Act NO, 10 of 2004) .................................................................................................................. 13 3.3. Conservation of Agricultural Resources Act, 1983 (Act No 43 of 1983) (CARA). ... 14 3.4. National Water Act (No.36 of 1998) ............................................................................ 15 3.5. National Forest Act (No.84 of 1998) ........................................................................... 16 3.6. Species of Conservation Concern ............................................................................ 17 3.6.1. National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act (No. 10 of 2004) ................ 17 3.6.2. Endangered and Protected Flora in the 1974 Provincial Nature Conservation Ordinance (PNCO): ................................................................................................ 18 3.6.3. 1976 List of Protected Trees (Government Gazette No. 9542 Schedule A) in the 1998 National Forest Act (NFA): ............................................................................ 18 3.6.4. South African Red Data List ................................................................................... 18 3.6.5. International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) ........................................... 19 4. DESCRIPTION OF THE BIOPHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT ........................................ 22 4.1. Geology and Landform ............................................................................................... 22 4.2. Topography ................................................................................................................. 22 4.3. Climate ......................................................................................................................... 22 4.4. Current Land-use ........................................................................................................ 23 4.5. Vegetation of the study area (Desktop investigation) .............................................. 23 4.5.1. SANBI Vegetation Map .......................................................................................... 23 4.5.1.1. Groot Thicket ..................................................................................................................... 24 4.5.1.2. Algoa Sandstone Fynbos .................................................................................................. 24 4.5.2. Subtropical Thicket Ecosystem Programme (STEP) .............................................. 24 4.5.2.1. Algoa Grassy Fynbos .......................................................................................................
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