RECONNECTING COMMUNITIES Construction Environmental Management Guidance Technical Document No. 10: Lizard Management Report prepared for: New Zealand Transport Agency KiwiRail Holdings Ltd Report prepared by: NCTIR Date: June 2018 Contents 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................................ 3 1.1 Roles and Responsibilities ................................................................................................................................... 3 2 Setting ......................................................................................................................................................................... 4 2.1 Regulatory Setting ................................................................................................................................................ 4 2.2 Kaikoura lizards – Species & habitats ................................................................................................................... 4 3 Risk Assessment ............................................................................................................................................................... 5 3.1 Project Activities ................................................................................................................................................... 5 3.2 Risk Category ....................................................................................................................................................... 5 4 Control Measures............................................................................................................................................................... 6 4.1 Coastal boulder deposits ...................................................................................................................................... 6 4.2 Mature indigenous shrublands ............................................................................................................................. 6 4.3 Mangamaunu, Okiw and Waipapa Bays .............................................................................................................. 7 4.4 Measures for incidental situations ........................................................................................................................ 7 Appendix A: Project Ecological Principles Appendix B: Kaikoura lizard species, threat classifications and habitat use Page 2 Construction Environmental Management | June 2018 1 Introduction This technical document (TD) provides guidance to project teams on management measures around coastal, oceanic and riverine birds in relation to North Canterbury Transport Infrastructure Recovery (NCTIR) projects. All construction activities should be operated, maintained, supervised, monitored and controlled at all times, so that the risks around effects on native lizards are minimised as much as practicable. This TD is principally prepared for the NCTIR Environmental Advisors supporting the NCTIR delivery teams. It sets out: Roles and responsibilities of parties involved in project works and implementing controls relating to native lizards; A summary of the existing environment as it relates to native lizard habitats within the project area; A risk assessment of typical construction activities in the context of the sensitivity of the receiving environment; Management measures to limit the impacts of the project on native lizards, and advice on how to implement them through project specific Environmental Management Plans (EMP) and Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS). 1.1 Roles and Responsibilities This TD sits under the Construction Environmental Management Plan (CEMP) for the NCTIR programme of works. The CEMP should be referred to for broader roles and responsibilities as they relate to the programme as a whole. The roles and responsibilities described below are specific to the management of coastal, oceanic and riverine birds: Role Senior Environmental Site Engineer Project Project Engineer Environmental Advisor E c o lo g ist Advisor Responsibilities Reviewing and Advising delivery Development of Advice on site Inspection of works reporting on the teams on site EMP and controls and to assess compliance management of management of SWMS to include monitoring with the CEMP and native lizards as part native lizards. management of required to relevant of the CEMP native lizards. delivery teams management plans. responsibilities. Visual inspections of and wider (i.e. environmental On the ground site design). Ensure sub- Facilitates and compliance. supervision. contractor adherence oversees Respond to, and to the management environmental Input into EMPs, On the job training. provide advice plans. CWPs and SWMS. monitoring. Visual inspections on, any native lizard Emergency contact. Reviews and updates of environmental compliance. management this TD as issues / effects. necessary. Input into EMPs, CWPs and SWMS. Reviews and updates this TD as necessary. Technical Document No. 10: Lizard Management Page 3 2 Setting Developing an understanding of both the general and specific environment is essential to determining the type and scale of control measures required during construction. This section provides the general description of the environment of where NCTIR projects are located. There are multiple work streams and will ultimately be many project sites that generally come under one of three areas; the Coastal Route, Inland Route and Alternative Route. An overview of the environment relevant to the management of native lizards is summarised below. 2.1 Regulatory Setting The protection of native birdlife is required under the Wildlife Act (1953), Conservation Act (1987) and the Resource Management Act (1991). In relation to projects along the coastal route, resource consents, Department of Conservation concessions and permits have been granted to cover the project works (all Consents and Approvals are saved in Vault). Key requirements from these approvals are: • Ecological principles that are taken into account when undertaking design and construction works. These principles are provided in the CEMP and listed in Appendix A of this report; • Scoping surveys to be carried out prior to works to identify any At Risk, Threatened or taonga species that may be significantly adversely affected; and • Mitigation measures to avoid as far as practical the effects on species identified during the scoping survey (these measures are set out in this and other Construction Environmental Management Plan (CEMP) Technical Documents). Outside of the coastal route, site specific resource consents and/or permits may be required and confirmation of this needs to be obtained prior to starting works. 2.2 Kaikoura Lizards – Species & Habitats Eleven species of native lizard occur between the Waiau River to the south and the Clarence River to the north (refer to Appendix B), representing c. 10% of the New Zealand lizard fauna. The lizard fauna of the greater Kaikōura area is characterised by a high proportion of At Risk and Threatened species1 (73%; 8 of the 11 taxa). Three species appear to be endemic to the Marlborough Region (Kaikōura gecko, Marlborough spotted skink and South Marlborough grass skink) and one species that is restricted to the alpine zone (the black-eyed gecko). The following are five broad habitat types utilised by native lizards in the Kaikoura area: 1. Coastal - the coastal margin, above the high-tide mark, and associated dunelands; 2. Grassland - dominant cover of exotic and/or native grasses, including farmland; 3. Shrubland - dominant cover of indigenous shrub species (Coprosma, Helichrysum, Corokia, kānuka, mānuka, tauhinu, matagouri, Melicytus etc.); 4. Forest - mature or regenerating hardwood/podocarp/beech forest dominated by indigenous species (plantation forestry does not generally support lizard populations, unless it has been planted through native shrub/forest vegetation that contains arboreal geckos); and 5. Rocklands - rock outcrops, scree and talus slopes, riverbeds, terraces and scarps. A layer identifying ‘lizard habitat types’ can be found on the NCTIR GIS website. The current status of the Kaikōura lizard fauna is unknown. Some coastal populations, particularly of the most common and widespread species (Marlborough mini gecko and South Marlborough grass skink), will have been partially or fully buried by earth movements during the earthquake, aftershocks, and further slips caused by high rainfall events. 1 Hitchmough et al. (2016). Conservation status of New Zealand reptiles, 2015. New Zealand Threat Classification Series 17. Department of Conservation, Wellington. Page 4 Construction Environmental Management | June 2018 3 Risk Assessment The scoping surveys undertaken for the project have determined the habitats and species of concern in relation to the construction associated with the earthquake recovery activities. Mitigation measures to be implemented are based around methods to minimise impacts. 3.1 Project Activities The following construction activities associated with the NCTIR programme of works are likely to take place within or adjacent to native lizard habitat and will require controls to be in place: • Stockpiling/temporary storage of materials. • Construction of access roads/tracks and permanent road and rail structures. • Earthworks including sluicing, scaling and blasting. • Vegetation clearance. 3.2 Risk