MONTH 0000 OCTOBER 2015 TORO ENERGY LIMITED LAKE MAITLAND TO MILLIPEDE HAUL ROAD SHORT-RANGE ENDEMIC INVERTEBRATE DESKTOP ASSESSMENT This page has been left blank intentionally Toro Energy Limited Lake Maitland to Millipede Haul Road Short Range Endemic invertebrate fauna desktop assessment Document Status Approved for Issue Rev. Author Reviewer/s Date Name Distributed To Date 0 J. Graff D. Cancilla 17/12/2014 D. Cancilla A. Tandy 18/12/2014 N. Jackett 1 B. Greatwich M. Macdonald 14/10/2015 M. Macdonald A. Worland 14/10/2015 ecologia Environment (2014). Reproduction of this report in whole or in part by electronic, mechanical or chemical means including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, in any language, is strictly prohibited without the express approval of Toro Energy Limited and ecologia Environment. Restrictions on Use This report has been prepared specifically for Toro Energy Limited. Neither the report nor its contents may be referred to or quoted in any statement, study, report, application, prospectus, loan, or other agreement document (with the exception of when this document is required to be publicly released as part of a statutory approval process), without the express approval of Toro Energy Limited and ecologia Environment. ecologia Environment Level 8, Carillon City Office Tower 207 Murray Street Perth, WA 6000 Phone: 08 6180 4450 Fax: 08 6180 4451 Email: [email protected] October 2015 i Toro Energy Limited Lake Maitland to Millipede Haul Road Short Range Endemic invertebrate fauna desktop assessment TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................................. V 1 INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................1 1.1 PROJECT OVERVIEW .................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK ....................................................................................................... 1 1.3 SHORT RANGE ENDEMIC FAUNA: A REVIEW ............................................................................ 3 1.4 ASSESSMENT OBJECTIVES ......................................................................................................... 6 2 EXISTING ENVIRONMENT ................................................................................................8 2.1 CLIMATE .................................................................................................................................... 8 2.2 BIOGEOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................ 9 2.3 LAND SYSTEMS ........................................................................................................................11 2.4 VEGETATION ...........................................................................................................................14 2.5 GEOLOGY.................................................................................................................................16 2.6 SOILS .......................................................................................................................................18 3 METHODS ..................................................................................................................... 20 3.1 LITERATURE REVIEW ...............................................................................................................20 3.2 DETERMINING SRE STATUS .....................................................................................................20 3.3 POTENTIAL IMPACT CATEGORIES ...........................................................................................22 4 RESULTS ........................................................................................................................ 23 4.1 BROAD-SCALE FAUNA HABITATS ............................................................................................23 4.2 SRE INVERTEBRATE FAUNA .....................................................................................................31 5 DISCUSSION .................................................................................................................. 33 5.1 SHORT-RANGE ENDEMIC INVERTEBRATE FAUNA...................................................................33 5.2 POTENTIAL IMPACTS ...............................................................................................................33 6 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................ 43 7 REFERENCES .................................................................................................................. 44 October 2015 ii Toro Energy Limited Lake Maitland to Millipede Haul Road Short Range Endemic invertebrate fauna desktop assessment TABLES Table 2.1 – Land systems of the study area ...........................................................................................11 Table 2.2 – Vegetation associations of the study area...........................................................................14 Table 2.3 – Geology at the study area ....................................................................................................16 Table 2.4 – Soils at the study area ..........................................................................................................18 Table 3.1 – Databases searched as part of the literature review ..........................................................20 Table 3.2 – Previous SRE invertebrate assessments relevant to the study area ...................................20 Table 3.3 – Western Australian Museum SRE categories (2013) ...........................................................21 Table 3.4 –Potential impact categories ..................................................................................................22 Table 4.1 – Comparison of habitat nomenclature between Haul road and Deposit study areas ..........23 Table 4.2 – Summary of fauna habitat types .........................................................................................23 Table 4.3 – Summary of SRE invertebrate groups potentially occurring within the study area ............31 Table 5.1 – Summary of SRE invertebrate species potential impacts ....................................................33 Table 5.2 – Potential SRE invertebrate taxa occurring in the region of the study area .........................34 FIGURES Figure 1.1 – Location map of study area .................................................................................................. 7 Figure 2.1 – Rainfall and Temperature for Wiluna Weather Station (BoM 2014) ................................... 8 Figure 2.2 – IBRA region of the study area .............................................................................................10 Figure 2.3 – Land systems of the study area ..........................................................................................13 Figure 2.4 – Vegetation (Shepherd et. al.2002) of the study area .........................................................15 Figure 2.5 – Geology of the study area ..................................................................................................17 Figure 2.6 – Soils of the study area ........................................................................................................19 Figure 4.1 – Representative photo of mulga over spinifex sandplain ....................................................24 Figure 4.2 – Representative photo of mulga over stony tussock grassland...........................................24 Figure 4.3 – Representative photo of mallee/mulga over spinifex sandplain .......................................25 Figure 4.4 – Representative photo of melaleuca woodland over calcrete flats ....................................25 Figure 4.5 – Representative photo of stony hills and footslopes ...........................................................26 Figure 4.6 – Representative photo of low halophytic shrubland ...........................................................26 Figure 4.7 – Fauna habitats of the study area (Section A) .....................................................................27 Figure 4.8 – Fauna habitats of the study area (Section B) .....................................................................28 Figure 4.9 – Fauna habitats of the study area (Section C) .....................................................................29 Figure 4.10 – Fauna habitats of the study area (Section D) ...................................................................30 October 2015 iii Toro Energy Limited Lake Maitland to Millipede Haul Road Short Range Endemic invertebrate fauna desktop assessment APPENDICES Appendix A Explanation of Conservation Codes ...................................................................................48 Appendix B Potential SRE Invertebrate fauna based on literature review ...........................................51 ACRONYMS DoE Department of Environment DPaW Department of Parks and Wildlife DSEWPaC Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities EIA Environmental Impact Assessment EPA Environmental Protection Authority EPBC Act Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 IBRA Interim Biogeographic