016 BIODIVERSITY OFFSET MONITORING REPORT Liddell Coal Operations FINAL February 2017 016 BIODIVERSITY OFFSET MONITORING REPORT Liddell Coal Operations FINAL Prepared by Umwelt (Australia) Pty Limited on behalf of Liddell Coal Operations Project Director: Rebecca Vere Project Manager: Chloe Parkins Report No. 3122O/R18/V3 Date: February 2017 Brisbane Level 11 500 Queen Street Brisbane QLD 4000 Ph. 1300 793 267 www.umwelt.com.au This report was prepared using Umwelt’s ISO 9001 certified Quality Management System. Disclaimer This document has been prepared for the sole use of the authorised recipient and this document may not be used, copied or reproduced in whole or part for any purpose other than that for which it was supplied by Umwelt (Australia) Pty Ltd (Umwelt). No other party should rely on this document without the prior written consent of Umwelt. Umwelt undertakes no duty, nor accepts any responsibility, to any third party who may rely upon or use this document. Umwelt assumes no liability to a third party for any inaccuracies in or omissions to that information. Where this document indicates that information has been provided by third parties, Umwelt has made no independent verification of this information except as expressly stated. ©Umwelt (Australia) Pty Ltd Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction 1 2.0 Background 4 3.0 Methods 7 3.1 Floristic Monitoring 9 3.1.1 Photo Monitoring 10 3.1.2 Habitat Assessment 10 3.2 Fauna Monitoring 11 3.2.1 Diurnal Woodland Bird Surveys 11 3.2.2 Micro-Bat Surveys 11 3.2.3 Diurnal Herpetofauna Surveys 12 3.2.4 Spotlighting Surveys 12 3.2.5 Call Playback Surveys 12 3.2.6 Baited Remote Camera Traps (Including Spotted-tailed Quoll) Monitoring 13 3.3 Nest Box Monitoring 13 3.4 Landscape Function Analysis Monitoring 13 3.5 Regeneration Assessment 14 4.0 Results 16 4.1 Local Weather Conditions 16 4.2 Floristic Monitoring 17 4.2.1 Floristic Diversity 17 4.2.2 Habitat and Structural Diversity 19 4.3 Fauna Monitoring 25 4.4 Site Specific Details 33 4.4.1 Mountain Block 33 4.4.2 Bowmans Creek Riparian Corridor 37 4.4.3 Mitchell Hills South 44 4.5 Offset Regeneration Outcomes 49 4.5.1 Mountain Block Regeneration 53 4.5.2 Bowmans Creek Riparian Corridor Regeneration 54 4.5.3 Mitchell Hills South Regeneration 56 5.0 Discussion 58 5.1 General Outcomes of 2016 Monitoring 58 5.2 Comparison of Results against Performance Indicators and TARP 59 6.0 Management Recommendations 88 6.1 Weed Management 88 016 Biodiversity Offset Monitoring Report 3122_R18_2016 BOMP Monitoring_V3 6.2 Ripping and Seeding 91 6.3 Supplementary Plantings and Seeding 91 6.4 Habitat Augmentation 92 6.5 Feral Fauna Management 93 6.6 Redundant Feature Removal 94 7.0 Conclusion 95 8.0 References 96 Figures Figure 1.1 Locality Map 2 Figure 1.2 Liddell Coal Operations 3 Figure 3.1 BMP Area Ecological Monitoring Sites 8 Figure 3.2 Regeneration Assessment Locations 15 Figure 4.1 2016 Threatened Species Locations 27 Figure 4.2 Occurrence of Regeneration in Mountain Block 50 Figure 4.3 Occurrence of Regeneration in Bowmans Creek Riparian Corridor 51 Figure 4.4 Occurrence of Regeneration in Mitchell Hills South 52 Plates Plate 4.1 Informational Spotted-tailed Quoll Signage at Mitchell Hills South 49 Plate 4.2 Recruitment occurring in the North of Mountain Block 53 Plate 4.3 Recruitment occurring in the South of Mountain Block 54 Plate 4.4 Recruitment occurring in the approximate centre of Bowmans Creek Riparian Corridor 55 Plate 4.5 Regeneration Occurring in Mitchell Hills South 57 Graphs Graph 4.1 2016 Floristic Monitoring Results 19 Graph 4.2 Comparison of Fauna Composition between Monitoring Sites 32 Graph 4.3 Comparison of Native and Introduced Fauna Composition between Monitoring Sites 33 016 Biodiversity Offset Monitoring Report 3122_R18_2016 BOMP Monitoring_V3 Tables Table 2.1 Monitoring Sites, Types Frequencies and Seasons Required 4 Table 3.1 Locations of 2015 Biodiversity Offset Monitoring Sites 7 Table 3.2 Modified Braun-Blanquet Crown Cover-abundance Scale 10 Table 4.1 Temperature and Rainfall Data during lead up to 2016 Monitoring (BOM 2016) 16 Table 4.2 2016 Floristic Monitoring Results 18 Table 4.3 Comparison of Vegetation Structure of the Mountain Block Sites 19 Table 4.4 Comparison of Vegetation Structure of Bowmans Creek Riparian Corridor Sites 21 Table 4.5 Comparison of Vegetation Structure of Mitchell Hills South Sites 22 Table 4.6 Mountain Block 2016 Subplot Results 23 Table 4.7 Bowmans Creek Riparian Corridor 2016 Subplot Results 24 Table 4.8 Mitchell Hills South 2016 Subplot Results 25 Table 4.9 Mountain Block 2016 Fauna Species Diversity 28 Table 4.10 Bowmans Creek Riparian Corridor Fauna Species Diversity 29 Table 4.11 Mitchell Hills South Fauna Species Diversity 31 Table 4.12 Introduced Flora Species Requiring Management at Remnant Site W05 34 Table 4.13 Introduced Flora Species Requiring Management at Regenerating Site WR04 35 Table 4.14 Introduced Flora Species Identified in Remnant Site W06 Considered to Require Management 38 Table 4.15 Introduced Flora Species Requiring Management at Remnant Site W07 39 Table 4.16 Introduced Species Identified Requiring Management at Regeneration Site WR07 41 Table 4.17 Introduced Flora Species Requiring Management in Rehabilitation Site WR09 43 Table 4.18 Noxious Flora Species Identified in Remnant Site W09 45 Table 4.19 Introduced Flora Species Requiring Management in Regeneration Site WR11 47 Table 4.20 Results of Regeneration Site WR11 2016 LFA Monitoring 48 Table 5.1 Comparison of 2016 Monitoring Results against Performance Indicators from the BOMP* 60 Table 5.2 Comparison of Monitoring Results to BOMP Checklist and Implementation Schedule 77 Table 5.3 Comparison of 2016 Monitoring Results to Biodiversity Triggers Identified in the BOMP*8 Table 6.1 Introduced Flora Species Requiring Management and Recommended Actions¹ 89 Table 6.2 Recommended Supplementary Plantings 91 Table 6.3 Recommended Habitat Augmentation 92 Appendices Appendix 1 Year 2016 Performance Indicators Appendix 2 Biodiversity Triggers Identified in the 2015 BOMP Appendix 3 Flora Species Lists Appendix 4 Flora Sub-Plot Monitoring Appendix 5 Fauna Species Lists Appendix 6 Photographic Monitoring 016 Biodiversity Offset Monitoring Report 3122_R18_2016 BOMP Monitoring_V3 1.0 Introduction Liddell Coal Operations (LCO) is an established coal mining operation in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales (refer to Figure 1.1). The LCO holdings are divided by the boundary between the Singleton and Muswellbrook local government areas (LGAs). LCO received approval for the extension of Liddell Open Cut coal mining operations under the State Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EPA Act) on 1 December 2014 (DA 3015-11-01 Modification 5) and under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) on 24 December 2014 (EPBC Approval 2013/6908). As part of this approved modification, LCO was required to prepare a Biodiversity Offset Management Plan (BOMP) (Glencore 2015) to guide ongoing management of the LCO biodiversity offset areas to maintain and enhance biodiversity values, particularly those relating to threatened species and threatened ecological communities (TECs). The LCO biodiversity offset areas comprise the Mountain Block, Bowmans Creek Riparian Corridor and Mitchell Hills South Offset Areas (Figure 1.2). The objectives of the 2015 BOMP are to provide direction for the short to long term management and enhancement of the biodiversity values of the LCO biodiversity offset areas, as well as to provide a description of the measures to be implemented to achieve this over the next three years. Biodiversity monitoring surveys of the following is required under this 2015 BOMP: • Terrestrial flora and vegetation communities • Habitat • Diurnal woodland birds • Targeted winter birds (undertaken as part of a separate report) • Micro-bats • Diurnal herpetofauna • Nocturnal fauna • Spotted-tailed quoll (Dasyurus maculatus maculatus) • Nest boxes and • Landscape function (via Landscape Function Analysis (LFA)). This monitoring is required to track progress of biodiversity and habitat values against performance indicators specified in the 2015 BOMP. The 2015 BOMP prescribes that an annual Biodiversity Offset Monitoring Report must be prepared to compile and analyse results of monitoring completed each year and compare results against the 2015 BOMP performance indicators. This Biodiversity Offset Monitoring Report has been prepared to fulfil the requirements of the 2016 monitoring period. This 2016 monitoring event provides the second event for this monitoring program which will compared to the 2015 baseline data. 016 Biodiversity Offset Monitoring Report Introduction 3122_R18_2016 BOMP Monitoring_V3 1 2.0 Background The three LCO biodiversity offset areas are located in the vicinity of the Liddell mine (Figure 1.2). The Bowmans Creek Riparian Corridor runs in a north/south direction on the eastern boundary of the LCO and is 182 hectares (ha) in size. Mountain Block is 166 ha in size and is located to the immediate north of the LCO. Mitchell Hills South is located approximately three kilometres north west of Mountain Block and is 37 ha in size. The three LCO biodiversity offset areas provide protection to a variety of key ecological values, including: • threatened ecological community (TEC) and endangered flora population habitat • potential habitat for threatened flora species • habitat for threatened fauna species and • strategic positioning within the Hunter landscape. The 2015 BOMP requires that monitoring of 16 sites across the biodiversity offsets will be undertaken for the life of mine or until the sites are deemed redundant. Monitoring undertaken during 2015 comprised baseline monitoring of all 16 sites. However, from 2016 the monitoring program has been split across two years (Year A and Year B), with monitoring of half (eight) the sites occurring in alternate years (as provided in Table 2.1).