LAND DEVELOPMENT AGENCY FLORA AND FAUNA ASSESSMENT Sections 10, 57, 58, 59, 65 and 66 Greenway, ACT LAND DEVELOPMENT AGENCY FLORA AND FAUNA ASSESSMENT Sections 10, 57, 58, 59, 65 and 66 Greenway ACT Submitted to: Project Officer Land Development Agency Level 6 TransACT House 470 Northbourne Avenue DICKSON ACT 2602 Attention: Lauren Kajewski Ph: 02 6205 2726 Fx: 02 6207 6110 Em: [email protected] Submitted by: Booth Associates Pty Ltd Agribusiness & Environmental Consultants PO Box 1458 Level 1 61 – 63 Yambil Street GRIFFITH NSW 2680 Ph: 02 6964 9911 Fx: 02 6964 5440 Em: [email protected] Web: www.boothassociates.com.au ABN: 79 095 414 065 July 2011 Privileged: The information herein is of a privileged and private nature and as such, all rights thereto are reserved. This document shall not, in part or whole, be lent, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any shape or form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, verbal, left in an exposed and/or unattended position or otherwise used without the prior permission of Booth Associates or their duly qualified agents in writing. Document History: Date Issued Revision No. Author Reviewed By Approved Comments 16/06/2011 Draft KL Tyson/Dr S Hamilton Dr S Hamilton MG Ryan 20/07/20111 Final KL Tyson/Dr S Hamilton KL Tyson KL Tyson Distribution of Copies: Issue Date Revision No Issued To Quantity 16/06/2011 Draft Lauren Kajewski 1 by email 1 by email 20/07/2011 Final Lauren Kajewski 1 hardcopy i TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................1 1.1 Site Location and Existing Environment................................................................................. 2 2.0 STATUTORY AND POLICY CONTEXT .....................................................................................5 3.0 METHODOLOGY................................................................................................................12 3.1 Preliminary Assessment....................................................................................................... 12 3.1.1 Literature Review and Database Search.......................................................................... 12 3.1.2 Threatened Biota ............................................................................................................. 13 3.1.3 Study Area Stratification and Site Groundtruth............................................................... 13 3.2 Field Survey..........................................................................................................................15 3.2.1 Fauna and Flora............................................................................................................... 15 3.2.2 Taxonomy ........................................................................................................................16 3.2.3 Plant Inventory ................................................................................................................ 16 3.2.4 Quadrats.......................................................................................................................... 17 3.2.5 Active Diurnal Searching.................................................................................................. 17 3.2.6 Nocturnal Searching ........................................................................................................ 17 3.2.7 Threatened Ecological Communities and Species............................................................ 17 3.2.8 Habitat Assessment ......................................................................................................... 18 3.2.9 Call Recording .................................................................................................................. 18 3.2.10 Diurnal Call Playback................................................................................................... 18 3.2.11 Photography................................................................................................................ 18 3.2.12 Threatened Ecological Communities ........................................................................... 20 3.3 Limitations and Assumptions............................................................................................... 20 4.0 SURVEY RESULTS...............................................................................................................21 4.1 Landscape Context............................................................................................................... 21 4.2 Vegetation and Habitat........................................................................................................ 22 4.2.1 Zone A .............................................................................................................................. 22 4.2.2 Zone B .............................................................................................................................. 23 4.2.3 Zone C .............................................................................................................................. 23 4.2.4 Zone D.............................................................................................................................. 25 4.3 Fauna.................................................................................................................................... 25 4.3.1 Endangered Ecological Communities............................................................................... 26 4.4 Likelihood of Additional Threatened Biota Occurring in the Study Area............................. 26 5.0 CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................................34 5.1 Recommendations ............................................................................................................... 36 6.0 REFERENCES......................................................................................................................37 ii FIGURES Figure 1: Location of Study Area...................................................................................................... 3 Figure 2: EPBC Referral Process....................................................................................................... 7 Figure 3: Study Area Stratification and Vegetation Zones............................................................. 14 Figure 4: Zone B Quadrat Location ................................................................................................ 19 TABLES Table 1: Visual Assessment of Cover/Abundance........................................................................ 16 Table 2: Threatened Species for which an Assessment of Significance is Required.................... 28 PLATES Plate 1: Zone A – View towards South‐west of Zone A............................................................... 28 Plate 2: Zone A ‐ View to South‐east........................................................................................... 29 Plate 3: Zone B ‐ View to the North‐east and Little Red Cormorant........................................... 29 Plate 4: Zone C ‐ North‐western View of the rocky outcrop from Zone A.................................. 30 Plate 5: Zone C ‐ View North in vicinity of quadrats ................................................................... 30 Plate 6: Zone C ‐ South‐eastern corner of eastern most quadrat ............................................... 31 Plate 7: Zone C ‐ View south over rocky hill................................................................................ 31 Plate 8: Zone D ‐ North‐east view towards access...................................................................... 32 Plate 9: Zone D ‐ Southern view .................................................................................................. 32 Plate 10: Zone D ‐ Overlooking south end of Zone A westwards.................................................. 33 ANNEXURES Annexure 1: Study Area Zones Annexure 2: EPBC Protected Matters Report Annexure 3: EPBC Significant Impact Guidelines Annexure 4: Nature Conservation Act Threatened Species Declarations Annexure 5: EPBC Species Profile and Threats Database Search Annexure 6: Parks Conservation and Lands GIS Layers Annexure 7: NSW National Parks and Wildlife Atlas Threatened Species for the ACT LGA Annexure 8: Habitat Impact Assessment Annexure 9: Modified Braun‐Blanquet Cover Abundance Score Sheet Annexure 10: Habitat Quality by Zone Annexure 11: Fauna Recorded on Study Area Annexure 12: Assessment of Significance iii Page 1 of 41 1.0 INTRODUCTION Booth Associates were engaged by the Land Development Agency to prepare a Fauna and Flora Assessment of Sections 10, 57, 58, 59, 65 and 66 Greenway, ACT. The purpose of the investigation is to ascertain the presence of any flora and fauna of concern including threatened species, populations and ecological communities and whether an approval under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, 1999 (EPBC) is required. The need for this biodiversity assessment stems from the proposed land release currently being considered by the Land Development Agency. The LDA has developed a Master Plan for the Greenway site which is being considered in tandem with the ACT Planning and Land Authority’s (ACTPLA) Tuggeranong and Erindale Centres Planning Project 2010‐2012. The Plan is currently