SYDENHAM TO BANKSTOWN ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT > Technical Paper 9 - Biodiversity assessment report Transport for NSW Sydney Metro City & Southwest Sydenham to Bankstown upgrade Environmental Impact Statement Technical Paper 9 – Biodiversity Assessment Report August 2017 Table of contents 1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Overview .............................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 The project ........................................................................................................................... 2 1.3 Purpose and scope of this report ....................................................................................... 12 1.4 Secretary’s environmental assessment requirements ....................................................... 13 1.5 Legislation and policy......................................................................................................... 14 2. Methodology ................................................................................................................................. 17 2.1 Approach ............................................................................................................................ 17 2.2 Desktop research ............................................................................................................... 17 2.3 Field survey ........................................................................................................................ 19 2.4 Staff qualifications .............................................................................................................. 22 2.5 Assumptions and limitations .............................................................................................. 23 3. Existing environment .................................................................................................................... 31 3.1 Environmental context ....................................................................................................... 31 3.2 Desktop studies ................................................................................................................. 33 3.3 Flora and vegetation .......................................................................................................... 42 3.4 Groundwater dependent ecosystems ................................................................................ 51 3.5 Fauna and fauna habitats .................................................................................................. 52 3.6 Aquatic habitats ................................................................................................................. 61 3.7 Threatened species, populations and communities .......................................................... 62 3.8 Other ecological matters of national environmental significance ...................................... 65 3.9 Protected and sensitive land .............................................................................................. 66 4. Impact assessment ...................................................................................................................... 67 4.1 Construction impacts ......................................................................................................... 67 4.2 Operational impacts ........................................................................................................... 72 4.3 Cumulative impacts ............................................................................................................ 72 4.4 Key threatening processes ................................................................................................ 73 4.5 Impacts on matters of national environmental significance ............................................... 73 5. Framework for biodiversity assessment ....................................................................................... 75 5.1 Landscape features ........................................................................................................... 75 5.2 Native vegetation ............................................................................................................... 78 5.3 Threatened species ........................................................................................................... 78 5.4 Avoid and minimise impacts .............................................................................................. 79 5.5 Impact summary ................................................................................................................ 81 5.6 Biodiversity credits ............................................................................................................. 88 6. Mitigation measures ..................................................................................................................... 91 6.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 91 6.2 Avoidance of impacts ......................................................................................................... 91 Transport for NSW | Sydenham to Bankstown upgrade EIS – Biodiversity assessment report| i 6.3 Mitigation of impacts .......................................................................................................... 91 7. Biodiversity Offset Strategy .......................................................................................................... 97 8. Conclusion.................................................................................................................................... 99 9. References ................................................................................................................................. 101 EPBC Act Assessments of Significance .................................................................................... 161 Table index Table 1-1 Secretary's environmental assessment requirements – biodiversity ................................. 13 Table 2-1 Likelihood of occurrence assessment criteria .................................................................... 18 Table 2-2 Survey effort ....................................................................................................................... 20 Table 2-3 Staff qualifications .............................................................................................................. 22 Table 3-1 Vegetation in the study area .............................................................................................. 43 Table 3-2 Turpentine – Grey Ironbark open forest on shale .............................................................. 44 Table 3-3 Degraded Turpentine – Grey Ironbark open forest on shale ............................................. 45 Table 3-4 Broad-leaved Ironbark – Grey Box – Melaleuca decora grassy woodland ....................... 46 Table 3-5 Planted native species ....................................................................................................... 47 Table 3-6 Exotic scrub or forest ......................................................................................................... 48 Table 3-7 Exotic grassland ................................................................................................................. 49 Table 3-8 Noxious weeds and WoNS recorded in the study area ..................................................... 50 Table 3-9 Identification of protected and sensitive land ..................................................................... 66 Table 4-1 Proposed removal of vegetation within the project area .................................................... 67 Table 4-2 Key threatening process .................................................................................................... 73 Table 5-1 Landscape features ........................................................................................................... 75 Table 5-2 Vegetation zones ............................................................................................................... 78 Table 5-3 Predicted threatened species in the project area .............................................................. 79 Table 5-4 Ecosystem credits required to offset impacts of the project .............................................. 89 Table 6-1 Mitigation measures ........................................................................................................... 92 ii | Transport for NSW | Sydenham to Bankstown upgrade EIS – Biodiversity assessment report Figure index Figure 1.1 The Sydney Metro network .................................................................................................. 2 Figure 1.2 Overview of the project ........................................................................................................ 3 Figure 1-3 Project area layout ............................................................................................................... 4 Figure 2-1 Survey effort ....................................................................................................................... 24 Figure 3-1 Vegetation .........................................................................................................................