Section 49 Development Application – TB2SP Appendix H. Vegetation Assessment Tailem Bend Solar Project - Stage 2 Equis Energy (Australia) Pty Ltd Ecological Assessment Report IW133300-0000-NE-EAR Rev 4 19/12/2017 V egetati on Re por t S nowy Hydr o Document history and status Revision Date Description By Review Approved A 18/08/2017 Draft Report for Technical Review R. Barratt Z. Bull L. Daddow 0 21/08/2017 Draft Report for Client Review R. Barratt L. Daddow L. Daddow 1 13/10/2017 Final Report for Equis R. Barratt L. Daddow - 2 16/11/2017 Final Report updated R. Barratt Z. Bull - 3 14/12/2017 Revised Final Report for Equis R. Barratt A Horan/Z Bull L. Daddow 4 19/12/2017 Minor editorial updates R. Barratt L Daddow L. Daddow Ecological Assessment Report – TB2SP Tailem Bend Solar Project - Stage 2 Project No: IW133300 Document Title: Ecological Assessment Report – TB2SP Revision: Rev 4 (Final) Date: 19/12/2017 Client Name: Equis Energy (Australia) Pty Ltd Project Manager: Lara Daddow Author: Rick Barratt, Andrew Boyd Jacobs Group (Australia) Pty Limited ABN 37 001 024 095 Level 6, 30 Flinders Street Adelaide SA 5000 Australia T +61 8 8113 5400 F +61 8 8113 5440 www.jacobs.com © Copyright 2016 Jacobs Group (Australia) Pty Limited. The concepts and information contained in this document are the property of Jacobs. Use or copying of this document in whole or in part without the written permission of Jacobs constitutes an infringement of copyright. Limitation: This report has been prepared on behalf of, and for the exclusive use of Equis Energy Australia, and is subject to, and issued in accordance with, the provisions of the contract between Jacobs and the Client. Jacobs accepts no liability or responsibility whatsoever for, or in respect of, any use of, or reliance upon, this report by any third party. i Ecological Assessment Report – TB2SP Contents Acronyms and Abbreviations.........................................................................................................................iii 1. Introduction ..........................................................................................................................................2 2. Legislation ............................................................................................................................................4 2.1 Commonwealth Legislation ....................................................................................................................4 2.1.1 Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.............................................................4 2.2 South Australian Legislation ...................................................................................................................4 2.2.1 National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 ......................................................................................................4 2.2.2 Native Vegetation Act 1991 ....................................................................................................................4 2.2.3 Natural Resources Management Act 2004 .............................................................................................5 2.3 South Australian policies and plans ........................................................................................................5 2.3.1 No Species Loss - A Nature Conservation Strategy for South Australia 2007-2017 (DEH, 2007) .............5 2.3.2 Guidelines for the Management of Roadside Vegetation .........................................................................5 3. EPBC Act Protected Matters Summary ...............................................................................................6 4. BDBSA summary .................................................................................................................................8 5. Methodology.........................................................................................................................................9 6. Results................................................................................................................................................ 10 6.1 Overview.............................................................................................................................................. 10 6.2 Cleared Land ....................................................................................................................................... 12 6.3 Remnant Native Vegetation Patches .................................................................................................... 12 6.3.1 Block A (site 1) ..................................................................................................................................... 12 6.3.2 Block A (site 2) ..................................................................................................................................... 13 6.3.3 Block A (site 3) ..................................................................................................................................... 14 6.3.4 Block B (site 1) ..................................................................................................................................... 15 6.3.5 Block B (site 2) ..................................................................................................................................... 16 6.4 Scattered Native Trees......................................................................................................................... 17 6.5 Planted Exotic and Non-indigenous Native Trees ................................................................................. 18 7. Discussion .......................................................................................................................................... 20 7.1 Disturbance Levels and Vegetation Condition ....................................................................................... 20 7.2 Threatened Species and Threatened Ecological Communities (TEC) ................................................... 22 7.3 Clearance of Native Vegetation ............................................................................................................ 23 7.4 Justification for application of Exemption 12 (34) .................................................................................. 23 8. Summary ............................................................................................................................................ 25 9. References ......................................................................................................................................... 26 Appendix A. Flora species observed during field visit Appendix B. Scattered Tree Details ii Ecological Assessment Report – TB2SP Acronyms and Abbreviations AC Alternating Current BCM Bushland Condition Monitoring BDBSA Biological Database of South Australia DEWNR Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources EPBC Act Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 Equis Equis Energy (Australia) MNES Matters of National Environmental Significance MDBSA Murray Darling Basin South Australia MW Megawatt MWAC Megawatts Alternating Current NPW Act National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 NRM Act Natural Resources Management Act 2004 NV Act Native Vegetation Act 1991 NVC Native Vegetation Council NVMU Native Vegetation Management Unit TB2SP Tailem Bend Solar Project Stage 2 TEC Threatened Ecological Communities TSSC Threatened Species Scientific Committee iii Ecological Assessment Report – TB2SP Important note about your report The sole purpose of this report and the associated services performed by Jacobs was to provide details regarding vegetation present and clearance required for the proposed solar project at Tailem Bend, South Australia, in accordance with the scope of services set out in the contract between Jacobs and the client, Equis Energy (Australia) Pty Ltd (Equis). That scope of services, as described in this report, was developed by Jacobs. In preparing this report, Jacobs has relied upon, and presumed accurate, any information (or confirmation of the absence thereof) provided by the Client and / or from other sources (e.g. DEWNR). Except as otherwise stated in the report, Jacobs has not attempted to verify the accuracy or completeness of any such information. If the information is subsequently determined to be false, inaccurate or incomplete then it is possible that our observations and conclusions as expressed in this report may change. Jacobs derived the data in this report from information available in the public domain at the time or times outlined in this report. The passage of time, manifestation of latent conditions or impacts of future events may require further examination of the project and subsequent data analysis, and re-evaluation of the data, findings, observations and conclusions expressed in this report. Jacobs has prepared this report in accordance with the usual care and thoroughness of the consulting profession, for the sole purpose described above and by reference to applicable standards, guidelines, procedures and practices at the date of issue of this report. For the reasons outlined above, however, no other warranty or guarantee, whether expressed or implied, is made as to the data, observations and findings expressed in this report, to the extent permitted by law. This report should be read in full and no excerpts are to be taken as representative of