Department of Defence 'Boot Land', Moorebank, NSW Ecological Impact Assessment of Remediation May 2015 Abbreviations Abbreviation Details CEEC critically endangered ecological community DP Deposit plan DPE Department of Planning and Environment (NSW) DotE Department of the Environment (Commonwealth) DSI Detailed site investigation EEC endangered ecological community EIS environmental impact statement EPBC Act Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Commonwealth) FM Act Fisheries Management Act 1994 (NSW) DEC Department of Environment and Conservation (NSW) DECC Department of Environment and Climate Change (NSW) DNSDC Defence National Storage and Distribution Centre EPA Environmental Protection Authority (NSW) OEH Office of Environment &Heritage (NSW) MNES Matter of national environmental significance NW Act Noxious Weeds Act 1993 (NSW) PB Parsons Brinckerhoff TEC threatened ecological community TSC Act Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 (NSW) UXO Unexploded ordnance VEC vulnerable ecological community GHD | Report for Department of Defence - 'Boot Land', Moorebank, NSW, 21/23492 | i Table of contents 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 General .............................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Objective ............................................................................................................ 1 1.3 Scope of work...................................................................................................... 1 1.4 Definitions ........................................................................................................... 2 2. Description of the project ................................................................................................ 1 2.1 Over view ............................................................................................................ 1 2.2 Phas e 1 - UXO remediation ................................................................................... 1 2.3 Phas e 2 – Excavation of stockpiles ......................................................................... 3 2.4 Phas e 3 – Emu pick of asbestos fragments .............................................................. 4 3. Legislative context......................................................................................................... 7 3.1 Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act)................. 7 3.2 NSW Legislation .................................................................................................. 7 4. Methods ...................................................................................................................... 9 4.1 Database searches and literature review ................................................................. 9 4.2 Field survey....................................................................................................... 10 4.3 Likelihood of occurrence...................................................................................... 12 4.4 S urvey Limitations .............................................................................................. 13 5. Existing environment ................................................................................................... 15 5.1 Site location and setting ...................................................................................... 15 5.2 Results of desktop review .................................................................................... 17 5.3 Vegetation ........................................................................................................ 18 5.4 Fauna and habitats............................................................................................. 29 5.5 Habitat connectivity ............................................................................................ 33 5.6 Conservation significance .................................................................................... 34 6. Impact assessment ..................................................................................................... 39 6.1 Direct impacts.................................................................................................... 39 6.2 Indirect impacts ................................................................................................. 48 7. Impact mitigation ......................................................................................................... 51 7.1 Over view .......................................................................................................... 51 7.2 Avoidance of impacts.......................................................................................... 51 7.3 Mitigation measures ........................................................................................... 52 8. Ass ess ment of Signific anc e .......................................................................................... 57 8.1 Threatened biota................................................................................................ 57 8.2 Migratory species ............................................................................................... 59 8.3 The environment ................................................................................................ 60 GHD | Report for Department of Defence - 'Boot Land', Moorebank, NSW, 21/23492 | ii 8.4 Biodiversity values ............................................................................................. 63 9. Conclusions ............................................................................................................... 64 10. Limitations ................................................................................................................. 66 11. References ................................................................................................................ 67 Table index Table 1 Description of likelihood of occurrence classes.............................................................. 13 Table 2 Areas of potential environmental concern (Figure 1)....................................................... 15 Table 3 Geology of the site (Jones and Clark, 1991).................................................................. 16 Table 4 Vegetation zones within the Boot Land ........................................................................ 20 Table 5 Broad-leaved Ironbark – Melaleuca decora shrubby open forest ...................................... 22 Table 6 Hard-leaved Scribbly Gum - Parramatta Red Gum heathy woodland in high condition ......... 23 Table 7 Hard-leaved Scribbly Gum - Parramatta Red Gum heathy woodland in poor condition ........................................................................................................... 24 Table 8 Parramatta Red Gum swamp woodland in high condition................................................ 26 Table 9 Broad-leaved Ironbark – Melaleuca decora grassy open forest on clay/gravel .................... 27 Table 10 Noxious weeds and WoNS recorded in the site ........................................................... 28 Table 11 Area of vegetation zones within UXO management areas ............................................. 45 Table 12 Plant species recorded at the Boot Land site ............................................................... 71 Table 13 BioBanking Plot/transect data ................................................................................... 78 Table 14 Opportunistic fauna observations .............................................................................. 79 Table 15 Assessment of likelihood of occurrence of threatened biota ........................................... 81 Figure index Figure 1 Site location and layout .............................................................................................. 5 Figure 2 Area requiring remediation .......................................................................................... 6 Figure 3 Vegetation zones..................................................................................................... 21 Figure 4 Threatened biota ..................................................................................................... 38 Figure 5 Threatened plants and UXO management areas .......................................................... 44 GHD | Report for Department of Defence - 'Boot Land', Moorebank, NSW, 21/23492 | iii Appendices Appendix A – Field Survey Data Appendix B – Threatened Biota Assessment Appendix C – EPBC Act Assessments of Significance GHD | Report for Department of Defence - 'Boot Land', Moorebank, NSW, 21/23492 | iv 1. Introduction 1.1 General GHD has been engaged by the Department of Defence (Defence) to undertake site assessments to enable the preparation of a remedial action plan (RAP) for Part of Lot 3001 in DP1125930, Moorebank (hereafter referred to as the ‘Boot Land site’). Defence is seeking to remediate or mitigate exposure to contamination at the Boot Land site and the risk associated with unexploded ordinance (UXO). Site contamination investigations undertaken to date have identified specific areas of environmental concern, which are identified as Areas A to F based on the type of contaminated materials present (GHD, 2015a). The remediation that would be undertaken by the Commonwealth