Wandoan Coal Project Western coal seam methane water supply pipeline Terrestrial ecology impact assessment November, 2008 Wandoan Joint Venture Parsons Brinckerhoff Australia Pty Limited ABN 80 078 004 798 Level 4, Northbank Plaza 69 Ann Street Brisbane QLD 4000 GPO Box 2907 Brisbane QLD 4001 Australia Telephone +61 7 3854 6200 Facsimile +61 7 3854 6500 Email [email protected] NCSI Certified Quality System ISO 9001 2133006C-RPT031-B:pm Western coal seam methane water supply pipeline Terrestrial ecology impact assessment Contents Page Number Acronyms .....................................................................................................................................................v Executive summary....................................................................................................................................vi 1. Introduction..........................................................................................................................................1 1.1 Background 1 1.2 Context and scope of this assessment 1 1.2.1 Structure of the environmental impact assessment and the ecological assessments 1 1.3 Western CSM water supply pipeline details and study area 6 2. Relevant legislation .............................................................................................................................8 2.1 State assessment framework 8 2.1.1 State Development and Public Works Organisation Act 1971 Act 8 2.1.2 Mineral Resources Act 1989 9 2.1.3 Integrated Planning Act 1997 9 2.1.4 Environmental Protection Act 1994 9 2.1.5 Nature Conservation Act 1992 9 2.1.6 Nature Conservation (Koala) Conservation Plan 2006 and Management Program 2006 to 2016 10 2.1.7 Vegetation Management Act 1999 10 2.1.8 Land Protection (Pest and Stock Route Management) Act 2002 12 2.2 Commonwealth assessment framework 12 3. Methods ..............................................................................................................................................14 3.1 Contributors and qualifications 14 3.2 Nomenclature 15 3.2.1 Flora 15 3.2.2 Fauna 15 3.3 Literature and database review 15 3.4 Field surveys 18 3.4.1 Survey weather conditions 18 3.4.2 Terrestrial flora 18 3.5 Terrestrial vertebrate fauna 22 3.5.1 Fauna habitat assessment 22 3.5.2 Fauna survey techniques 23 3.5.3 Summary of terrestrial vertebrate fauna survey effort 25 3.6 Likelihood of occurrence assessment 26 3.7 Impact assessments 27 3.7.1 Commonwealth listed communities and species 27 3.7.2 State listed communities and species 27 3.8 Limitations 28 4. Existing environment ........................................................................................................................29 4.1 Regional context 29 4.2 Drainage lines 29 4.3 Lithology and land zones 30 4.4 Regional ecosystems 32 Cleared areas 46 4.4.1 Changes to RE mapping 48 4.5 Species of plant 48 4.6 Fauna habitats 49 4.6.1 Acacia harpophylla/Casuarina cristata scrub 49 4.6.2 Eucalypt woodlands 50 4.6.3 Riparian 50 4.6.4 Wetland (artificial/natural) 51 4.6.5 Cleared land 51 4.7 Corridors and connectivity 52 4.8 Species of animal 53 4.8.1 Mammals 54 4.8.2 Birds 56 4.8.3 Frogs 56 2133006C-RPT031-B:pm Page i PB Western coal seam methane water supply pipeline Terrestrial ecology impact assessment Contents (continued) 4.8.4 Reptiles 56 5. Threatened biodiversity and other significant matters .................................................................57 5.1 Matters of National Environmental Significance 57 5.1.1 Threatened ecological communities 57 5.1.2 Threatened species 58 5.1.3 Migratory species 61 5.1.4 World heritage properties 61 5.1.5 Ramsar wetlands 62 5.2 Matters of state significance 62 5.2.1 Endangered and Of Concern Regional Ecosystems 62 5.2.2 Threatened flora of State significance 63 5.2.3 Threatened fauna of State significance 63 5.3 Matters of Regional significance 64 5.3.1 Biodiversity Planning Assessment (BPA) 64 5.3.2 Priority taxa 65 5.3.3 Other regionally significant species 68 5.3.4 Essential habitat mapping 68 5.3.5 State wildlife corridors 69 6. Potential impacts ...............................................................................................................................70 6.1 Loss of vegetation and habitats (land clearance) 70 6.2 Habitat fragmentation and barrier effects 71 6.3 Edge effects 72 6.4 Mortality 72 6.5 Weeds and pest species 72 6.6 Noise and dust 73 6.7 Cumulative impacts 74 6.8 Operation of the pipeline 74 7. Mitigation measures ..........................................................................................................................75 7.1 Avoiding environmental impacts 75 7.2 Management of the mitigation process 75 7.2.1 Vegetation and habitat loss 78 7.3 Mortality 80 7.4 Offsets 80 7.5 Further survey 82 8. Significance of impacts.....................................................................................................................83 9. Conclusions .......................................................................................................................................85 References .................................................................................................................................................86 Glossary .....................................................................................................................................................91 2133006C-RPT031-B:pm Page ii PB Western coal seam methane water supply pipeline Terrestrial ecology impact assessment Contents (continued) List of tables Table 3-1: Contributors and their roles 14 Table 3-2: Literature and database review 16 Table 3-3: Summary of flora survey effort 19 Table 3-4: Summary of fauna survey effort 25 Table 4-1: Geological formation and corresponding land zone 30 Table 4-2: Field verified regional ecosystems within the study area 32 Table 4-3: Fauna habitats and corresponding RE mapped by EPA 49 Table 4-4: Summary of species of terrestrial fauna identified in the study area 54 Table 4-5: Summary of terrestrial fauna diversity associated with broad habitat types 54 Table 5-1: EPBC Act listed Threatened species predicted to occur in the Study Area 58 Table 5-2: Endangered or Of Concern REs in the Study Area 63 Table 5-3 Threatened and rare species of animal predicted to occur within the study area 64 Table 5-4: Priority taxa species of animal 67 Table 6-1: Potential vegetation clearing due to western CSM water supply pipeline 71 Table 6-2: Pest animals recorded in the Study Area 73 Table 7-1: Summary of mitigation measures 76 Table 8-1: Summary of threatened biodiversity for which significance assessments were undertaken and their likelihood of being significantly affected by the Project 83 List of figures Figure 1-1: Project location 2 Figure 1-2: Study Area 3 Figure 3-1: Location of terrestrial survey effort 20 Figure 4-1: Lithology 31 Figure 4-2: Regional ecosystems in the study area 33 Figure 5-1: Threatened species and ecological communities recorded in the Study Area 60 Figure 5-2: Biodiversity Planning Assessment and State wildlife corridors within the Study Area 66 List of photos Photo 4-1: RE 11.3.2 - Eucalyptus populnea woodland on alluvial plains 34 Photo 4-2: RE 11.3.25 – Eucalyptus tereticornis open forest to woodland fringing drainage lines 36 Photo 4-3: RE 11.3.25 – Eucalyptus tereticornis open forest to woodland fringing drainage lines 36 Photo 4-4: Vegetation representative of non-remnant semi-evergreen vine thicket on sedimentary rocks (analogous to RE 11.9.4) 38 Photo 4-5: Vegetation representative of non-remnant semi-evergreen vine thicket on sedimentary rocks (analogous to RE 11.9.4) 38 Photo 4-6: Vegetation representative of remnant Acacia harpophylla open forest on fine-grained sedimentary rocks (RE 11.9.5) 41 Photo 4-7: Vegetation representative of non-remnant Acacia harpophylla open forest on fine- grained sedimentary rocks (RE 11.9.5) 41 Photo 4-8: Vegetation representative of Eucalyptus populnea, Eremophila mitchellii shrubby woodland on fine-grained sedimentary rocks (analogous to RE 11.9.7) 42 Photo 4-9: Vegetation representative of Acacia harpophylla, Eucalyptus populnea woodland on alluvial plains (RE 11.9.10) 44 Photo 4-10: Vegetation representative of Callitris glaucophylla woodland on coarse-grained sedimentary soils (RE 11.10.9) 45 Photo 4-11: Cleared vegetation (cropped paddock) 47 Photo 4-12: Cleared vegetation (road reserve) 47 2133006C-RPT031-B:pm Page iii PB Western coal seam methane water supply pipeline Terrestrial ecology impact assessment Contents (continued) List of attachments Attachment A Weather conditions during field surveys Attachment B Database search results – flora Attachment C Database search results – fauna Attachment D Fauna survey effort Attachment E Flora survey results and 1:50,000 mapping of REs and non-remnant vegetation Attachment F Fauna habitat and survey results Attachment G Likelihood of occurrence assessment for Rare, Threatened flora Attachment H Likelihood of occurrence assessment for Rare, Threatened and other significant fauna Attachment I Impact assessments Attachment J Matters of National Environmental Significance – Summary 2133006C-RPT031-B:pm Page iv PB Wandoan Coal Project Western coal seam methane water supply pipeline Terrestrial ecology impact assessment Acronyms Acronym Definition CHPP Coal Handling and Preparation Plant CG Coordinator General DEWHA The Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts DME Queensland Department of Mines and Energy EPP