Ecological Assessment for the Joy Baluch AM Bridge duplication Project January 2019 Prepared by: BlackOak Environmental NVC accredited consultant (Matt Launer) for Golder Associates Pty Ltd Ecological Assessment for the Joy Baluch AM Bridge duplication Project Document information and distribution Document information Item Detail Project number PR-GO-061218 Document title Ecological Assessment for the Joy Baluch AM Bridge duplication Project Client Golder Associates Pty Ltd Prepared by Matt Launer Reviewed by Sally O’Neill Review date 10/02/19 Document status Final Version number 5 Document distribution Author Document status Version Date of issue Issued to number Matt Launer Draft 1 13/02/19 Hannah Keynes (Golder Associates Pty Ltd) Matt Launer Final 2 20/02/19 Hannah Keynes Matt Launer Final (Amendment 1) 3 05/03/19 Hannah Keynes Matt Launer Final (Amendment 2) 4 30/05/19 Hannah Keynes Matt Launer Final (Amendment 3) 5 01/08/19 Hannah Keynes Disclaimer This document may only be used for the purpose for which it was commissioned and in accordance with the contract between BlackOak Environmental Pty Ltd and Golders Associates Pty Ltd. BlackOak Environmental Pty Ltd accepts no liability or responsibility for or in respect of any use of or reliance upon this document by any third party. Unauthorised use of this report in any form is prohibited. Cover photograph: Avicennia marina ssp. marina Very Low Closed Forest and the existing Joy Baluch AM Bridge. BlackOak Environmental Ecological Assessment for the Joy Baluch AM Bridge duplication Project Acronyms and definitions Abbreviation Description BAM Bushland Assessment Method BCM Bushland Condition Monitoring BDBSA Biological Databases of South Australia DEW Department for Environment and Water DEWNR Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources DPTI Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure DoEE Department of the Environment and Energy EPBC Act Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 IBRA Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia LGA Local Government Area MNES Matters of National Environmental Significance NLTN National Land Transport Network NPW Act National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 NRM Natural Resource Management NRM Act Natural Resources Management Act 2004 NV Act Native Vegetation Act 1991 NVC Native Vegetation Council PMST Protected Matters Search Tool SEB Significant Environmental Benefit TEC Threatened Ecological Community BlackOak Environmental Ecological Assessment for the Joy Baluch AM Bridge duplication Project Table of Contents 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................................. 1 2 Background ................................................................................................................................................................................... 1 2.1 Purpose of the proposal ................................................................................................................................................ 1 2.2 Location ................................................................................................................................................................................ 1 2.3 Approvals required or obtained under other legislation (including past clearance approvals) ........ 5 3 Method ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 8 3.1 Desktop assessment ........................................................................................................................................................ 8 3.2 Field survey .......................................................................................................................................................................... 8 4 Assessment outcomes ........................................................................................................................................................... 10 4.1 Desktop assessment ..................................................................................................................................................... 10 4.2 Vegetation survey .......................................................................................................................................................... 32 4.3 Fauna survey .................................................................................................................................................................... 66 4.5 Requirements of the Native Vegetation Regulations ...................................................................................... 68 4.6 Mitigation hierarchy...................................................................................................................................................... 70 5 Significant Environmental Benefit ..................................................................................................................................... 71 5.1 Clearance area ................................................................................................................................................................. 71 6 Discussion ................................................................................................................................................................................... 73 7 References .................................................................................................................................................................................. 74 8 Appendices ................................................................................................................................................................................ 75 Appendix 1. Native vegetation clearance proposal applicant details........................................................................... 75 Appendix 2. Flora species recorded in the BDBSA within 5 km of the project area (all years shown) (DEW 2019). ............................................................................................................................................................................... 76 Appendix 3. Fauna species recorded in the BDBSA within 5 km of the project area (all years shown) (DEW 2019). ............................................................................................................................................................................... 91 Appendix 4. Flora species recorded within the project area. ........................................................................................... 99 Appendix 5. Landscaped gardens recorded within the project area (Datum WGS 84, Zone 53H). ................ 101 List of Tables Table 1. IBRA bioregion, subregion, and environmental association summary. ......................................................... 4 Table 2. Key diagnostic characteristics for describing the Coastal Saltmarsh ecological community (DSEWPC 2013)......................................................................................................................................................................... 10 Table 3. Threatened fauna species listed under the EPBC Act and NPW Act identified in the PMST (Source 1) and BDBSA (Source 2) database searches within 5 km of the project area. Only BDBSA records from the past 20 years are shown. ................................................................................................................... 15 Table 4. Fauna species as migratory under the EPBC Act were identified in the PMST as potentially occurring or having suitable habitat potentially occurring within 5 km of the project area ..................... 24 Table 5. Summary of the vegetation associations and landforms recorded within the project area. ............. 32 BlackOak Environmental Ecological Assessment for the Joy Baluch AM Bridge duplication Project Table 6. Summary of Sarcocornia quinqueflora Low Closed Shrubland (Bushland Assessment Quadrat A2).................................................................................................................................................................................................. 35 Table 7. Summary of Sarcocornia quinqueflora Low Closed Shrubland (Bushland Assessment Quadrat B2). ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 36 Table 8. Summary of Sarcocornia quinqueflora Low Closed Shrubland (Bushland Assessment Quadrat C2). ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 37 Table 9. Summary of Sarcocornia quinqueflora Low Closed Shrubland (Bushland Assessment Quadrat D2). ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 38 Table 10. Summary of Avicennia marina ssp. marina Very Low Closed Forest vegetation association (Bushland Assessment Quadrat A1). ...............................................................................................................................