APPENDIX B GHD FLORA AND FAUNA ASSESSMENT Landcorp Report for Karratha Land Release - Amendment 21 Flora and Fauna Assessment September 2011 This Karratha Land Release – Amendment 21 Flora and Fauna Assessment Report (“Report”): 1. has been prepared by GHD Pty Ltd (“GHD”) for LandCorp; 2. may only be used and relied on by LandCorp; 3. must not be copied to, used by, or relied on by any person other than LandCorp without the prior written consent of GHD; GHD and its servants, employees and officers otherwise expressly disclaim responsibility to any person other than LandCorp arising from or in connection with this Report. To the maximum extent permitted by law, all implied warranties and conditions in relation to the services provided by GHD and the Report are excluded unless they are expressly stated to apply in this Report. The services undertaken by GHD in connection with preparing this Report: x were limited to those specifically detailed in section 3.4 of this Report; GHD expressly disclaims responsibility for any error in, or omission from, this Report arising from or in connection with any of the Assumptions being incorrect. Subject to the paragraphs in this section of the Report, the opinions, conclusions and any recommendations in this Report are based on conditions encountered and information reviewed at the time of preparation and may be relied on until 12 months, after which time, GHD expressly disclaims responsibility for any error in, or omission from, this Report arising from or in connection with those opinions, conclusions and any recommendations. 61/27315/113497 Karratha Land Release Flora and Fauna Assessment Contents 1. Introduction 1 1.1 Background 1 1.2 Study Area 1 1.3 Scope of Works 2 2. Desktop Assessment 4 2.1 Climate 4 2.2 Biogeography 4 2.3 Land Systems 5 2.4 Botanical District 5 2.5 Vegetation Types, Extent and Status 5 2.6 Threatened and Priority Ecological Communities 7 2.7 Conservation Significant Flora 8 2.8 Conservation Significant Fauna 9 3. Methodology 12 3.1 Vegetation and Flora 12 3.2 Fauna 12 3.3 Nomenclature 13 3.4 Limitations 13 4. Results and Discussion 14 4.1 Vegetation Associations 14 4.2 Flora Diversity 20 4.3 Vegetation Condition 20 4.4 City Centre (DA-40) 22 4.5 Existing Townsite (DA-31) 24 4.6 Gap Ridge/Seven Mile (DA-13 and DA-26) 26 4.7 Nickol/Baynton (DA-27, DA-28 and DA-29) 29 4.8 The Links (DA-35) 32 4.9 Karratha Hills (DA-16, DA-32, DA-38 and DA-42) 35 4.10 Regals Valley (DA-14 and DA-15) 39 4.11 Airport (DA-30) 41 4.12 Karratha Industrial Estate (DA-17, DA41 and DA43) 43 5. Assessment against the Ten Clearing Principles 47 61/27315/113497 Karratha Land Release Flora and Fauna Assessment 6. Conclusion 52 7. References 55 Table Index Table 1 Precinct, Development Areas and size of development area in hectares 1 Table 2 Climatic data for Karratha Aero 4 Table 3 Vegetation association, extent and status within the study area 6 Table 5 Listing of potentially occurring Threatened and Priority fauna species within 10 km of the study area, with information source. 11 Table 6 Vegetation types recorded within the study area 15 Table 7 Vegetation condition rating scale 21 Table 8 Recorded location of Pebble-mound Mouse mounds 37 Table 9 Assesment against the Ten Clearing Principles 48 Table 10 Summary of flora and fauna constraints based on the field survey 53 Table 11 Conservation categories and definitions for EPBC Act listed flora and fauna species 61 Table 12 Conservation codes and descriptions for DEC Declared Rare and Priority flora species 61 Table 13 Western Australian Wildlife Conservation Act 1950 Conservation Codes for fauna 62 Table 14 DEC Priority fauna codes (Species not listed under the Wildlife Conservation Act 1950, but for which there is some concern) 62 Table 15 Flora species recorded within the Karratha study area 66 Table 16 Fauna species recorded within each site during the field survey 74 Appendices Appendix A 61/27315/113497 Karratha Land Release Flora and Fauna Assessment Appendix B Appendix C Appendix D Appendix E 61/27315/113497 Karratha Land Release Flora and Fauna Assessment 1. Introduction 1.1 Background The Shire of Roebourne is currently updating the Karratha Town Planning Scheme No 8 as a part of its ‘City Growth Plan’. The City Growth Plan is to develop Karratha as the major City of the North and make it an attractive choice for future development. Part of the proposed Amendment 21 is to re-zone a number of sites which have been identified as having potential for development. The Amendment is designed to coordinate the growth of Karratha to include the infill of existing areas and support expansion of current residential and industrial zones. LandCorp has commissioned GHD to undertake a flora and fauna assessment of a number of Development Areas (DAs) proposed for re-zoning to identify constraints based on the conclusions of the Preliminary Environmental Impact Assessment (PEIA) prepared by GHD (GHD, 2011). 1.2 Study Area The study srea lies within the Shire of Roebourne in the Pilbara Region of Western Australia, and contains 18 DAs from 9 precincts (identified in the City Growth Plan) in and around Karratha. Table 1 identifies the DAs surveyed as part of this flora and fauna assessment, the precinct in which they occur and the area they cover. The location of the 18 DAs (study area) is presented in Figure 1, Appendix A. Table 1 Precinct, Development Areas and size of development area in hectares Precinct Development Area (DA) Area (Ha) City Centre DA 40 22.3 Existing Townsite DA 31 5.3 Gap Ridge / Seven Mile DA 13 189.5 DA 26 194.5 Nickol / Baynton DA 27 79.9 DA 28 91.0 DA 29 18.0 The Links DA 35 19.1 Karratha Hills DA 16 71.8 DA 32 79.8 DA 38 21.4 DA 42 91.6 Regals Valley DA 14 406.4 61/27315/113497 Karratha Land Release 1 Flora and Fauna Assessment Precinct Development Area (DA) Area (Ha) DA 15 578.9 Airport DA 30 112.9 Karratha Industrial Estate DA 17 253.3 DA 41 84.1 DA 43 229.9 1.3 Scope of Works The flora and fauna assessment included both field and desktop assessments. The desktop assessment included: A review of the Department of Environment and Conservation’s (DEC) Rare and Threatened Flora database; A review of the DEC’s Threatened Fauna database; A review of local and regional significance of plant communities; A review of the Western Australian Museum database for threatened and endangered fauna; A review of the DEC’s Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESAs); and A review of the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and Arts (DEWHA) database for areas listed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). The field survey verified the desktop study and provided a detailed assessment of the existing environment in the survey area and its relationship to adjoining areas. The field survey included the following actions and details: An inventory of the vascular plant species in the study area, undertaken by assessment of 50 m x 50 m quadrats and walking transect survey methods; A review of, and search for, significant flora species; An inventory of dominant exotic plants, including declared noxious plants and environmental weed species; Advice on whether weeds are likely to spread to and result in environmental harm to adjacent areas of native vegetation that is in good or better conditions; A description and location, including mapping, of plant communities; A rating of condition of the vegetation communities or areas using a published rating scale, as used in the assessment of vegetation in Bush Forever Sites (Government of Western Australia, 2000); A review of the local and regional significance of the plant communities in terms of their intrinsic value, extent, rarity and condition; 61/27315/113497 Karratha Land Release 2 Flora and Fauna Assessment Assessment of potential clearing against the Environmental Protection Act’s Ten Clearing Principles (Schedule 5). Each principle has been assessed in accordance with the DEC’s Guideline to Assessment – Clearing of Native Vegetation; An inventory of the vertebrate fauna species observed in the survey areas through targeted searches and opportunistic recordings of species; A night time spotlighting survey of areas likely to support cryptic and nocturnal species; An assessment of the habitat available for all species and particularly of the significant fauna species listed in the Preliminary Assessment. 61/27315/113497 Karratha Land Release 3 Flora and Fauna Assessment 2. Desktop Assessment 2.1 Climate The study area is located within the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The Pilbara region is subject to an arid-tropical climate with two distinct seasons; a hot summer from October to April and a mild winter from May to September. The average yearly evaporation exceeds rainfall by as much as 2,500 mm per year. Seasonally low but unreliable rainfall, together with high temperatures and high diurnal temperature variations are also characteristic climatic features of the region. The majority of the Pilbara has a bimodal rainfall distribution, resulting in two rainfall maxima per year. From January to March, rain results from storms penetrating from the north, producing sporadic and intense thunderstorms. Tropical cyclones and depressions moving southwards from northern Australian waters also cause heavy rainfall events. From May to June cold fronts move easterly across Western Australia and may occasionally reach the Pilbara Region.