Attachment 4 “Coomera Wood Koala Evaluation and Assessment Chapter 1 & 2” COOMERA WOODS KOALA EVALUATION AND ASSESSMENT CHAPTER 1 EVALUATION OF KOALA SURVEY METHODOLOGY PREPARED FOR POLARIS COOMERA PTY LTD Planit Consulting Pty Ltd October 2017 Coomera Woods Koala Evaluation and Assessment Chapter 1: Evaluation of Koala Survey Methodology Polaris Coomera PTY LTD En`vironmental As This report has been prepared by: Planit Consulting Pty Ltd ABN 20 099 261 711 Level 1, 2247 Gold Coast Highway Nobby Beach QLD 4218 PO Box 206 Nobby Beach QLD 4218 Telephone: (07) 5526 1500 Facsimile: (07) 5526 1502 Email: [email protected] Web: www.planitconsulting.com.au Document Control Issue Date Description Prepared By Checked By A 21/07/2017 Client Issue LT BS B 13/09/2017 Final Issue LT BS C 16/10/2017 Amended Issue- update of aerials LT BS Prepared by Planit Consulting October 2017 Coomera Woods Koala Evaluation and Assessment Chapter 1: Evaluation of Koala Survey Methodology Polaris Coomera Pty Ltd CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................. 4 CONTRIBUTORS ............................................................................................................................................. 5 1.0 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................. 6 2.0 BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT ........................................................................................................... 9 2.1 COOMERA WOODS SITE ................................................................................................................ 9 2.2 KOALA LIFE HISTORY AND ECOLOGY ........................................................................................... 11 2.3 SUMMARY OF SAMPLING TECHNIQUES ..................................................................................... 12 2.3.1 TOTAL COUNTS ................................................................................................................... 12 2.3.2 PARTIAL COUNTS ................................................................................................................ 12 2.3.3 INDICES ................................................................................................................................ 12 2.4 PREVIOUS METHODS TO SURVEY THE CW SITE .......................................................................... 12 2.4.1 BIOLINK 2007 ...................................................................................................................... 13 2.4.2 PHILLIPS 2015 ...................................................................................................................... 13 2.4.3 SHG 2017 ............................................................................................................................. 13 2.4.4 PLANIT 2017 ........................................................................................................................ 15 3.0 METHODOLOGY .............................................................................................................................. 16 3.1 SPOT ASSESSMENT TECHNIQUE.................................................................................................. 16 3.1.1 APPLICATION ....................................................................................................................... 16 3.1.2 PLANIT 2017 RESULTS ......................................................................................................... 18 3.2 STRIP TRANSECT .......................................................................................................................... 18 3.2.1 APPLICATION 18 3.3 LINE TRANSECT ............................................................................................................................ 21 3.3.1 APPLICATION ....................................................................................................................... 21 3.3.2 PLANIT 2017 RESULTS ......................................................................................................... 22 4.0 EVALUATION OF METHODS ............................................................................................................ 24 4.1 SPOT ASSESSMENT TECHNIQUE.................................................................................................. 24 4.1.1 ASSUMPTIONS..................................................................................................................... 24 4.1.2 BENEFITS ............................................................................................................................. 24 4.1.3 LIMITATIONS ....................................................................................................................... 25 4.2 STRIP TRANSECT .......................................................................................................................... 25 4.2.1 ASSUMPTIONS..................................................................................................................... 25 4.2.2 BENEFITS ............................................................................................................................. 25 October 2017 Page 1 Coomera Woods Koala Evaluation and Assessment Chapter 1: Evaluation of Koala Survey Methodology Polaris Coomera Pty Ltd 4.2.3 LIMITATIONS ....................................................................................................................... 25 4.3 LINE TRANSECT ............................................................................................................................ 26 4.3.1 ASSUMPTIONS..................................................................................................................... 26 4.3.2 BENEFITS ............................................................................................................................. 26 4.3.3 LIMITATIONS ....................................................................................................................... 27 4.4 DIRECT COMPARISON OF METHODS .......................................................................................... 27 4.4.1 BENEFITS ............................................................................................................................. 27 4.4.2 LIMITATIONS ....................................................................................................................... 28 4.4.3 SURVEY RESULTS ................................................................................................................. 28 5.0 DISCUSSION ..................................................................................................................................... 30 5.1 SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................... 32 6.0 REFERENCES .................................................................................................................................... 33 LIST OF TABLES TABLE 1: REPORT CONTRIBUTORS ................................................................................................................ 5 TABLE 2: IMPACT AREA AND SURROUNDING LAND ANALYSIS, INCLUDING CW SITE (SHG 2017; TABLE 3.5) .................................................................................................................................................................... 14 TABLE 3: PLANIT 2017 SAT SURVEY RESULTS.............................................................................................. 18 TABLE 4: OBSERVERS, QUALIFICATIONS AND LICENCES ............................................................................. 21 TABLE 5: PLANIT 2017 KOALA LINE TRANSECT RESULTS ............................................................................ 22 TABLE 6: COMPARISION OF SURVEY METHOD BENEFITS ........................................................................... 27 TABLE 7: COMPARISON OF SURVEY METHOD LIMITATIONS ...................................................................... 28 TABLE 8: SAT SITE ACTIVITY LEVEL RESULTS FROM CW SITE SURVEYS ....................................................... 28 TABLE 9: DENSITY RESULTS FROM VARIOUS SURVEY METHODS APPLIED TO THE CW SITE ...................... 29 LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1: LOCATION AND CONDITION OF CW SITE AND SURROUNDING AREAS IN 2017 (24/05/2017) .. 8 FIGURE 2: LOCATION AND CONDITION OF CW SITE AND SURROUNDING AREAS IN 2006 (25/07/2006) ... 8 FIGURE 3: LOCATION OF CW SITE WITHIN C-PKHA .................................................................................... 10 FIGURE 4: THE C-PKHA, SHOWING KCA AND UKA (BIOLINK 2007a) ........................................................... 11 FIGURE 5: AREA REFERENCE FOR TABLE 1 ABOVE (SHG 2017)................................................................... 15 FIGURE 5: LOCATION OF SAT SITES PERFORMED DURING PLANIT 2017 SURVEY ...................................... 17 October 2017 Page 2 Coomera Woods Koala Evaluation and Assessment Chapter 1: Evaluation of Koala Survey Methodology Polaris Coomera Pty Ltd FIGURE 6: FIRST ROUND OF STRIP TRANSECT SURVEY BY SHG (2017) ....................................................... 19 FIGURE 7: SECOND ROUND OF STRIP TRANSECT SURVEY BY SHG (2017) .................................................. 20 FIGURE 8: KOALA RECORDING