APPENDIX 5 Flora and Fauna Assessment Mt Arthur Coal Ecological Assessment Proposed South Pit Extension Project October 2006 Ecological Assessment Proposed South Extension Project Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 INTRODUCTION.................................................................... 1.1 1.1 PROJECT AREA ...................................................................................... 1.1 1.2 PROPOSED PROJECT AND SITE DISTURBANCE............................... 1.1 1.2.1 South Pit Extension Concept Mine Plan ........................................ 1.1 1.2.2 Overburden Emplacement Areas................................................... 1.2 1.2.3 Mine Infrastructure ......................................................................... 1.2 1.2.4 Disturbance Footprint..................................................................... 1.2 1.3 OBJECTIVES ........................................................................................... 1.3 2.0 SURVEY METHODOLOGY ................................................... 2.1 2.1 FLORA SURVEY ...................................................................................... 2.1 2.1.1 Vegetation Survey.......................................................................... 2.1 2.2 FAUNA SURVEY...................................................................................... 2.2 2.2.1 Trapping......................................................................................... 2.3 2.2.2 Area Searches ............................................................................... 2.4 2.2.3 Echolocation Recording ................................................................. 2.5 2.2.4 Signs of Presence.......................................................................... 2.6 2.2.5 Call Playback ................................................................................. 2.6 3.0 FLORA SURVEY RESULTS.................................................. 3.1 3.1 VEGETATION OF THE REGION ............................................................. 3.1 3.2 HUNTER REMNANT VEGETATION PROJECT...................................... 3.1 3.3 FLORA OF THE PROJECT AREA .......................................................... 3.4 3.3.1 Flora Species Recorded................................................................. 3.4 3.3.2 Vegetation of the Project Area ....................................................... 3.5 3.3.3 Conservation Status of Vegetation Communities........................... 3.7 3.4 SIGNIFICANT FLORA AND VEGETATION COMMUNITIES .................. 3.9 3.4.1 Threatened Flora Species.............................................................. 3.9 3.4.2 Endangered Populations................................................................ 3.9 3.4.3 Endangered Ecological Communities .......................................... 3.11 3.4.4 Regionally Significant Flora Species............................................ 3.14 4.0 FAUNA SURVEY RESULTS ................................................. 4.1 4.1 FAUNA HABITAT OF THE PROJECT AREA ......................................... 4.1 4.1.1 Mt Arthur North East ...................................................................... 4.1 Umwelt (Australia) Pty Limited 2000/R04/V3 October 2006 i Ecological Assessment Proposed South Extension Project Table of Contents 4.1.2 Mt Arthur East ................................................................................ 4.2 4.1.3 Saddlers Creek .............................................................................. 4.3 4.2 FAUNA SURVEY RESULTS .................................................................... 4.4 4.2.1 Birds............................................................................................... 4.4 4.2.2 Reptiles .......................................................................................... 4.5 4.2.3 Amphibians .................................................................................... 4.5 4.2.4 Mammals ....................................................................................... 4.5 4.3 SIGNIFICANT FAUNA SPECIES AND POPULATIONS ......................... 4.6 4.3.1 Threatened Species....................................................................... 4.7 4.3.2 Endangered Populations................................................................ 4.7 5.0 IMPACT ASSESSMENT........................................................ 5.1 5.1 PROPOSED SITE DISTURBANCE.......................................................... 5.1 5.2 IMPACT ON FLORA SPECIES ................................................................ 5.1 5.3 IMPACT ON VEGETATION COMMUNITIES ........................................... 5.1 5.4 IMPACT ON FAUNA SPECIES................................................................ 5.2 5.5 IMPACT ON THREATENED SPECIES, POPULATIONS AND ENDANGERED ECOLOGICAL COMMUNITIES ..................................... 5.3 5.5.1 Impact on TSC Act Listed Species, Populations and Endangered Ecological Communities................................................................. 5.3 5.5.2 Impact on EPBC Act Listed Species and Endangered Ecological Communities .................................................................................. 5.3 5.5.3 SEPP 44 Assessment.................................................................... 5.4 6.0 ECOLOGICAL MANAGEMENT AND MONITORING ........... 6.1 6.1 EXISTING MT ARTHUR COAL ECOLOGICAL MONITORING AND MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES ................................................................ 6.1 6.2 GENERAL ECOLOGICAL MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES .................... 6.1 6.3 PROTECTION AND MANAGEMENT OF ARBOREAL HABITAT........... 6.2 6.3.1 Enhancement of Arboreal Habitat.................................................. 6.3 6.3.2 Enhancement and Protection of Threatened Species Habitat ....... 6.3 6.4 ESTABLISHMENT OF VEGETATION COMMUNITIES IN POST-MINING LANDSCAPE............................................................................................ 6.4 6.4.1 Vegetation Community Establishment ........................................... 6.5 6.4.2 Fauna Habitat Reinstatement ........................................................ 6.5 6.4.3 Rehabilitation Completion Criteria.................................................. 6.5 6.5 MONITORING AND MAINTENANCE ...................................................... 6.6 6.5.1 Rehabilitation Monitoring ............................................................... 6.6 6.5.2 Fauna Monitoring ........................................................................... 6.7 Umwelt (Australia) Pty Limited 2000/R04/V3 October 2006 ii Ecological Assessment Proposed South Extension Project Table of Contents 6.5.3 Nest Box Monitoring....................................................................... 6.8 6.5.4 Identification of Additional Threatened Species............................. 6.8 7.0 REFERENCES....................................................................... 7.1 FIGURES 1.1 Locality Plan.......................................................................................... 1.1 1.2 Proposed South Pit Extension Project ............................................... 1.1 2.1 Flora Survey Methodology................................................................... 2.1 2.2 Trap Positions and Diurnal Fauna Survey Effort ............................... 2.2 2.3 Nocturnal Fauna Survey Effort ............................................................ 2.2 3.1 Vegetation Communities...................................................................... 3.5 3.2 Previously Recorded Threatened Species Locations........................ 3.9 4.1 South Pit Extension Project Threatened Species Locations ............ 4.6 ATTACHMENTS A Flora Species List B Fauna Species List C Threatened Species Assessment of Significance D Flora Species List Suitable for use in Rehabilitation Umwelt (Australia) Pty Limited 2000/R04/V3 October 2006 iii Ecological Assessment Proposed South Pit Extension Project Introduction 1.0 Introduction Mt Arthur Coal Pty Limited (Mt Arthur Coal) is a member of the Energy Coal division of BHP Billiton and operates an open cut coal mine near Muswellbrook in the upper Hunter Valley of NSW (refer to Figure 1.1). Mt Arthur Coal propose to extend the currently approved Mount Arthur North (MAN) mining area South Pit further south into the Bayswater No. 3 Mining Lease (ML), in order to maximise resource recovery, maximise productivity of their mining equipment and improve overburden handling efficiencies and rehabilitation outcomes. Umwelt (Australia) Pty Limited (Umwelt) has been commissioned by Mt Arthur Coal to prepare an Environmental Assessment to support the development application for this project, with this ecological assessment undertaken as part of the Environmental Assessment. 1.1 Project Area The project area covers approximately 330 hectares within the Mt Arthur Coal operations area (refer to New Disturbance Footprint on Figure 1.2) plus an area of overburden emplacement within existing mining areas in the Bayswater No. 2 ML and Drayton West Pit (refer to Figure 1.2). The proposed additional mining area covers an area of approximately 195 hectares (refer to Figure 1.2). The entire south pit extension area was surveyed as part of the Mt Arthur North Project Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) (URS 2000) or the Bayswater No. 3 EIS (Resource Planning 1993). The current project area was resurveyed due to the time that has elapsed since the conduct of these assessments. An additional