Att4 - Ecological Assessment Report

Ecological Assessment Report v1                                                                NCES REF: J001061
Lot 7 on RP216403, Lot 394 on M371117, and Lot 650 on M37380 – 48-59 Kabi Road, Cootharaba



      •    A compensatory offset for minor impacts to native vegetation can be provided if required via
           direct revegetation elsewhere within the site; and
      •    Appropriate erosion and sediment control works are recommended to mitigate any significant
           impacts to the onsite waterways;
      •    A Fauna Management Plan is prepared for the future OPW application to manage the risk of
           impact to terrestrial and aquatic fauna during civil works. The FMP includes a requirement
           for a suitably qualified and experienced fauna spotter catcher to be engaged to supervise
           vegetation clearing and waterway modification on the site.
5.3       Waterways

5.3.1      Impacts
The Noosa Council Planning Scheme 2020 Biodiversity, Waterways, and Wetlands mapping depicts
a MSES Regulated Vegetation – intersection a watercourse adjacent to the proposed village
locations (refer Plate 4). The proposed development includes development adjacent to the mapped
watercourse and modification of the watercourse via widening for an extended canoe run (i.e., next
to Village 2). Plate 22 (left ) depicts the mapped watercourse proposed for modification (widening).
No woody riparian vegetation is present lining the watercourse within the expansion footprint (refer
Plate 22).
The mapped watercourse in the central site extent was observed to exhibit a highly modified
waterway used for golf course drainage. It features numerous modifications such as golf buggy
crossings and rock falls (refer Plate 21). The water was not flowing during the site inspection and
was contained within a series of dams and smaller stands of water. The waterway generally persists
as a shallow; approx. 0.2-0.5m deep, ‘v’ drain set amongst the fairways and greens and exhibits no
riparian vegetation or no woody vegetation. The watercourse was vegetated with long grass and
herbaceous weeds (refer Plate 22). Nonetheless mapped watercourses are considered
representative of an Ecologically Important Area under the NC Planning Scheme.
The proposed modification of the waterway could divert inflows from the adjacent VC1a rainforest
vegetation community (refer Figure VC02) which has developed under the existing hydrology regime
of the waterway. The alteration of the hydrology could be expected to potentially change the in-situ
habitat conditions (i.e., reduced soil moisture) that the rainforest flora has developed from resulting
in possible long term alteration of the vegetation community floristics (i.e., species composition) to a
dry ‘scrub’ variant rainforest.




                         Plate 21 – Existing infrastructure modifications to onsite waterway




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