Ecological Assessment

State and Local Government Ecological Assessment
Noosa Civic Expansion




4                  Findings of Field Work
4.1                Flora
4.1.1              Property Based Vegetation Mapping
The location of all ground observation sites is illustrated in Figure 2. All Secondary sites pro-formas are
presented in Appendix K and data from Quaternary sites is presented in Appendix L.
Although transects were established throughout the Study Area for the purposes of mapping vegetation, only
those mapped as remnant vegetation by the Queensland Herbarium and corresponding with the correct
regional ecosystem type (Neldner et. al., 2012) were regarded as suitable for use as reference sites. In
order to attain suitable reference site data it was necessary to establish some transects in nearby locations
outside of the Study Area. Suitable reference sites for 12.9-10.1 and 12.3.5 were located immediately to the
east of the Study Area in Noosa National Park.
Areas of land zone 3 (alluvium) were evident in the southern portion of the Study Area based on soils,
topography and proximity to Eenie Creek. The presence of land zone 9-10 was unclear. The area may
support land zone 5 based on the soil characteristics observed in pitfall traps (Plate 1) within the Study Area
and laterite observed elsewhere in the Study Area. The land zone of the reference site for 12.9-10.1 is
nonetheless the same, with similar soil characteristics observed in an adjacent road cutting (Plate 2).




Plate 1: Mottle clay and laterite observed during excavation of pit   Plate 2: Laterite and mottled clay observed in a road cutting
fall traps                                                            adjacent to the 12.9-10.1 reference site

With the exception of a two locations, quaternary and secondary sites within the Study Area confirmed all of
the vegetation in the Study Area as non-remnant regrowth. Despite the floristics and cover of vegetation in
most locations exceeding the minimum thresholds to be considered as remnant, the height of vegetation was
<70% of that of the reference sites.
Plate 3 below illustrates the location of quaternary site O23 and the corner peg of Lot 3 on SP246584 at its
juncture with Noosa National Park. While this area was mapped as remnant (Queensland Herbarium,
2012a; see Figure 4), it is evident that no canopy vegetation occurs in this location.




QIC Noosa Civic Pty Ltd                                      Version 1                                            5 December 2014
J13041_Ecological Assessment State Local_V1.docx       Commercial in Confidence                                          Page 17