Ecological Assessment

State and Local Government Ecological Assessment
Noosa Civic Expansion




                                               Plate 3: Looking southward along the juncture of Lot 3
                                               and Noosa National Park.

Given the clear error in the mapping, a Property Map of Assessable Vegetation (PMAV) application was
submitted to the Department of Natural Resources and Mines (DNRM) to rectify this error and was certified
on the 9 September 2014 (Lot 3 on SP246584 was certified as entirely Category X). This change means
that, for the purpose of the Vegetation Management Act 1999, that areas identified within the Study Area on
Figure 4 as regional ecosystems are now regarded as non-remnant. Figure 5 illustrates a series of aerial
images from 1958, 1974, 1979, 1993, 2002 and 2013. The images illustrate the Study Area had been
virtually entirely cleared in the period between 1958 and 1979. While most of the vegetation on Study Area
today represents regrowth, a small pocket of vegetation remains relatively undisturbed. This area is
illustrated highlighted in Figure 5. While a patch of approximately 1.2ha was retained in 1974, subsequent
clearing has reduced its extent to 0.7ha. A quaternary site located within this polygon confirmed that its
height is >70% of that of the reference site. However, given the size of the patch (i.e. <1ha) the vegetation
cannot be mapped at a scale of 1:25,000. Similarly, while two areas of vegetation located on alluvium
achieved >70% of the median height of the reference transect they too are <1ha in area.
Vegetation associations of the Study Area are illustrated in Figure 6 and are described below in Table 4-1.

Table 4-1               Vegetation Associations
Short description                  Detailed description
Clear                              Areas devoid of vegetation or dominated by exotic grasses

Landscapes        &     young      Areas supporting landscapes of predominately native species or regrowth dominated by Acacia
regrowth                           species.

Regrowth       Melaleuca           The vegetation community is dominated by Melaleuca quinquenervia, Eucalyptus robusta and
quinquenervia         and          Syncarpia glomulifera. The canopy attains a median height of 10m which is <70% of the median
Eucalyptus robusta forest          height of the reference site. Species of the mid strata include Leptospermum polygalifolium, Acacia
                                   penninervis var. longiracemosa, Syzygium oleosum and Babingtonia bidwillii. Shrubs include
                                   Leptospermum juniperinum, L. whitei and Leucopogon leptospermoides. The ground layer is
                                   utterly dominated by Baloskion tetraphyllum.
                                   The community is allied with regional ecosystem 12.3.5.

Advanced       regrowth            As above. Historical imagery indicates that these areas were largely cleared, but has now attained
Melaleuca quinquenervia            heights and covers >70% height of the reference community.
and Eucalyptus robusta
forest



QIC Noosa Civic Pty Ltd                                            Version 1                                               5 December 2014
J13041_Ecological Assessment State Local_V1.docx             Commercial in Confidence                                             Page 18