Attachment 7C - Flora and Fauna Survey Assessment_Noosa Landfill - Revision 3

                                                                                      Native Foresters



and a non-juvenile Koala habitat tree means a koala habitat tree that has:

           a) a height of more than four metres; or
           b) a trunk with a circumference of more than 31.5 centimetres at 1.3 metres above
           the ground.

A search of the Koala habitat area and Koala priority area mapping shows that the proposed
clearing lies in a Koala habitat area (locally refined) and in a Koala priority area.

Clearing for necessary infrastructure (i.e. a landfill) when conducted ‘by or for the state or a
public sector entity’ is considered ‘exempted development’ under Schedule 24(b) and
Schedule 5 (Part 2, item 15) of the Planning Regulation 2017.

3.1.7 Wetlands and Watercourses

The Map of Referable Wetlands is a state-wide regulatory map under the Environmental
Protection Regulation 2008 which identifies wetlands of high ecological significance (HES)
and general ecological significance (GES) across the state. HES wetlands on the Map of
Referable Wetlands are considered ‘matters of state environmental significance’ (MSES)
under the Planning and Environmental Offsets legislation (Environmental Offsets Act
2014).

There are no referable wetlands of ecological significance in the footprint of proposed works
however the impact area adjoins wetlands mapped as having General ecological
significance.

3.1.8 Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) developed the Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems
Atlas (GDE Atlas) as a national dataset of Australian GDEs to inform groundwater planning
and management. Groundwater dependent ecosystems (GDEs) are ecosystems which
require access to groundwater on a permanent or intermittent basis to meet all or some of
their water requirements so as to maintain their communities of plants and animals,
ecological processes and ecosystem services. Ecosystem dependency on groundwater
may vary temporally (over time) and spatially (depending on its location in the landscape).
GDEs include:
     i.   Subterranean expressions e.g. aquifers;
     ii.  Subsurface expressions e.g. terrestrial ecosystems that rely on the subsurface
          presence of groundwater; or
     iii. Surface expressions of groundwater (e.g. caves, lakes, wetlands, rivers)

The mapping indicates GDE Surface Areas occur on the northern edge of the 100 metre
buffer around the potential Impact Area and extend for about one kilometre in a north-east
direction as shown in Figure 2.




Noosa Landfill & Resource Recovery Centre – Fauna and Flora Assessment – Revision 3               23