Reference Document - Flora and Fauna Assessment - 132005.638.04

                                                                                                                     Native Foresters



                    3.0       METHODOLOGY
                    3.1       Desktop review

                    A desktop review was undertaken to assist in determining the site’s environmental values.
                    The review consisted of searches of open source, State and Commonwealth government
                    planning instruments and databases listed in Appendix B. A review of previous
                    assessments of the site, aerial imagery and academic literature was also undertaken.
                    Sources of information included:

                             Noosa Landfill Expansion Fauna and Flora Survey and Assessment of Impacts on
                              Adjacent Ecosystems (Native Foresters, 2021).
                             Noosa Landfill and Resource Recovery Centre Masterplan Expansion –
                              Environmental Scoping Report (Native Foresters, 2024)
                             Noosa Landfill and Resource Recovery Centre – Site A (version 1), Fauna and Flora
                              Assessment (Native Foresters , 2024)

                    3.2       Field assessment methods - Flora

                    3.2.1 Flora survey method

                    The initial flora survey was undertaken by an experienced botanist on the 10th July 2024 in
                    accordance with the Flora Survey Guideline – Protected Plants (NCA 1992), (DES, 2020a),
                    with the follow-up survey covering the amended footprint occurring on 19th December 2024.
                    The extent of the flora surveys are indicated in Figures 1 and 2.

                    The Protected plants flora survey covered the area to be cleared, the Impact Area (IA) to
                    the extent it is within a high-risk area, as well as a buffer area of 100m around the clearing,
                    which is referred to as the total Clearing Impact Area (CIA) (DESI, 2020a). Areas within the
                    CIA that were highly modified, disturbed, impervious, regularly mowed or subject to previous
                    land clearing were excluded from the survey as per the guideline.

                    Certification by the suitably qualified person who led and coordinated the flora survey is
                    provided in Appendix C.

                    Timed meander survey

                    The methodology employed for the Protected plants survey was a timed meander. This
                    method is considered appropriate for the site and the target species and is the preferred
                    methodology advocated by DESI.

                    To determine the number of timed meanders needed to maximise coverage of habitats and
                    the encounter rate of different species, the number of different habitat types was assessed
                    during the desktop assessment. The term "habitat type" is not defined in the Flora Survey
                    Guidelines and can be stratified using multiple approaches e.g., by vegetation condition or
                    Regional Ecosystem (RE) type. For this survey, habitat types were determined using
                    mapped and ground-truthed REs (Refer Figure 1 and Table 2).




                    Noosa Landfill & Resource Recovery Centre Expansion – Site A, Rev 2 – Fauna & Flora Assessment        12

Document Set ID: 23617066
Version: 1, Version Date: 05/03/2025