Reference document FLORA_AND_FAUNA_ASSESSMENT_RosesRoad_Federal-25_03_07-FF OPW25-0072

                                                                                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.

3.2      Field assessment methods - Flora

3.2.1 Flora survey method

The flora survey was undertaken by an experienced botanist on the 5th March 2025 in
accordance with the Flora Survey Guideline – Protected Plants (NCA 1992), (DES, 2020a).
The extent of the flora survey is indicated in Figure 1.

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) (DES, 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 DETSI.

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).

Using the published meander rates in the Guidelines, it was determined that two 30-minute
timed meander surveys were required to adequately survey each habitat type. The total
area per habitat type and number of meanders required is as follows:
       ▪ RE 12.3.1 (and mixed HVR) = 2.6ha = two meanders.

Population or Plot Survey

In the event that a threatened or near threatened plant was identified during the timed
meander survey, a more comprehensive and systematic population or plot survey was
conducted to determine the extent and density of CREVNT species:
     i) The population survey methodology involves capturing GPS points of the
        population extent by traversing the periphery of the population and recording the
        total number of individuals present to determine the species extent and population
        density (Refer to section 6.2.6 of the Guidelines).
36 Roses Road, Federal – Fauna & Flora Assessment                                    12