Updated EMP Stage 2_Grasstree Court April 2023

2023 Ecological Management Plan – Grasstree Court – Lot 9



2.2 Stage 2 Works To Be Completed

Step      Action
  1       Balance land available for rehabilitation as identified by Council (see Figure B4).
  2       Northern area to receive soil and mulch material from project site.
  3       Spread bunded soil (i.e. original soil from northern part of rehabilitation site) over southern portion of site.
          Southern area (associated with weed vine material) to be capped and covered with soil and mulch from project
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          site.
  5       Southern area to have contour banks and batter drain.
  6       Sediment fencing to be relocated to appropriate locations as necessary.
          Ensure monitoring points cover all of rehabilitation site (i.e. extend into balance rehabilitation area) where
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          appropriate.
  8       Weed management.
  9       Supplementary planting with 300 she-oak and 300 eucalypts evenly distributed across balance land.

2.3 Soil Seed Bank Transfer
Once the site (Lot 9) is cleared and all above ground material is mulched and stockpiled, earthworks machinery will be
used to scrape the top 200-300mm of soil off the ground at the translocation site. This will be placed immediately into
a truck and driven to the receiver site.

Once transported to the receiver site, the soil is unloaded directly into balance area, and trucks return to subject site.
Earthworks machinery will spread the unloaded soil as soon as is practicable over the pre-prepared area. Soil is to be
stockpiled for the shortest amount of time possible to retain seed viability. It is acknowledged that some stockpiling is
unavoidable. Stockpiling of live soil will be dependent on how quickly it can be spread out as well as the rate of
removal from Lot 9. Subsoil and topsoil to be treated separately with topsoil placed above the subsoil.

Mulch that is stockpiled throughout Lot 9 will also be transported to the receiver site in trucks and spread over the live
soil mix or stockpiled as agreed between Council and the project. This transfer will occur simultaneously with the soil
transfer and mulch will be spread out over the receiver site as soon as is practicable to retain any viable seed within
the mulch piles.

The southern portion of the rehabilitation site is to be capped (as per the capping plan) prior to soil transfer for that
area. The GCL capped area (5000m2) is to have a confining layer with a minimum depth of 300mm in addition contour
bank material and 1.5m depth of Lot 9 ‘live soil’ above. The remaining non-GCL capped area (13000m2) is to have Lot 9
‘live soil’ depth of 300mm.

2.4 Clearing Methodology
The clearing methodology (project site) to be generally as follows:

      •    Implement pre-clearing surveys and fauna spotter and habitat protection/identification measures as
           described in the VFMP.
      •    Once the trees within the area have been given the “all clear” from the fauna spotter catcher, the trees will
           be pushed over using controlled felling techniques with a hydraulic excavator.
      •    Fauna spotter catcher will be present for all clearing works.
      •    The vegetation will then be placed in a windrow with a north/south alignment as it is being pulled down. This
           will be repeated until all the vegetation required to be removed to facilitate the development has been
           knocked over and piled into windrows. Once all the vegetation has been knocked down, another excavator
           will be used to downsize the material ready to be mulched.
      •    A grinder will then be used to process the material into stockpiles throughout the site.
      •    Note specific (selective and manual) clearing within the bushfire buffer areas.


2.5 Transporting Material
Material will be transported to the receiver site via the existing roadway network. The shortest route is approximately
seven minutes on public roads, pending traffic conditions (refer FIGURE B3 – Transport Route). Transportation of
material will occur in accordance with any specific traffic management plans, however, would aim to occur outside of
peak traffic periods.

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