2016-12-12 General Committee - Attachment 1 to Item 6 - Biodiversity Assessment Report

                                                   Noosa Biodiversity Plan – Biodiversity Assessment Report




        wildlife habitat; illegal or uncontrolled activities such as arson and off-trail access to national
        parks; and attacks on wildlife by domesticated pets (cats and dogs).

Values of conservation significance within Noosa

Noosa contains a broad spectrum of biodiversity values with each value presenting varying degrees of
biodiversity significance. Some values are recognised to be of international importance whilst others are
considered to be locally important.

To identify areas within Noosa that contain values of high biodiversity significance, all values within Noosa
were ranked and mapped across the shire. Approximately 66% of the shire was found to comprise areas
with values that are of high biodiversity significance. These areas occurred mainly within the eastern,
coastal parts of the shire as well as along waterways (e.g. Kin Kin Creek, Sandy Creek, Pinbarren Creek,
Cooroora Creek, Ringtail Creek and Six Mile Creek), within protection reserves and in scattered pockets
of remnant vegetation throughout the hinterland of Noosa.

The majority of identified threatening processes across Noosa are a product of development with the
severity and magnitude of these threats often much greater in urban and rural areas. Climate change on
the other hand is a global issue and will affect the entirety of Noosa depending on the level of exposure
and sensitivity of biodiversity values to climate change.

To identify areas within Noosa that are at high risk to threatening processes, both development risk and
climate change vulnerability were assessed and mapped across the shire. Development risk was based
on the current land zoning across the shire whilst climate change vulnerability was assessed as a function
of exposure and sensitivity of Broad Vegetation Groups (BVGs) to predicted climate change impacts.
This high level analysis indicated that approximately 60% or 52,000 ha of the shire has a land zoning that
puts it at a higher risk of being exposed to threatening processes compared to surrounding land. Impacts
of climate change will be felt across the shire, but will be most prominent for coastal ecosystems, wet
lowland forests, heathlands and riparian zones.

Through the examination of both high value and high risk areas a considerable amount of overlap was
detected. A large portion of areas of high biodiversity significance were found to occur within identified
high risk areas. These areas are considered to contain values of conservation significance. Values within
these areas include:

    •   TECs and regrowth vegetation with potential to be the TEC
    •   Remnant and regrowth threatened species habitat
    •   Wetlands
    •   Remnant and regrowth riparian vegetation
    •   Ecological corridors & linkages
    •   Locally / regionally significant species habitat
    •   Regrowth vegetation analogous to Endangered REs and REs poorly represented in protection
        reserves.

Current conservation management measures

There are a number of State and Federal environmental laws and policies that protect biodiversity values
and address current conservation issues. These statutory measures target values and issues that are
relevant at state and national scales such as threatened species, TECs, wetlands and vegetation
communities of conservation significance.




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