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

                                                Noosa Biodiversity Plan – Biodiversity Assessment Report



Derivation of the ecological condition ‘base layer’

Raw and validated vegetation mapping products were integrated with regrowth, zoning and landuse data to form an Ecological Condition GIS dataset that
served as a basis for assigning other biodiversity values. Datasets were compiled based on the following priority:

    •   Vegetation type classification validated by API/Lidar/Ground-truthing
    •   RE mapping (v9)
    •   Major roads (buffered by 10m) from Council roads layer
    •   Waterways from RE or Noosa zoning layer (identified from gaps in the zoning layer)
    •   Queensland Herbarium regrowth mapping
    •   Plantation mapping from RE or Queensland Landuse Mapping
    •   Urban areas from Noosa Zoning GIS layer
    •   Horticulture areas from Queensland Landuse Mapping
    •   Validated contiguous vegetation from Noosa FSV
    •   Other trees from Noosa FSV mapping

The development of the base layer involved a sequence of GIS overlays and joining attributes from disparate sources. The dataset was progressively
categorised based on component datasets, vegetation types and zoning/tenure information. The categories and scoring for the base ecological condition layer
is provided in the table below. Subsequent values utilised final categories from the base layer, or other attributes used in the development of the base layer
(eg. RE, BVG, landuse, zone).

Overall scoring & minimum values

Following the individual scoring of biodiversity values attributed to the Ecological Condition GIS layer, the overall cumulative biodiversity scores were derived.
This was done by adding individual biodiversity value scores at each location, using equal weighting for each value. This approach yielded a potential maximum
score of 39, if the highest possible score was achieved for each value.

Consolidated biodiversity significance scores for the Noosa Shire ranged from 1 to 38, with a median of 7 (n = 19,359). In order to provide a spatial comparison
of the distribution of biodiversity significance, five categories of biodiversity significance were developed. A range of biodiversity significance scores for each
category was calculated, so that the distribution of biodiversity significance scores was even across all five categories. This approach was adopted to facilitate
a comparative assessment of biodiversity significance across the shire, and to interpret the large proportion of scores that were skewed towards the low end
of the distribution.




  © ECO LOGICAL AUSTRALIA PTY LTD                                                                       135